ResQgeek

My new camera arrived on Tuesday! This evening was hazy and overcast, not exactly great photography conditions, but I wanted to play. So I decided to head to one of my favorite parks in this area. Gravely point is just off the north end of the primary runway at National Airport, and the landing airplanes pass so low overhead that it almost feels like you can reach up and touch them. I took a bunch of pictures, including these, which skyring should appreciate.
( pictures )

One of the old traditions here in Washington is the Annual Easter Egg Roll. On the Monday after Easter, the South Lawn at the White House is opened to the public, and the children line up to roll eggs on the lawn. I'm not sure of all the history, but the kids roll Easter Eggs with spoons down a twenty foot track on the lawn. They also have lots of other activities, including face painting, egg coloring, book reading, and much, much, more.

We've taken our daughters a couple of other years, and my wife has been planning to take them again this year for months now. At first, I thought I'd have too much to do at work to be able to join them. However, things worked out, and I was able to make time to make it a family outing.

Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate, and by the time we made it through security and got onto the South Lawn, the rain was coming down in torrents. We immediately got in line to roll eggs, which moved quickly, and the kids got to roll their eggs. We then took some pictures of the kids in front of the White House, and I released a small pile of books (here's a BookCrossing forum thread that lists my releases).

I turned out that we were among the very last people allowed onto the lawn. About ten o'clock they decided to cancel the event because of the weather. We soon found ourselves being herded toward the exit, as the guards and volunteers tried to clear the grounds. By this point we were all complete soaked and ready to head home.

This event is a great deal of fun on a nice day. Still, even with the monsoon rains, it is cool to actually be walking on the White House grounds! These are the things that make me glad I live in the Washington area.

( Some pictures from this morning )

Twenty-four hours ago, I was on my way to Dulles Airport to pick up skyring as he arrived from "down under." After collecting him and his luggage, I took him on a brief drive past the monuments in Washington before heading home. We sat up until midnight talking. Today, in spite of the winter storm warning, we headed back out to Dulles Airport to visit the Air and Space Museum Annex. I had never been there before, and it would have been inconvenient for skyring to make it out there on his own this week. It was awesome to stand next to the space shuttle, the SR-71, a Concorde and the Enola Gay. Unfortunately, by the time we left the museum, the storm had descended. It took a long time to get skyring to his hotel to await the arrival of his wife, traffic crawled along at about 20-30 mph. I've driven in worse snow, and this drive would have been a breeze if I had been the only car on the road. Even with the other traffic, though, we eventually arrived safely at the hotel in NW Washington.

After dropping skyring, I headed for home. It took most of another hour to finish the drive. I found my wife and daughters up the street behind my daughter's elementary school, along with most of the other families from the neighborhood. Sleds of every description, full of screaming children (and the occasional adult as well) were racing down the hill behind the playground. It was quite the community event.

Tomorrow, I've got to get the snow blower out of the shed and clear the snow out of our driveway (and the neighbor's as well), and bring some more firewood up from the pile out back so we can keep the wood stove going through the week. Maybe we'll head back up to the school to do some more sledding!