Hopefully this crazy rain will stop so we can watch the fireworks without getting soaked! I’m thinking of going somewhere a little less crowded than last year, when I went right up front and center on the Washington Monument. Great view and great experience, but big crowds! Hopefully I can find somewhere a little more tucked away with less traffic this year. I am open to suggestions! Will share what I find if the rain doesn’t keep me inside :)
I went out to photograph the super moon tonight with some friends. There were a lot of clouds, but lucky for us the moon broke through for just long enough. Here’s one of my favorites from tonight. I’ll post a few more later, just had to share one for now!
Went to the National Zoo today with my Aunt Nor and cousins, Taylor and Baley. It turned out to be a great day of warm weather and lots of walking. 15,000 steps to be exact (thanks to Taylor for the hourly pedometer updates!) Here are some favorites from the day!
Deciding where to start…
I overheard the zoo lady ask some kids, “Did you know pandas eat for 60 hours straight?!” I shared the fun fact with my aunt who said, “How is that even possible?” “I don’t know,” I replied, “but it must be true because the zoo lady said so and that panda bear is sure going to town on that bamboo.” Then she said it again. 16 hours straight. Still a lot, but not nearly as impressive as when I thought it was 60 ;)
It’s a red panda in a tree! These guys are so cool!
Do you see it? I see it! Where? Over there! No, that’s a rock. Hehe. Sometimes I think they just make empty exhibits to trick us into staring at it for hours convincing ourselves we see something ;)
Taylor and Baley.
And this is how I felt by the time I got home….
But not Baley, he was still ready to go!
So this time last year I was in Jamaica with my brother thanks to Islands Magazine! I won the 2011 Reader’s Choice Award in a photo contest and this was the prize! How awesome is that! We stayed for one week at the Grand Palladium and had a ton of fun! Here are some photos documenting our trip!
On our way!Jamaica
We entered our room, and were greeted with this happy message and delicious treat!
There were cats everywhere! They always hung out by the outdoor tables and waited on guests to throw them scraps. Of course we did our fair share!
We made our way to Rick’s Cafe, and got to see the sunset and watch the brave souls as they jumped off the cliff.
Another day we visited YS Falls and I had a lot of fun playing with long exposures.
Dylan was kind enough to help carry my tripod too! Such a sweet kid ;)
As we were leaving the falls, I saw this man selling fresh pineapple and just couldn’t resist. He was kind enough to let me photograph him too!
We made a pit stop on the way back to the hotel for some Red Stripe, a Jamaican beer. Lucky for Dylan the drinking age in Jamaica is 18 :)
Scuba Diving in Jamaica!
We went on a Black River Safari Cruise and saw some alligators up close and personal…
A stop along the way brought us to this man. He was selling corn out of a shopping cart. I took photos, but no corn. I also happened to drop a five dollar bill out of my wallet when I went to grab a dollar to tip him, and it was snatched up faster than I could even react. I decided it was just safer to let it go then try to get it back :(
We went to the beach too and hung out at Margaritaville….
And of course you can’t take a trip to Jamaica without trying some of their jerk chicken. It was delish!
Unfortunately Dylan got an infection and we had to take him to the nurse station at the hotel. The lady told us it was a bug bite and basically just gave him antihistamine and some cream ($300 later!). Luckily our mom took him to the doctor back home and found out it was MRSA! He’s fine now, but was in so much pain, I felt so bad for him! Look how big his elbow was!
And thanks to my spray sunscreen, he ended up with these nice sunburn marks too! Poor kid!
And then to make things even worse, the internet was so slow he couldn’t even get on Facebook to talk to his friends!! Can you imagine! lol…
We still had tons of fun though and I’m so glad he was able to make the trip with me!
On our way back home!
Here are a few photographs of some of the memorials in Washington, D.C. that I took last night on my way home from class. The memorials are beautiful at night, I especially love the wreaths that decorated the Vietnam Wall for the holidays.
