Travel

Gloucester, Massachusetts from Stage Fort Park

Today was our first full day in Massachusetts. We drove up yesterday, arriving in the early afternoon, and spent the rest of the afternoon getting settled. In the evening we went to the Catacombs service that Dorothy participates in and enjoyed it very much. Because it is a week day, Dorothy had classes today. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are her busy days with three classes ending at about 3:00 p.m. Cathy and I drove to Gloucester this morning and wandered around the downtown area. We might have visited the Cape Ann Museum but it’s closed on Mondays.

Motif No. 1, Rockport, Massachusetts

We went south west of town to Stage Fort Park. The park is the historic site of Gloucester’s first settlers in 1623. We we climbed onto the huge rock that is the most obvious feature of the park, after reading the plaque embedded in it’s front. The first picture posted here is from the top of that, looking down over Half Moon Beach and the old fortifications.

We picked up Dorothy after her afternoon class and then drove back out through Gloucester to Rockport, northeast of Gloucester. We first went to the harbor and took in ‘Motif No. 1’ on Bradley Wharf. It is a “replica of a former fishing shack well known to students of art and art history as ‘the most often-painted building in America.’” I guess I see why it’s so often painted, but these things tend not to live up to their names. It was first called Motif No. 1 by the American painter Lester Hornby (1882–1956).

Hermit Crab

From the harbor we drove to the old burying ground on Beach Street. According to the nearby historical marker, the plot was given by the first settler, Richard Tarr, who was buried here in 1732. Cathy is a big fan of old cemeteries. We also walked out onto Front Beach. As the tide was out, we could walk a good way out, looking for shells and things among the rocks on the west end of the beach. Dorothy found this hermit crab, which I was able to photograph on a seaweed covered rock.

Terminal B, Reagan National Airport

Dorothy flew home this evening for the service tomorrow and we picked her up at Reagan National Airport. It’s been redone since the old days when it was a dark and cramped space. Terminal B is large, airy, and quite pretty. During the day, it’s quite bright, but of course, less so at night. Dorothy’s flight was delayed so we had a bit of time to kill I took some pictures showing the high, vaulted ceiling and the tall, glass wall facing the runway.

Rockland Bakery, Nanuet, NY

We drove home from Gordon College today, a drive of about 465 miles. Just under half way (in terms of miles, if not hours) is Nanuet, New York, home of Rockland Bakery. It’s just west of the Tappan Zee Bridge over the Hudson River. We figured fresh bagels and cream cheese would make a nice lunch and it’s hard to get them much fresher than when they are coming out of the oven onto a conveyor belt as you watch. In this picture are large rolls, also still hot from the oven, with a crunchy crust and soft crumb. It was mesmerizing to watch (and I took a short video, as well!). Behind me as I took this photo was rack upon rack of breads, muffins, and pastries of every description. If you happen to be in the area, you could make worse decisions than stopping here for a bag of bread. (http://www.RocklandBakery.com/)

Gloucester Fisherman’s Memorial

Today was officially move-in day for incoming freshmen at Gordon College but because she returned from La Vida (the school sponsored camping trip) last night, she was able to move in then. That gave us some free time while the other freshmen were moving in. We went to Manchester-by-the-Sea and had a late breakfast at the Beach Street Cafe. Then we drove out to Gloucester and saw the Fisherman’s Memorial. It started to rain while we were there. We drove around a little more but mostly stayed in the car.

After that, we met some friends for lunch. We spent a little time in Dorothy’s dorm room while she unpacked and got settled in a little bit. In the evening, there were orientation events, some for Dorothy, some for us, and some together.

Ocean Isle Beach

It was ten days ago as I’m writing this, but we spent a fairly short week at Ocean Isle Beach starting today. The drive down was about as bad as it has ever been, with horrible traffic past Fredericksburg and then again approaching the Richmond bypass. Just before the bridge over the James on the bypass, the Virginia Department of Transportation had decided to close all but one lane. They were not actually doing anything, but they made a significant impact on traffic. There was another backup south of Wilmington, but we went around that.

Anyway, we made it to the beach and things are a bit more relaxed already. Cathy and I took a walk toward the pier early this evening and I took this picture, among others. I love watching the waves wash up onto the sand and then disappear again, leaving colors behind them, which then fade as the sand absorbs the last of the water.

View From Sandia Crest

Cathy and I had some free time this afternoon, along with a rental car. It was quite warm in downtown Albuquerque so I thought a quick drive up to Sandia Peak would be nice. It was considerably cooler at 10,678 ft (3,255 m) but we sure felt the altitude. It was quite hazy, particularly to the west, looking out over the city, but to the south a little less so and I got this photograph, which I think is pretty nice. You can just see the edge of Albuquerque to the right of center. We also enjoyed the wildflowers on the mountain: Western Wallflower (Erysimum capitatum), Star Solomon Seal (Maianthemum stellatum), Scarlet Paintbrush (Castilleja miniata), Rocky Mountain iris (Iris missouriensis), and more. There was even a wild (or feral, perhaps) clematis.

Planes, BWI Airport

We took a fairly sudden trip to Albuquerque today, having bought the tickets yesterday. Travel days are often difficult in terms of getting photographs, because so much of the time is spent either driving or tucked away in a metal can hurtling through the air. I did manage to get a few pictures in the airport, including this one of some planes at BWI airport. As I write this, we are home again, but the next few photographs in my daily blog will be from New Mexico. By the way, in case anyone cares, I think US Airways / American Airlines is pretty pathetic in terms of customer service. If you can fly with anyone else, I recommend it. The individuals are nice. It’s not that. It’s the policies that they have to follow. Stupid.

Lower Manhattan

The wedding we were here for wasn’t until 4:00 p.m. so we had the morning and early afternoon to wander a bit more. We started off with bagels at a little place on Elizabeth Street and then walked over to Broadway and down a ways on that before heading back into Chinatown, where we bought a late morning snack of dumplings and pancake at Prosperity Dumpling. It’s hard to beat four pork dumplings for a dollar.

We walked out onto the Manhattan Bridge and I took this picture of the Brooklyn Bridge and lower Manhattan from there. It was a beautiful day, clear and pleasant, probably in the upper 70s (although I didn’t check).

Little Italy and the Empire State Building

I’ve already posted the second of these pictures on Facebook but wanted to get them here on the blog as well, and send them to Instagram. We drove up to Manhattan Friday morning for a wedding tomorrow (stay tuned for a picture of the bride and groom for tomorrow’s picture). We got here at about 1:30 and after getting settled into our hotel room we walked around a bit. Then, after another break, we headed out to find a place for dinner. We decided on Italian and since we were on the edge of Little Italy, we thought that would be a good choice. As it happens, a bunch of the streets in Little Italy are closed to all but pedestrian traffic on weekends throughout the summer, starting today. This is the view north on Mulberry Street with the Empire State Building in the distance. As you can see, the place was hopping. We got a table at the early end of dinner time, which was nice because we hadn’t had lunch. Not the cheapest place in the world but pretty good food.

Williamsburg Bridge at Sunset

After dinner we walked north a little bit and then east, heading out onto the Williamsburg Bridge. Traffic into town was pretty backed up but of course we were on foot, so that didn’t make any difference. There was a fair amount of bicycle traffic heading towards Brooklyn. The sun was setting in the west and it’s a bit tricky to get a picture of the bridge because of the fence and girders to keep people from climbing up onto the bridge. Past the bridge tower I was able to look up and see the tower.

This picture turned out quite well, I think. Both pictures for this post were actually three exposures taken in rapid succession and three different shutter speeds (one under exposed, one as metered, and the last over exposed). Then, I have software that combines the three into a single image, allowing a much greater amount of dynamic range, which is why the process is called High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography.

To get really good pictures of a place you normally need to be there for an extended period, but I think I managed to get two pretty reasonable pictures today, which makes me pretty happy.

Mosaic, American Visionary Art Museum

We happened to be up in Baltimore today. Thankfully we were there either before the riots started or were in a different part of the city. We had been downtown before 9:00 a.m. and then headed over to Federal Hill. We walked around a bit and enjoyed the art around the American Visionary Art Museum. This is a portion of the glass mosaic on the south side of the building.

From there we went out to Fort McHenry. It was a little cool and windy today but nice and we enjoyed being outdoors. From Fort McHenry we went to Elkridge and had tacos from the R&R Taqueria—a little place in a gas station that makes righteous tacos. Certainly a better day that if we had been caught up in the mayhem that went down in the city.