2007 Northeast Trip #1
Nice View - First up was a visit to Donna's friend's sister's house for Easter dinner. This is their country home near Harper's Ferry in Maryland. Because the leaves are off the trees, and you squint a little, you can see the Potomac River. (04/08/2007)
Lock House - Before dinner, Donna, Sally, Sally's brother-in-law and I took a brisk (in more ways than one) two mile walk along the tow path of the Chesapeake & Ohio canal. (04/09/2007)
Lock #37 - This is Lock #37 and the house where the lock master stayed. This is about 67 miles from Georgetown and 117 miles from the other end in Cumberland, MD. (04/09/2007)
Sacrifice - Two neo-classical equestrian sculptures, "The Arts of War" by Leo Friedlander, stand at the Washington end of the Arlington Memorial Bridge. Sacrifice is in the foreground and Valor is in the background. (04/10/2007)
Music and Harvest - Steps away from the statues at the end of the Arlington Memorial Bridge are two more neo-classical statues "The Arts of Peace" by James Earle Fraser. This is Music and Harvest. I didn't take one of Aspiration and Literature. (04/10/2007)
Lincoln Memorial - Washington got a skinny little phallic symbol and Abraham Lincoln got this big old building worthy of the Greek God Zeus. Well I shouldn't feel too sorry for George, after all the named the whole town for the guy. (04/10/2007)
Honest Abe - While this statue of Mr. Lincoln by Daniel Chester French is impressive, all I see when I look at it is the final scene from the 2001 remake of the Planet of the Apes movie. (04/10/2007)
Class Trip - Doesn't matter what time of the year or what day of the week it is when you visit Washington DC you are bound to run into groups of students doing the same. I love the look on the girl in the front right. (04/10/2007)
Paddles - Cute sign tacked to the restroom doors at the Licoln Memorial. Paddles explains - "These activities damage the trees, allowing insects and disease to infect them. We want our small young trees to grow into stout, old trees. They won't have a chance, if they get damaged." (04/10/2007)
Korean War Memorial I - This would have been so much more emotional if the ground these fellows were walking over was snow covered, but it was cold enough already to feel like winter in April. (04/10/2007)
Korean War Memorial II - There were hundreds of these shadowy figures bead blasted into the granite wall that ran the length of the column of men statues. (04/10/2007)
Korean War Memorial III - In the background you can see the engraving and the reflection of the statues that make up the Korean War Memorial. (04/10/2007)
Freedom Is Not Free - This engraving is on the granite wall opposite the small reflecting pool of the Korean War Memorial. (04/10/2007)
Vietnam War Memorial I - A view of the Vietnam War Memorial from behind The Three Soldiers statue that was added later to quell the "controversial" design of the Wall. (04/10/2007)
Vietnam War Memorial II - The granite is from India and was chosen for its reflective properties. Here you can see the Washington Monument's reflection along with the photographer's, his wife and her friend. (04/10/2007)
Vietnam War Memorial III - One end of the wall points at the Washington Monument while the other points towards the Lincoln Memorial forming a 125 degree angle. (04/10/2007)
Women's Vietnam War Memorial - This woman waited patiently on a nearby bench as Donna, Sally and I walked all around the Womans Vietnam War Memorial. As we we leaving she got up and kneeled in front of it. Pehaps her mother served... (04/10/2007)
Kilroy Was Here - Was Kilroy a shipyard inspector whose chalked inspection signature inspired many a G.I. in WWII? We will never know for sure, but in tribute to that ubiquitous grafitti of the Second World War, it was engraved in a panel on the back side of the memorial. (04/10/2007)
World War II Memorial II - World War II has been called the Big One by many and it's long overdue Memorial certainly deserves that same nickname. (04/10/2007)
World War II Memorial III - In fact the Memorial is so big that even on my second attempt at a panoramic shot to take it all in, I failed miserably. (04/10/2007)
Cherry Blossoms - I got the idea for this shot from one of the DC Tourism web pages. There were a couple dozen hints on where to go to capture some great Washington photos. There are still plenty more there for next time: http://tinyurl.com/yuvcc6 (04/10/2007)
- Even though the majority of the blossoms were gone, there were a few trees that were still looking good. (04/10/2007)
Blossom Breakfast - You just know these people paid big bucks for a pampering tour involving Cherry Blossoms. They were in the middle of the two week festival and ordinarily it would have been worth the money, but Mr. Weather played some dirty tricks including a heavy rain and windy day knocking most of the flowers off the trees and dropping the temperature 20 degrees below where it was supposed to be. (04/10/2007)
Bicycle Valet Parking - Nothing remarkably photogenic here, but I just ahd to capture the sign announcing valet parking for bicyclists. Most of the time you are lucky to find a street sign to chain your bicycle to. (04/10/2007)
Jefferson Memorial I - Another of those tips mentioned framing the Jefferson Memorial with a branch full of cherry blossoms, but with that option off the table I settled for this image. (04/10/2007)
Jefferson Memorial II - I kind of like this image of the lone person on the steps looking up at the statue of Mr. Jefferson. (04/10/2007)
Arlington Memorial Bridge - An interesting sky floats above the Arlington Memorial Bridge as we made our way towards it to cross back into Virginia. (04/10/2007)
Great Falls I - On Tuesday morning as we left DC behind we made a stop at the Great Falls National Park in Maryland. When searching the net for info most of it concerns the Virginia side, but for our money the Maryland side is just as interesting, if not more so. (04/11/2007)
Great Falls II - After you have crossed over one section of the falls on a rickety bridge you get to another falls on a wider portion of the Potomac River. (04/11/2007)
Lock #17 - Also in the Great Falls Park is more of the C & O Canal. This is Lock #17 at about mile marker 15 from Georgetown. (04/11/2007)
Quiet Pool - Downstream from the falls between the river and the canal there are a couple of quiet, almost eerie, pools. (04/11/2007)
Maryland Horseplay? - Back in 2004 the city of Aiken had a public art project involving fiberglass horses. This looks like it uses the same form as the Aiken horses, but although I don't have a photo of every horse, I'm fairly sure this isn't an Aiken horse. There must have been another art project using horses, but an interent search reveaks none. (04/11/2007)
Grey Towers I - At the end of the driving day we were in Milford, PA and as we drove into to town looking for lodging and a meal we saw signs for the Grey Towers National Historic Site, so we followed them up a hill to a great stone house. It was the home of Gifford Pinchot who is the great grandfather of Bronson Pinchot who played Balki Bartokomous on the TV show Perfect Strangers. (04/11/2007)
Grey Towers II - I was just kidding about the Bronson thing, Gifford Pinchot was a conservationist, a Pennsylvania governor and America?s first chief Forester. The home is built in the manor of a French chateau, but if I was location scouting and needed a place to film a vampire movie, this would be it. (04/11/2007)
Ice Crystals - It was a pretty cold night in northeastern PA and these nifty crystal formations on the side window of the rental car were proof. (04/12/2007)
Scraping Ice - The ice crystals were a lot more prevalent and closer together on the windshield. Lucky for me the folks at Alamo left an ice scraper on the back shelf. Donna snapped this image as she sat inside the rapidly warming interior of the car. (04/12/2007)
Port Jervis RR Station - The old Victorian Port Jervis Railroad Station has found new life after a restoration as a Medical Center. (04/11/2007)
Port Jervis Roundhouse - The Port Jervis Railroad Roundhouse has not fared as well as the old station. It really pales in comparison to the one in Savannah, GA. http://tinyurl.com/2fkl2w (04/11/2007)
West Cornwall - This historic, red-painted bridge was designed by Ithiel Town and built in 1841. It's been in continuous service since 1864--you can still drive across the bridge, which spans the Housatonic River for a distance of 242-feet. It is said to be the state's most photogenic specimen, but you wouldn't know it on this cold rainy day. (04/12/2007)
Kent Falls State Park - This bridge was built only in 1974 as an added attraction for the Kent Falls State Park. The falls looked pretty interesting, but again the cold and the rain meant a return trip in the summer was necessary to enjoy them.(04/12/2007)
Bulls Bridge - Bulls Bridge spans the Housatonic River and continues to carry traffic leaving Connecticut for nearby New York State. It was built in 1842 and still has the charming, rustic look of days gone by. (04/12/2007)
Ice Possible - While out driving in the rain looking for covered bridges our helpful little Pontiac G6 would reminded us, every time I started it up, that the road might be icy. There were several times that the thermometer read 32 degrees, but it was always rain coming down. (04/12/2007)
Table Full of Cousins I - From the right going counterclockwise: Cousin Susie, her oldest daughter Jessica, Donna, Mr. Cousin Susie - Alex, Susie and Alex's middle daughter Megan, their youngest - Katelyn and Cousin Mary's daughter Kristen. (04/13/2007)
Table Full of Cousins II - Same group just shot from the other end of the table. Here you get to see Cousin Mary (pink shirt) whose table we are gathered around. (04/13/2007)
Househusband Jim - Cousin Mary's husband Jim does a little cleaning up while everyone else is sitting around the table chatting. Jim works for the New York Stock Exchange and used to work as a trader on the floor, but now he has a less noisy job in a back room deciding the fates of Fortune 500 companies. (04/13/2007)
Manhattan Sunrise - A view of the sun coming up over Manhattan from the 8th floor of the Newark Airport Marriott Hotel. (4/14/2007)
Terminal B - This looked like the newest terminal at Dulles. It was not very crowded, perhaps all the gates weren't in use yet. We ate at a Fudruckers here before heading over to our gate for the flight home. (04/15/2007)
Rainy Dulles - The torrential rains we drove through from NJ to get here had quit leaving behind a pretty steady rain. A failed attempt to get a picture of the historical terminal and tower and their little shuttle buses. (04/15/2007)