Trips around United States
Washington DC
A week and a half after getting back from Arizona, I headed to New York for the holidays, and then to Washington DC for this winter's AAS Conference. While there wasn't much particularly amazing at the conference (at least photography-wise), I did spend a few days afterward wandering around Washington DC. A bit colder than California, but I didn't mind too much (well, perhaps the mid-twenties temperature with brisk wind was a bit low for wandering around the Mall). I did stop by the Supreme Court and the Library of Congress, and spent half a day at the National Zoo (where not all the animals were hiding because of the cold). Plus, I got to see the original spectrograph from the Palomar 200" telescope at the Air and Space Museum, which made me very glad that we now use computers at observatories.
Bushkill Falls
Today, my family and I took a trip to the Poconos to see Bushkill Falls. Apart from the commercialization of the place, it was a beautiful area.
North Carolina, Eno River, and Duke Gardens
This weekend I flew out to Durham, NC to visit a friend who is a graduate student at Duke Univeristy. On the way there, I tried out doing some photography from the plain. It's definitely nothing amazing, but some of the photographs you can get from 30,000 feet in the air are interesting. Unfortunately Delta did not clean the plane's windows prior to my flight so the photos are rather hazy.
While in Durham, we spent some time in Duke's botanical gardens as well as Eno River State Park. The botanical gardens are hosting a water lily competition this year, making for some amazing lilies being displayed. Eno River was a nice state park where we went for a hike. Overall it was a great trip and a good chance for some good photos.
Florida and the Everglades
As a result of some really cheap airfare I found, we took a weekend trip to Florida to see Miami and the Everglades National Park. Conditions there were perfect - not too hot and not too cold - and, being the wet season, there was plenty of wildlife everywhere, including many birds and alligators. Take a look at the rest of the photographs.
Day 8: Zion National Park
Please see the first post on this trip for important details about this post.
Zion National Park is probably the most beautiful park I've ever been to thus far. It is simply stunning and although we only hiked one trail (the Emerald Pools trail), it was absolutely amazing. This is definitely one park I plan to come back to again.
