Atlanta

Hi friends! A few weeks ago I traveled to Atlanta for a conference. It was my first time visiting the city, and fortunately I had some spare time to explore a bit.

The view from my hotel room....

After landing at the airport and grabbing a bite to eat, I headed to the Georgia Aquarium, which had some really cool stuff. Like an albino crocodile! I never knew such a thing existed.

At first I thought this was a statue, because it was completely motionless. But then this guy lumbered by...

We saw the dolphin show, but I didn't get any pictures there because our seats were terrible. We did visit their tank afterwards.

We spent a lot of time with the penguins.

They had a series of tunnels and underwater viewing areas that were really unique.

The otters are always my favorite. So cute and snuggly!

A sea dragon, which I don't think I've ever seen before. (I feel like the marine biology class I took in college has failed me.)

The beluga whales were fascinating.

The coolest part of the aquarium was this tunnel that goes underneath a huge tank with whale sharks, manta rays, and all kinds of other specimens.

There were also divers in the tank, as you can see. This shot shows just how big the whale sharks were.

The manta rays were also ginormous, although it's hard to tell from this shot.

I took about a million pictures of these jellyfish. I watched them for a good ten minutes. I kind of want to have a tank of these in my house.

Finally, outside the aquarium is this sculpture of a mean-looking penguin. 

Upon closer inspection, I learned that it's made up entirely of items that were found in the ocean.

Later we went to a Braves game at Turner Field.

And I suppose it wouldn't be a visit to Atlanta without a thunderstorm.

After a 90-minute delay, play finally got underway. (I think the Braves won. We didn't stay till the end.)

A visit to Atlanta also wouldn't be complete without going to the World of Coca-Cola, which is actually where our conference reception was held.

Vending machines and advertisements from around the world.

Various Olympic torches!

There's a whole room with about fifty different soft drinks produced by Coca-Cola for other countries. I'm proud to say I tried them all. Only one was downright terrible (sorry, Italy).

Another highlight of the trip was the Gone With the Wind bus tour. The book's author, Margaret Mitchell, lived in Atlanta all her life, and the premiere of the movie was famously held in the city.

Our tour guide was an actress playing Margaret Mitchell and she told us lots of stories about her life. Our first stop on the tour was her house.

They have the door used in the movie (the exterior of Tara was a facade, and the interior scenes were shot on a sound stage).

Mitchell lived in a tiny one-bedroom apartment which she called "the Dump."

Her kitchen is even smaller than mine! Apparently she didn't like to cook (we have a lot in common, I discovered).

We visited the public library, where they have a little exhibit on her life.

The typewriter she used to write her famous book...

Of course I had to get a picture of the Junior League programs...

And that's our tour guide in the background...

Lastly, we stopped at Oakland Cemetery, where she is buried. A picture of our tour group at the grave is here. 

Not surprisingly, there are quite a few Confederate soldiers buried there as well.

Well, I know that was a lot, but I have even more pictures!! Hopefully I will post those soon. Till then...

Jones Point Park

I took a walk this evening and wound up at Jones Point Park. Even though the park is less than a mile from my house, for some reason I never got around to visiting. It's not your typical park; a large chunk of it is a concrete slab underneath the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, which spans the Potomac River. There are even basketball courts under the bridge!

(By the way, I took these pictures with my phone, so the quality isn't as good as it could be.)

The park is built on the site of a former shipyard. On display is a rudder from a World War I ship that was found in the river.

There are two fishing piers at the edge of the river.

Lastly, I quickly snapped this picture of the Mount Vernon Trail, which crosses through the park, and I think it turned out rather well!

A few pics from around town

The family came out to visit a few weeks ago and we went all over town. It was tiring, but we had lots of fun! Here are a few snaps I took while trying to navigate around the masses of tourists in town for spring break (my family included).

This is on the concourse of the National Gallery of Art between the east and west buildings. The lights kept moving in variable patterns. With the moving walkway, it felt like being on Space Mountain. So cool.

Pandamania

I took the day off yesterday to see the National Zoo's newest panda cub, Bei Bei. It was a fairly cold day, so most of the zoo's animals were in hiding. But apparently pandas love the cold, luckily for us.

I believe this is Bao Bao, who was born at the zoo nearly three years ago.

Mama bear and Bei Bei were indoors. The cub was blissfully sleeping. I was happy just to be able to see him, as my previous visit to see cub Bao Bao was unsuccessful.

However, we apparently hit the lottery, according to the zoo volunteer. The cub suddenly became very active, which was quite unusual.

The gathering crowds created an interesting soundtrack, with gasps and giggles at the cub's every movement, along with the constant click of cameras.

Overall, it was a pretty good way to spend a Friday!

Blizzard 2016

I'm on my third day of being home-bound after the Great Blizzard of 2016. About 2 feet of snow has fallen in the DC area, and it's going to take a while to get back to normal. But first, the calm before the storm..

The sunrise on Friday morning, as seen from my apartment.

And the view the next morning.

And then on Saturday afternoon, when I could barely see out of my window.

It snowed all day Saturday, and when things finally cleared up on Sunday, I went for a walk around Old Town.

This is actually the Potomac River, not an open field.

That's a parking meter hiding under there.

While on my walk, I came across this bride and groom! I guess a blizzard wasn't going to stop them from getting married....good for them. (She must be freezing.)

And there's my little car, buried under a couple feet of snow. It's not going to be fun getting her out. I actually just trudged out there to do the preliminary work, and I sank up to my knees.

I hope all of you out in California are enjoying this winter!

Christmas 2015

I just got back from a chilly week in Southern California....it was actually warmer in DC than LA on Christmas day! I had a nice, relaxing time with the family. It's always good to be away from the normal routine and stresses of life.

The week started out with my nephew Alexander's 10th birthday party at an old school arcade in a warehouse. Good times were had by all.

Tricia posing with one of our favorite childhood games, Burgertime.

The next day we drove out to our grandmother's house, which is near a farm with emus, alpacas, goats, etc. And my nieces found an emu egg! It was unreal....it looked like a dinosaur egg.

We didn't steal it, BTW. One of the farm workers gave it to us.

Then my sister and I met Lacey and another friend in Beverly Hills for afternoon tea. It was quite enjoyable (aside from the caviar, which was not enjoyable; I don't understand how fish eggs can be a delicacy).

While we were in Beverly Hills, we took a stroll down Rodeo Drive and popped into some of the high-end jewelry stores. (I do love me some bling.) 

The architecture of the buildings was worth the trip in itself....so amazing! Many of the storefronts were covered in shimmering gold and silver.

Christmas itself was relatively quiet and low-key. My brother John was definitely missed.

[We did not plan our outfits together.]

Tanner's favorite spot in front of the fire. The life of a dog sure is ruff.

Happy New Year, y'all!

Sunrise

I have a few east-facing windows in my new apartment. So when I get up early on those cold winter mornings, I often get to see a beautiful sunrise such as this one.