Missing Virginia
Well, it’s a whole 20 degrees where I’m at in Michigan. I miss walking around Virginia in a sweatshirt and still being warm. I’ve decided to post a few photos of my trip after all, with a warning about copyright. I know it won’t deter everyone, but I will certainly have some backup if I need it.
WARNING: These photos are 2009 copyrighted by me. You cannot use them in any fashion, personal, professional or otherwise, without specific written permission from me that includes the agreeable terms of use and my hand-written signature. Stealing is wrong, so just don’t do it.
Really cool tree in Shenandoah National Park
The Washington Monument at dusk. I couldn't figure out how to turn it in WordPress. If anyone can tell me, please let me know!
The Vietnam Wall at night with the Washington Monumnet in the background. Probably one of my favorite pictures ever.
This is one of the most impressive memorials to see at night. It leaves a big impression.
Oh my aching…
Yesterday was spent wandering around Washington, D.C. for the entire day. We knew it was time to head back when with every footstep your feet are screaming in pain. And then we walked the 20 or so blocks to where we had parked the car.
It was great to get back to the capitol city and see the sights again. We toured the International Spy Museum as well as the Newseum – which is friggin’ amazing by the way. We stopped by the Washington Monument, the World War II Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial as well as the Lincoln Memorial. We saw the monuments beginning at dusk, so by the time we got to the Vietnam Wall and then to Lincoln’s place it was dark. As everyone says, the Lincoln Memorial at night is quite the impressive structure.
It was cool to play with my camera. I ended up get some pretty great shots, including ones at the Vietnam wall. Those photos involved playing with aperture for a while as the wall is only very softly lit and it was nearly pitch black. I’d post my favorites but Katie’s entry on Internet paranoia – how some sites are stealing your photos – got me to think twice about that. I like the photos too much to let them be scooped out from under me.
Today we are planning to head into the Charlottesville area. I’ve heard the University of Virginia has pretty much the most beautiful campus on the planet. So we’ll walk around there today and do a bit of shopping in Charlottesville. It’s supposed to rain today, but with any luck it won’t do so while we’re wandering outside.
Rambling from Virginia
I can’t tell you how nice it is to get away from snowy Michigan to a place with absolutely zero snow. The scenery down here is gorgeous and so refreshing from the same old views I have around my home state.
I’m currently spread out on my sister’s couch with one foot resting on my boyfriend’s lap and a lunatic cat curled up between us. Tonka, the cat, has actually been pretty good lately. He has his fits of dash-attacks to my feet, Katie’s boots and lord only knows what else, but he hasn’t kept me up all night as I expected. I’m telling you, he’s cute but NUTS. He even tries to walk sideways when he thinks you’re going to chase him so he can keep an eye on you. I’ve never seen a cat do that before.
Today we went to the National Air and Space Museum. It’s a Smithsonian museum, but it’s out in Chantilly, VA. It’s a cool place. I LOVED the space wing of it. For some reason that stuff fascinates me. It always has. I actually thought about going into a career dealing with space in middle school but decided that I didn’t have the stuff to do that. Way more math involved than I would like.
Well, as of right now, Katie’s making dinner and I should probably be helping. I haven’t been here long (we just got here last night) so I don’t have too much to blog about currently. We’ll see if I have more to say later.
Vacationing in History
In a few days, I’ll be leaving chilly Michigan for a much warmer Northern Virginia. Next week is my spring break from school and I’m using it to finally visit my sister at her place. It’ll be nice to go somewhere different. The last time I was anywhere near that area was in 8th grade when we visited Washington D.C. as a class.
The sister still has to go to work that week as she teaches middle school English and it isn’t their spring break yet. So that leaves me time to explore the area. She doesn’t live too far from Charlottesville, which from what I hear, is an absolutely beautiful old area with a world full of history. It’ll be cool to see what kind of pictures I can get with my relatively new DSLR camera.
We’re also going to take a side trip to Washington D.C. at some point. It will be so cool to be in the capitol city so shortly after such a massively pivotal election. It’s such a historical time right now. And who knows? Maybe I’ll even see the new president rolling around in his fancy new set of wheels surrounded by the ever-present motorcade. That would be something. I’m also looking forward to seeing the new WWII memorial that wasn’t there the last time I visited. I’ve heard it’s really quite something to behold. I’m hoping we can spend enough time there that I can see the city all lit up at night.
I’m also going to be looking for possible places to apply for a job. I don’t want to go so far away from home, but it’s entirely possible that I’ll have to. Given the area, there’s sure to be a lot of news organizations around along with all the other media. It would be foolish to not at least look at some of the newspapers and other publications out there.
I can’t wait to get on the road!
