HTC Eris: My New Friend

So i realize that this blog is meant to be photography based, but I have been pretty smitten with my newest camera option. That's right folks, I Got a new Phone! Everyone, meet the HTC Eris.

Isn't it beautiful? I must admit, I have never been much of a gadgety-toy fan. My phones up to this point have been practical. I had a bare-bones motorola to start my cell career off with almost six years ago, probably wouldn't have even gotten a cell phone in the first place if my parents hadn't realized that just giving me a phone card meant that it was highly unlikely that they would ever hear from me while i was living away at college. So one day i found myself at verizon wireless with my parents, and I ended up walking away with a phone.

Two years later, the texting phenomenon actually hit me. My first Motorola was just b&w basic digital cell phone, didn't even receive picture messages (although it did have greek letter options, which i have not found in any phone i have owned since...)

Anyway, the point of my reminiscence is to illustrate that I haven't ever bothered to have the top-of-the-line doo-dads. I just haven't ever really seen any need for the extra bells and whistles. My last upgrade opted for the significance of a camera over texting or anything else and i got the Samsung Flipshot. Great phone. I probably could have happily kept it for another 9 months before i left for Ireland, but when i went into the Verizon store last week, I was quite taken with the Eris.

I have to confess that I am a sucker for a cleverly designed ad. When i was entertaining the notion of getting a new phone, HTC wasn't really even in my thoughts. I love this commercial though.

I don't have much experience with smart phones, aside from dinking around with friends' phones, my main basis of comparison for a multi-function gadget is the iPod Touch. Every touch-screen smart phone i have had the opportunity to test out have always seemed rather bulky. The Blackberry storm seamed pretty beastly when i first saw one. Kind of bulky and cumbersome. Then there's the Motorola Droid, which i have heard is a fabulous phone, and it is quite fun to play with, but it's even worse. Kind of brick-like, it's function didn't really trump its design for me. Maybe it's more appropriately a guy phone, I don't know. I could just be too much of a girl and want a sleek and refined design. There's just something kind of back-to-the-future vintage to Motorola's Droid I am not entirely on board with.

So the Eris is a sleek phone. I did the no-no of getting a case for it too. I know that that's a unfashionable for the smart-phone addicts out there, detracting from the purity of the phone. I was surprised by how nice it looks. For one thing, i'm a fan of the color, but the back-hug design doesn't really thicken the phone, and I rather like it.

The screen is slightly smaller than the iPod touch and responds just as well, although I have noticed that there is a little bit of a delay on executing commands. It's not ridiculously slow, I'm just used to the iPod Touch being quicker. Typing on the keyboard is about what you would expect as well, although it's pretty sophisticated. I may just have slightly fat fingers, so using the keyboard in portrait-mode is a little more complicated and slow than if i do it in landscape. I also sometimes get a little ahead of myself and skip letters. I imagine it just goes with the territory. The spell-check options are pretty great though, I just need to focus on proof-reading what i write.

I love that you can sync up your phonebook contact list to facebook contacts, but I don't enjoy that because i have a number of friends put into the phone under various misnomers, they didn't automatically get identified by my phone. I have had to go through my contact list, syncing them manually which gets a little tedious. I still haven't finished that task...

One thing that was slightly annoying when i first got the phone, the VZW rep who was helping me took it upon herself to setup my Gmail, Twitter and Facebook accounts for the phone. I am not entirely sure why that was deemed necessary at the time because I had to go back and redo it anyway. Then it took a solid 3 days for my Gmail to finally start syncing to the 'desktop'? client (i don't know what the proper term for that is). Randomly it just popped up with notifications today after three days of telling me that my inbox was empty even though i have at least 80 messages in it, so I don't know what she did. If you, good reader, go in to get this phone and they start asking you for your logins and passwords, just tell them you'd be more comfortable doing that on your own, because I'm pretty sure it didn't do anything for me.

I've tried three different Twitter clients (why there have to be so damned many of those things is beyond me) so far. Peep is awful, and it was the standard program that was setup on my phone for twitter. Just a bad design, slow in responding pretty much requiring fully manual refreshing, and overall just a bad application. Don't bother with it. Twidroid was the next one i tried out, and it had a really high rating, and is a pretty great application. I love that when it refreshes the tweets, rather than sending you to the top of the list, it keeps you at your current point so you can just scroll up. Seesmic, which is the last one i tried out, doesn't do that, but that's pretty much my only complaint for it. The "reply all" option is amazing and i think it should be borrowed by a number of clients for computer since i'm constantly copying and pasting extra recipients. That's what i've been using pretty much exclusively now and am happy with it. I'm open to other clients if someone has a suggestion that is pretty awesome.

Now in the true spirit of this blog, on to the photo stuff!

The 5M camera is great. Not going to say it's any better than my 3M on the Flipshot, and I feel like the lack of a flash definitely limits its low-light capabilities. I have also noticed some weird streaking going on in the pixels, especially in the low-light photos. May only be visible to me because i'm looking for flaws or nagging little issues, but it's pretty minimal and may be contributed partially to a dirty lens.

I love that i can tap a part of the image i am trying to photograph and focus manually on it that way. I had also managed to get the shutter to release with a tap on the screen at one point but haven't managed to get the camera to repeat the fete recently. Anyway, Overall, quite pleased with the camera's basic effects. It captures images quite well. Kind of curious if the lens-adapters for the iPhone would function on it. Something to try out later on down the road.

Then i added the FxCamera application and things kept getting more amusing. For a few months now, I have been envious of the iPhone's fun camera applications that could manipulate the photos the phone took to look like toy-camera images and other amusing things I could easily manipulate my own digital photos into looking like on photoshop. I'm so happy that i can be extra lazy now and just make my phone automatically do it for me. Here's a sampling of the options and how i feel about them:

The Toy Camera Filter- This is my favorite one. I guess i love the vignetting and the faux-cross-processed look of them. They just feel so delightfully fake and hipster, but i like it anyway. I'm probably being the biggest hypocrite for loving this, but I guarantee that i will shoot a number of photos in this filter and not regret it one bit. There are a number of different qualities within the option too. such as two different tonalities of cross-processing (for those who are unfamiliar with this term, It's when you process film products in an alternate chemical process, such as processing a positive, or slide, film with a negative producing chemical or vice versa. It alters the color properties of the film) and other different variations of warmth in the tonal range of the images. I guess I am most amused by the fact that it takes an image that is extremely lo-fi for digital photography and emulating a lo-fi medium in film photography. It just makes me happy (even though it is probably kitschy)

The Mirror-Image Filter- Yea, i know, it's a really lame technique that you don't even really want to use in photobooth, but it's kind of fun to have in the phone... maybe?

Polaroid- Kind of the same story as the toy camera, it's pretty silly to have this option available on a cameraphone, but i am amused by it anyway and will more than likely use it a lot. I like that the color qualities are altered by this filter as well. It kind of ghetto-fies the color warmth as though it were actually shot in the polaroid camera.

now a REALLY cool thing for them to include would be to allow you to draw on the picture like you can with a real polaroid while it's developing. At least I would be up for having that option

Just saying...

Fish-eye Lens- I have to admit, I have never really had much interest in the fish-eye lens thing. I have used one before, and while it is entertaining, you get done with one roll of film, process it, make a few prints and say to yourself, "well that was fun, now for something that isn't so gimmicky."

I think it would be amusing to couple it with some color-alteration, such as going greyscale or sepia... the pineapple isn't probably the best subject to use as an example.

I also don't like that it's pretty obvious where the pixels are stretched in the apex of the bubble. oh well though. May come in handy at some point. you never know.

Andy Warhol-esque- This is neither the time nor the place to have my rant about how kitschy and lame i think the 'warhol' images (and the man's work itself altogether) are, so i'll just say that I'm not particularly impressed with the execution of this filter in the first place. I don't even use the option on photobooth, so it's really not my bag. Maybe someone out there is dying to have this option at the ready for that chance encounter, I just don't happen to be one of them.

I guess that's kind of it for now. I am looking for other applications for the phone, just to dink around with, so if anyone stumbles upon something brilliant and clever or wants to challenge me to use something else on the phone, please shout it out. I'm up for it.

On Call

By the Kings of Leon
There are a surprising number of public phones available wherever I go, it seems.
Pretty sure nobody uses them, so they just kind of stand there as monuments to the days of analog.
At least it still only costs 50 cents.

Don't Drink Poison

by Le Tigre.
Truth be told, i didn't really take the song as a whole into account. Just kind of focused on the title and did a staged image, rather than what i have been doing, which is taking photos of things i encounter.
Wasn't what i had originally envisioned, but it's kind of interesting. And it's coffee.

Just Because

I don't really have a specific song to go with this picture. I was walking to catch the shuttle for class on Thursday. This just caught my eye. It's been raining for about 4 days straight, everything is soggy and a little darker because they're all water-logged. I don't mind so much, it just puts a bit of a damper on getting to wander around.
If you need some music to accompany this image, here are a couple of nice mood-setting songs. Don't have anything to do with the image more than that i just enjoy their tempo and mood. Enjoy.
Still looking for feedback btw :)
"Everybody's Gotta Learn Sometime" - Beck
"Weary Memory" Iron & Wine (I'm on a bit of a kick...)

Upwards Over the Mountain

"Upwards Over the Mountain" by Iron and Wine.
So I must admit, the song I chose to couple this image with, thematically, really has nothing to do with the photo. The song is more about a mother/child relationship and letting the child take wing and set themselves on their own path. It's the way that that is related though that i felt there was some connection. The character of the song is relating a series of glimpses into his personal history involving his mother, asking her not to worry. I feel like flying is such a liberating experience. I still smile like a little kid every time the plane takes off, as everyone else ducks their head into a book or magazine, not reveling in the magic of taking flight.
I feel like above the ground, like that, your perspective is opened, you see the bigger picture and stand outside yourself, observing, reflecting rather than being an active participant in the world below, just like in the song, as the narrator reflects on events in his life.
Life only recommences once you touch down, you're heading to your destination or your next connection... The rhythm of the song lulls me too. anyway, agree or disagree, that's just how i see it.
I also kind of decided that "On Your Wings" by Iron and Wine would work well with this too...

"Sons are like birds,
flying always over the mountain..."

When the Lights Go Out

Truth be told, this picture doesn't give you a very good idea of the way this actually looks, but oh well. It's one time, low light, when the cell phone shows how poorly manageable its functions are.
Reminds me of when i was a kid, i was always fascinated by the light that shone down from streetlights on my block where i grew up. I promise, i'm not ADD, but it just looked interesting and felt like a different world. I had a good imagination.
Anywho, The Black Keys "When the Lights Go Out" haven't had much time to work on this, that and nothing's piqued my fancy as far as the requested songs have gone (meaning i haven't found scenes or things that feel appropriate to me. I'm still working on them though, promise)
Heading to MT today, so hopefully i stumble upon some more things that get me taking pics.

The World Spins Madly On

"The World Spins Madly On" by the Weepies.
sorry i haven't gotten to any more requests at this point. The opportunity for this image presented itself and i had to take advantage of it. This was on the Metro heading into the city. No idea what had happened to the window to crack it like that, but they kicked us out of that car a few stops after i took this because they needed to fix the window and isolate the car. Got a great image out of it though, if i do say so myself.

The Whole World is Moving, and I'm Standing Still.

If I ever leave this world alive...

This one goes out to Miss Mara Panich.
"If I Ever Leave This World Alive" by Flogging Molly.
Randomly discovered this chair while I was waiting for my shuttle from the Metro back to GMU last night. Was a perfect find. Hope you think it matches up, because I do.

This chair hasn't been there since i took this photo, so it was definitely a prodigious chance i discovered it that one time.

You said that it would, now everything should
be alright.

Yellow Submarine(s)

In lieu of actually working on my research paper for school, why not do some blogging? Brilliant plan.
"Yellow Submarine" by The Beatles. Requested by my dad.

Still looking for more song suggestions and what people think of this whole project... like if you think i'm full of crap or what :)

Real Love

Ok, so i feel like this one was a much better success. Personal Opinion.
It's for David Gray's "Real Love." Which i can't find a video with on youtube or any other version online, so you'll have to look it up on iTunes yourself or something. It's on A New Day at Midnight and is a fabulous song. Wasn't a suggestion from anyone, it's just what i was listening to at the time i took this.

I was very focused on the phrase:
"This world in all its clarity
Is glorious, is fake
This world in all its vanity
Is more than I can take
And down the road the iron wheels
Chain my heart to how it feels..."

Opinions? anyone?

Be Here Now

Not sure if i feel like this successfully does the job for what i envisioned for this song, but it's as close as i could get with my cell phone, with which i have no control over shutter speed... so maybe i'll try it again in the near future with my DSLR. just for shits and giggles.
anyway, this is Ray Lamontagne's "Be Here Now" per Ann's suggestion.

Undertow

This one is actually for yesterday (10/23) I'm not productive enough to have done one for today just yet.
Ivy "Undertow" per Louis' suggestion. (and thanks a lot for the downer song, Louis, sheesh!)

a BRILLIANT plan

So I came up with a clever idea to keep myself photographing every day... or as close to it as possible.
I'm going to ask that anyone who would like to help me out with this send me a song suggestion. I'm going to then take a photo based on my interpretation or reaction to that song. Not super-exciting, but i like the combination of the aural and visual.
anyway, as a test-out for this idea, I decided i really enjoy "Fire in the Twilight" by Wang Chung (you know, the song that plays in Breakfast Club when they're running around the halls?), so here's my not-so-original image to go along with that song:
So there you have it. The basic gist of it. I just need some help coming up with other songs. I do have a large library of tunes, but it'd be more fun to get suggestions from people and to make it a little interactive, so drop me a suggestion. Via Facebook or Twitter or comment on here. help me keep entertained out here in VA.

Into the Woods

So today I ventured forth into the wilderness of the Appalachian Mountains.
Good start to an epic story right? Yea, this wasn't particularly epic, but it was definitely a good respite from being trapped in suburbia and the city at all times. I've been itching to get outside and away from it all for a while, so this was a perfect opportunity to do so. For those who're unaware, the Appalachian Trail runs its course from Main to Georgia (or Georgia to Maine, depending on how you look at it) totaling in about 2,178miles in length. It's pretty much a straight-shot too, and considering the hilly-mountains that make up the Appalachians, it's really not all that back-breaking either. Was almost like a nature hike, sans the educational signs. or signs at all really. When we pulled off of the interstate, we had to back-track a couple miles to hit the trail head. Was getting very nervous about the lack of directional signs, but we found the parking area without too much difficulty. on our way out, we did manage to spot a wee-tiny sign saying, "AT parking area-->" gee thanks. the little sign to the left is actually from a marker a mile or so into our hike where it points out the direction of a shelter for overnight camping.
The shelter was actually pretty interesting, other than the gigantic bugs that kept dive-bombing us, it was a decent place set up to make overnight camping a cake-walk. Platform cabin with a tin roof and walls and a fire pit, plus a picnic table and some convenient hooks on a pole 10ft up in the air to hang your food and garbage from so animals won't come rummaging (there was even a pole attached to it you could use to put the food up on the hooks with). People camping overnight in those places aren't really roughing it too much.
Anyway, the really entertaining part was that the trail club that maintains the section of the trail we were on likes to put log-books in the shelters, so that hikers and campers can leave a little note concerning their journey. There were some very amusing things that had been written into the book. "Have had to poop for the last 5 miles..." "Not digging constantly walking through spiderwebs..." Some entries included nice little cartoons or tokens from the travelers who'd passed through. Skimmed through a couple of stories involving sightings of a small black snake that had taken up residence in the roof of the shelter. I think my favorite was the Miss Hannah Montana's contribution to the book (which you can read to the right). I found myself wondering if someone had gone through the effort of hiking the trail and making a log from miss montana at ever shelter or if this is the only evidence of her outdoor-escapades. Either way, it was pretty amusing and rather cool to see all of the different notes. The book had only been replaced in March, but was already about a third of the way filled, so I wonder if they change it out for every year, or what. Anyway, that was entertaining. Now for some pictures along the trail, right?
It was a beautiful day for a hike as well i must admit. It's still early enough in the season that the leaves are still in the midst of changing colors so at points you'll see the lush green of summer and then turn a bend and be confronted by oranges and yellows. Perfect temperature, light breeze. It was wonderful. The path was all cell-phone accessible, which was kind of weird. The further we hiked in the quieter and more peaceful the setting seemed. We saw a couple of deer and smaller animals (no bears, which i hear tell they do have out here). On the way back to the car, we could tell how close we were getting by how much louder the traffic on the interstate was getting. Strange to find a place that's so peaceful and seemingly remote be running through the backyard of a rather heavily populated area.
I'm surprised we didn't see more people out and about, don't know if it just isn't a popular section of trail to hike or if there really aren't that many people heading out into the woods this time of year. Whatever the case, it was a good day. Different pace, different setting. I have no complaints. And no particularly interesting stories to impart. Next weekend i get to go to a Renaissance festival in Maryland. I'm sure that's going to be fairly interesting...

Wandering, yes... and a little lost

So as it turns out, this adventure ended up being longer than i had expected, as is this blog post, just to warn you. I didn't really proof-read it, i just wrote it, so if it's boring or has serious grammatical errors, please keep your opinion to yourself and look at the pictures if it starts to really get to you. enjoy.

my prettily drawn map, courtesy of google earth. the numbers may or may not be easy to read and the routes may not be easy to see, but you can enlarge it in a separate tab if you really want to follow along.
So i have to admit, i had a pretty entertaining day out wandering about DC yesterday. I took off from my home a little after 1pm and hit the metro, making it into DC by 2:30pm.

(The Red Route)
1) my starting point at the metro. according to my little guide, it looks like i got off on the Smithsonian side of the metro stop. i didn't. for those unfamiliar with the layout of the metro stops, there's typically two places it comes up at, usually about a block apart. I didn't come up the Smithsonian side because when i got of the train i turned toward the escalator and saw a long line just waiting to get onto the escalator.
alright, not going that way. The smithsonian stop is pretty popular because of all the tourists hitting up the museums in the area. I for one didn't need to go into the national mall just yet, so i took a detour, which actually had a pretty fantastic view when i came up and walked out for a bit.
The Smithsonian Castle almost looks like some kind of disney castle to me, and i'm sure many little kids feel the same way until they go inside and realize that there's only educational stuff and no "fun" exhibits there. then they just want to move on.
I personally like it because nobody else really bothers with it. it's kind of peaceful and has beautiful architecture and landscaping in the gardens surrounding it. One of my other favorite Smithsonian stops is the Botanical gardens, possibly for the same reason, because nobody else really wants to look at all of the plants so they don't bother going there. It's quite peaceful and enjoyable. Don't get me wrong, it's not like you end up being the only person at these places, but at least you're not tripping over people and waiting in lines to see stuff.
The National Mall is actually maintained by The National Park Service. My sister is a seasonal park ranger at Manassas and we were talking about other opportunities to be a ranger in the area and she mentioned that working at the Mall is tantamount to being sentence to purgatory for a park ranger. Nobody wants to do it, it's insanely busy, hot and they're open til midnight during the summer. I could see how it might be rather unpleasant at times.

2) So my first real stop-off on the National Mall was at the Washington Monument. Other than the metro stop where there were silly people starting out their line-waiting experience of the smithsonian at the metro, i was feeling like there really weren't that many people out and about just yet. anyway, the monument:
In DC there's a guideline for the height of buildings. any new constructions can't be taller than the washington monument. Why anyone would want to dispute that is beyond me, but i guess some people in DC don't like that rule. As a friend of mine put it, you can always tell where you are in DC if you just check the skyline for the Washington Monument. It's huge, alright people? if you haven't seen it, it's tall. Anyway you may see from the photo to the right, it looks pretty deserted. I was kind of feeling hot out in the direct sun though, so i decided to go around to the shady side of the monument.
Oh, so that's where everyone was hiding. Everyone else had the same brilliant plan. oh well. at least it gives you a nice shot straight down to the Capital. Note to those unaware, everything in DC looks closer than it really is. the capital is probably at least 3/4 of a mile away from the washington monument. That's an estimate, but trust me, it's a long walk.
So just before point #3 on my map, i caught a glimpse of my ultimate goal for the day. I had set out to make it to the Jefferson Memorial. Didn't really think about it before, but it's probably about a mile, round-trip. I just skirted the Tidal Basin the entire time, which actually wasn't too bad compared to some other bodies of water on the Mall *shudder*

3)So this is the surprise point for me. I hadn't really made any expectations for this adventure. I just really wanted to get out of the house and go around for a long walk on my own. After dodging some traffic (on cross-walks with no lights, where you hope by the grace of the drivers that they'll stop for you and not just plow over you to get to their next fare... if you haven't gathered, i wouldn't trust taxi-drivers in a city. just sayin') I cross the bridge over a small section of the basin, passing three people in total (tourists don't like to walk super-long distances. that's why Yellowstone park is so popular, you get to drive everywhere, and there's a gift-shop to rest at every stop you do make).
Low tree limbs? I looked ahead a little bit. indeed there are some gnarly looking trees, and not a heck of a lot of tourists (Seriously, there's barely anyone between point A and point B every time, and those points themselves are mobbed). Rather than try to describe the little grove i found, I'm just going to share the pics:
I was quite taken with the trees in this park. They all had their own particular personality (like the one to the left looks like it has some weird face on it). There was the interesting cement structure (leftmost) that had a Japanese style to it and i found myself wondering what the park was and then i found the little marker that said it was the location of where the first Japanese cherry trees were planted in DC in 1912.
It was a peaceful place as well. Maybe it was partially due to the fact that i was out wandering on my own (and as far as i could tell, i was the only person involved in such a venture), but i liked the places that everyone else didn't take the time to appreciate. Everyone was focused on the big places and things rather than taking in the little experiences on the way. I'm sure the cherry grove is busy when all of the blossoms are budding in the spring, i imagine that's when it gets attention, but any other time it's just another wooded area around the memorials as far as everyone else is concerned. I bet it's going to be beautiful when all of the leaves turn for the fall as well. After taking it in for a little bit, i continued on my way.

4)The next stopping point for the other tourists at this point is the FDR memorial. It's kind of an odd one, setup to commemorate different phases of his presidency. Has these large walls and blocks of granite (that's a guess) with bronze sculptures. Some of them are setup almost like Norman Rockwell paintings (sans any sort of humor NR usually put into his images). People obviously take the time to pose with the giant statue of FDR and the individual figures standing in a row at a soup kitchen (seriously, it's one of the rockwellian scenes in one section). The part i like the best is where there are some relief bronze pieces kind of wall-papered in sheets on the rock wall with pillars of their negatives standing in front of them. I just like the presence of process there. I have no idea how they were made, if they were poured into sheets and then the molds were rolled across them, have no idea. But they're kind of interesting in that there are a bunch of tiny faces emerging from the positives, contrastingly embedded into the pillars. I don't know, it's just unique. That, or i'm a nerd. either way.

5)Another neglected memorial is George Mason's. It's on the way to the Jefferson memorial, but people just kind of pass it by. Even the grounds-keepers didn't seem to give it much worry. They'd obviously made an effort to plant things in the early part of the season, but when i was there, most of the flowers, and plants for that matter, surrounding the walk had all expired and were quickly drying out and turning crisp and brown. I suppose GM doesn't mind so much, he's just kind of of chillin' out right below I395

6)So another cool thing about the tidal basin is that people can rent out paddle boats on the mall side of it (you know, so it involves the least amount of walking from the museums as possible) and you can spend time just paddling around in the area. I would love to go do that some time, but was pretty convinced that a paddle boat probable requires two people to operate, so i couldn't go do it this time. sad, i know. But i guess the basin is full of recreational opportunities. like the guy i saw fishing off of it. He wasn't the only person i saw fishing during my adventure either. just the only one doing it into the basin. I wonder if he actually caught anything... maybe a shoe or a hub-cap?

7) Finally, i reached the Jefferson memorial. There was a wedding party there getting, i assume, post-ceremony photos taken. This was the second group i'd encountered doing the same thing. I guess driving around the mall and getting your photos taken outside of the memorials is a pretty good opportunity for some nice scenery for wedding pics.
Oddly, having made this my ultimate goal for the day, i didn't really take any pictures at the memorial itself. I took the one to the left just as i was about to leave it. It too wasn't super overrun with tourists, mostly because it's a little more complicated to get to.

8)I don't actually have a photo to go with this, but this is the point where i first saw an ice-cream stand and desperately wanted to indulge. I only had $1 on me though. No ice cream for me. Begrudgingly, i trudged on.

9)The American History Museum. Where Red Route comes to an end. I also didn't take any photos at this point, because it was so busy and i think i've got tons of pics from it from previous visits, so i'm going to do some links of things, just to amuse myself instead.
So the American History Museum. Last i was there, it was the summer right before they were shutting down the museum for renovation. They were moving the star spangled banner, which had undergone a bunch of repair and conservation work. The museum before that had some really impressive exhibits. The american presidency is still there, and has such items as molds cast from Lincolns hands after his inauguration, john adams (?) chess set etc. nothing obnoxious and interactive, but a bunch of displays that kind of give a little peek into the casual life of presidents from the past. there even used to be a section of the first ladies' dresses. Didn't take the time to wander through and see if it was still there because the museum was packed. One of my favorite things last time was the skeksis puppet from Jim Henson's Dark Crystal. Didn't see that one around, so it must have been put back into the vault.
The thing about the American History Museum is that it's geared toward people who are idiots, ie: you're average american tourist. While i am interested in seeing an original Henson puppet, something tells me most kids today have no idea what the Dark Crystal is, they know kermit the frog and miss piggy. A line of more than a hundred people stretches around a corner for people gunning to see one of the 20 pairs of ruby red slippers worn by judy garland in the wizard of oz. It's all cool stuff, but it's geared toward a specific demographic. I found an interesting exhibit that was almost completely devoid of people.
It was on Earl Shaffer, who was the first person (in modern history at least) to hike the entire Appalachian trail, all 2500 miles of it. You can look at the exhibit online on the museum's website, i just wish there was some sort of complete collection of the photos Shaffer took along the way. I think he hiked it in '48 and shot photos along the entire route using Kodachrome film. They show some of the slides on the description pieces, but have very few of them that you can really view. I would have loved a slide-show of those images, but i digress. The exhibit was lacking in attendance i imagine partially because of a performance/presentation being done nearby about the civil rights movement, but also because i don't know if anyone was really interested in a mid-twentieth century 'trailblazer' more than Dorothy Gale's slippers. I guess i'm a little bit of a hypocrite as far as the tourist thing goes. I've been there, i've done that, all of the museums cater to them and in order to successfully sell history as an interest point to the masses you have to play to their interests.
Either way, I was kind of over the museum at this point and decided to cut it and run, i didn't even really appreciate any of the remodeling that they had supposedly done, and i didn't feel like waiting in line to see the star spangled banner, so i'll have to go back some other time to check it out.

10) I was trying to figure out what my new game plan was at this point. I didn't want to get back on the metro til after 7, mostly because i didn't want to pay the regular fare to get home, so i started to make a game plan of where to go next. I figured i'd make my way to Rosslyn station, on the other side of the Potomac and stop off to visit the Teddy Roosevelt memorial along the way. Alright, game on. I had to walk past the Washington memorial again, which was more popular by this time because it had started to cool off enough to lure people out of the air-conditioned comfort of the museums. Tours were biking past, or better yet, on Segways, because what's better than a quick ride around the city if you don't have to do anything other than just stand there? Exactly. This picture kind of feels like Abby Road gone wrong to me for some reason...
Point #10 is actually just over by the WWII memorial where everyone had their feet in the fountain. WWII memorial is at the end of the reflecting pool, which, as you may all remember, is what Jenny, in Forest Gump, goes running through. It's not that pretty, and has a rather bedraggled sheen, similar to the Berkley Pit. In the spirit of the Berkley pit as well, i for one would be surprised if someone were to step into the reflecting pool, could actually make it back out. But hey, at least the Geese really enjoy it, and it still does it's job, it reflects.
I actually marked this point on the map for another reason though. I had hoped to find some kind of ATM so that i could indulge in my desire for ice cream and had hoped to find one here at the visitor center. Just so you all know, there isn't one, bring cash with you because i don't know if you'll be able to find any ATMs around the Mall. maybe inside the museums, but i didn't feel like going through security just to get some money.

11)This is the most exciting point in my trip, well, maybe not most, but close to it. I found a refreshments stand that not only had ice cream, but also took cards. I happily took advantage of it. Maybe not my crowning glory, but it was definitely awesome.

12)To continue, i had to get across the Potomac. I ended up on a parkway that skirted the river, with a bunch of people jogging past me. As it turns out, there are a lot of recreational opportunities in DC. They play softball on the Mall and there's even a Kickball program. I walked past some beach volleyball games that were taking place and was nearly run over just as many times by cars as by various bicyclists. I had to dodge some traffic to get to the Theodore Roosevelt Memorial Bridge, but ended up on the southern side of it when i needed to eventually go north of it. I figured, what the hey, it'll work out.

13) This is the point where i saw a sign reading, "Sidewalk ends 1000 feet." hm. that's odd, wonder if i should turn around and try to figure out how to get to the other side of the bridge. It wasn't like i was going to make an attempt to dodge 4+ lanes of traffic flying across the bridge as well as hop the cement median separating the two different directions of traffic, so i continued on, confident in my mantra that it was all going to work out.

14) This is the point where the sidewalk actually did end. I had to stop and pull out my little guide book to try to figure out where to go next. Just as i was about to concede to returning to the other side of the bridge to try to get on the northern sidewalk, a guy came down off of the end of the sidewalk and ducked down the hill into some bushes on a path i hadn't noticed before.
So that's how they do it. I followed, half expecting to find some kind of transient camp, but instead i came out onto a grassy area next to the George Washington memorial highway. That was one hurdle, sweet. I just had to figure out how to get across that to the park walk on the other side.
Piece of cake. I just dodged 4 lanes of traffic and hopped the rock wall median between the two different directions of traffic. I was so proud of myself for getting over there that i had to snap a picture of the path. i think a couple people thought i was a nutjob, sweaty, bedraggled and taking a picture of the pathway. Whatever, i'd won, i wanted proof.
It was actually kind of a nice little walkway, i like the combination of the industrial underside of the bridge covered in the thick green foliage. i passed the point where i would have ended up on it if i had actually take the correct side of the bridge. I shook my head at it as i passed. I still won in the end, take that bridge.

15) So this is the point where you might start wondering, why on earth would anyone bother with hiking all the way over to Theodore Roosevelt Ireland to see some silly memorial to the pompous windbag, Teddy? Because you get to see a GIANT statue of TR at his best. And it's kind of nice and peaceful there. It's a wooded island with the only structure on it is the actual memorial. A lot of people take their dogs to walk around there, or they go for jogs on the pathway that circles the island. Because, once again, it's separated from most of the other memorials and actually requires some effort to get to, it's not a particularly popular stop. In that regard, it's kind of a nice haven for people in the area to go be outdoors, but not have to go very far in order to do so. I would like to go back some time just to wander around the island. Probably will too, especially when the leaves start to change. and maybe i'll wander my way down to the mall from there, now that i know the way.

16) I was super excited at this point because rather than having to dodge cars again, the city/whatever of Rosslyn actually took care of the issue for me. There's a pedestrian bridge that goes back over the George Washington Memorial Parkway into the city. I only had to walk a few block to make it to
17) the Rosslyn Metro stop. Mission accomplished.
You should actually open the picture below so you can appreciate the sign that says, "Welcome to Virginia" next to the tunnel. I was amused.
More adventures to come and more photos too...