A Visit to the National Arboretum

Today I visited the National Arboretum in Washington, DC for the first time.
You can buy a handful of special food for 50 cents to feed the koi.  Not only
were they beautiful, they were very hungry too!

There were many bonsai on display, all amazing, but this azalea bonsai in bloom really stood out as a sign of spring on a cold, rainy day.

Due to the windy weather and impending rainstorm, we headed out after seeing the bonsai trees.  I'd love to go back to explore more of the arboretum on a sunny day.  I'd even like to ride the tram to hear the history.

Jerusalem Mill, Jericho Road Covered Bridge and Vinegar Hill Road

Jerusalem in Maryland.

Just past Jerusalem Mill on Jericho Road.

Approaching the Jericho Road covered bridge.

Jericho Road covered bridge.

Vinegar Hill Road bridge over Little Gunpowder Falls.

Cooperstown, The Other Days

Well, many months have passed since I started writing about our trip to Cooperstown. The Baseball Hall of Fame was pretty great. I learned a lot and got to see Felix Pie's shoes! Howe Caverns was very pretty. We were excited to go there because of the underground boat ride that they are known for. Unfortunately, there had been a whole lot of rain in the weeks prior to our visit and that part of the cavern was flooded. Howe Caverns was discovered by a farmer who realized his cows preferred standing in the bright sun in the middle of the fields. His neighbor's cows all liked to stand under trees during the day. He investigated and found a cool breeze coming up out of the land and below that were the caves. Lake Otsego was practically overflowing because of all of the rain that week. The Joseph L. Popp Butterfly Conservatory was very small, but beautiful. We had a chance to get very close to some butterflies, birds, and a turtle eating a banana! Breakfast at Stagecoach Coffee was delicious and we had a fantastic fancy dinner at the Hoffman Lane Bistro next to where we stayed. Overall, a great trip! In the future, if we go back, I would like to go in late spring or early summer because a lot of the other attractions opened the day we left (April 1st). It is a quaint, small town with very friendly people. The Cooperstown General Store was also outstanding and old fashioned. I bought some Lilies of the Valley bulbs there that have grown nicely in my garden.

Cooperstown, NY-Day1

Jason and I took a vacation to Cooperstown, New York. It was about a 5 1/2 hour drive from Baltimore. We arrived in the early evening and after walking around town, we ate dinner at the Cooperstown Diner (a small diner with great service and good sized portions). Jason had fried haddock and french fries and I had a grilled cheese with sweet potato wedges. We stayed at Visions Inn (the annex building to the Lake Front Motel--which was under renovation during our visit). While it was very close to the Baseball Hall of Fame and convenient to Main Street, it didn't quite meet the expectations raised by the following quote off of the website, "Our annex building, Visions Inn, located 1/2 block from Main Street on Hoffman Lane, once an 1800's Brewery, has been totally renovated into a luxurious modern-day Country Inn."

A Trip to Fort McHenry

I went to Fort McHenry yesterday with my friend Clare and her friend Camila from Brazil. The weather was beautiful and we went on the full tour (which was complimentary yesterday to our happy surprise). There were reenactors playing the drums, cool sculptures, canons, mannequins, the sea wall walkway, tugboats, neat patterns and more. Then we went to a great pub in Locust Point and had delicious blueberry cobbler! A fun, summer day! Thanks Clare!

Easter Sunday at the Druid Hill Conservatory

William Penn's Hat

My school sent me to Philadelphia to an AP workshop this weekend and I was very excited that from my hotel room (on the 24th floor) I had a view of both William Penn's statue on top of Philadelphia's City Hall and the PSFS building!

One of my favorite classes in college was an architecture history class where I learned so many interesting facts about architecture throughout the world and those facts have stayed with me. In particular, I remembered that at one time architects didn't build their buildings taller than the top of William Penn's hat and that the PSFS building was the first skyscraper built in the International style in the U.S. It is like a file cabinet for businessmen, modern and organized with lovely red neon letter lights.

While I was enjoying all of the modern sights of Philadelphia, I was also enjoying the historic, classic sights too. I was quite taken with the inside of an elevator at the Philadelphia Museum of Art's Perelman Building.

Muffler Man with Dog

This muffler man with his dog at the Meineke on Eastern Ave. is one of my favorite things to see in our neighborhood.

Pittsburgh, PA

Jason and I took a trip to Pittsburgh, PA this weekend. We stopped at Falling Water on the way, saw a bird eating a telephone book at the National Aviary, rode the Duquesne Incline, and took photos from the Mt. Washington neighborhood. We also visited the Andy Warhol Museum (where they were celebrating Andy's birthday, so admission was only 80 cents and they had cupcakes!) and the Mattress Factory (robots!).

Some new friends.

I met these new friends on Saturday at my aunt's farm!