Trip Photos, Part IV: Lost in DC

Way back in April, I went to DC and though I shared several sets of photos back then, there was one more story with pictures that I wanted to share.

The first day of my conference, I took the subway by myself to get back to the hotel.  It was 4:30 p.m., the beginning of rush hour, and the subways were crazy busy.  I was getting off at one of the busiest places in DC — Union Station — someplace I hadn’t been yet on the trip, though it was supposedly close to my hotel.  When I got off the subway, there were signs pointing to certain escalators leading to certain streets, but I didn’t know street names and just got swept up in the crowd of people.  I got outside and had no clue where I was!  And I was set to meet up with friends to head up into Maryland for dinner, so time was of the essence.

Ever the photographer, and quite impressed with Union Station, I stopped in my lostness and took these pictures.

I wandered across a street and found a real cherry blossom tree (not the “other” pink trees, which someone has since suggested were dogwood).

I finally spotted the Capitol Dome, and from there, I could find my way back to the hotel.  This was my view when I was safely back at the hotel.  I still can’t believe we were this close to the Capitol Building for all those days.  Amazing times!

And when Julie picked me up at the hotel for dinner, and we walked to Union Station, I found out it really was only two blocks away, if you know where you’re going — not the many block hike that I had taken by myself earlier.

Mackinaw City

My travel photos from August got lost in the shuffle of other news, but I had to post this photo with this thought: 

If a hotel in Mackinaw City asks if you want a lake view or not, the best answer is YES!

View from our hotel room, August 2009

 

Off to Mackinaw!

I spent six hours today at my friend’s farm, visiting with her and her menagerie of animals (many dogs and cats, plus a pig and two horses!).  It was good to catch up with her and share photos and stories from the 15 months since I last saw her.

And tomorrow, my Mom and I will head north to Mackinaw for a few days!  We have a hotel room with a lake view and look forward to taking the ferry across to Mackinac Island one of the days.  We’ll head back home either Friday or Saturday.

Have a great rest of the week!

U.P. Trip Photos

During my recent trip, I saw my grandmother, two uncles, two aunts, eight first cousins and their families, and three of my Mom’s cousins and their families.  That was roughly a zillion relatives!  We saw the most relatives at my uncle’s retirement/birthday party, which was held at my cousin’s house right on the water.  A great setting, despite chilly weather.  I forgot to ask permission from various cousins to post photos of their kids (especially the new babies!), but here are a couple of shots from the party.  As my mom said, I was getting great shots of people’s backs that day!  Ha! 

A couple of days later, we drove to Ontonagon and had lunch on the shore of Lake Superior.  Here are some photos from that day.

Home again, home again

I’m back home!  And I have to be at work in less than eleven hours.  Boo!

I’ll quickly sum up my trip, by the numbers (totally stealing the idea from another blogger…):

Miles traveled:  1,341
States visited: 2
Hours spent in the non-Michigan state: 3
Deer seen:  4
First-cousins seen:  8
Other relatives seen: about a zillion
Babies held:  1
Chocolate-free s’mores eaten: 1 (yum!)
Pictures taken:  87
Meals eaten on the lake or canal shores: 4 (or five?)
Mosquito bites:  None!

A good trip:  priceless

Off to the great upper peninsula

Tomorrow morning, I have my annual physical, and then I’m leaving town!  Away from work and school and doctors and the internet, thank you very much.

My Mom and I will head north after my appointment tomorrow morning, and I’ll see many generations of family in the days ahead – from my grandmother who is 89 to baby Christian Joshua who was born in March!  So hopefully there will be baby holding, and for sure there will be picture taking!  I’m taking two cameras to keep up with everything.

We’ll be gone for several days, and I didn’t set up any blog posts to post magically while I’m away, so my blog will observe several days of silence…

Have a great week!  Keep an eye on the world for me.  *hugs*

Trip Photos, Part III

A wonderful part of my trip was that I got to spend time with friends who I’ve known online for several years now but had never met.  We all share a similar type of platelet issues (though our specific diagnoses vary), and most of us have been to the National Institutes of Health.  So we have medical issues in common and it helps so much to have friends who understand, but as is always the case with us patients, our conversations extend far beyond all the appointments and meds and pokes.

We stopped in the western part of Virginia on the way to DC to see Kathryn’s family.  It was wonderful to talk with them about our experiences (and to realize we’ve had some common frustrations), and we could all offer each other a lot of support and understanding.  Visiting with them lifted my spirits after a semester that really wore me down.   We had a fun lunch out and enjoyed a scenic drive up into the mountains with Kathryn and her Mom.  The mountains are so beautiful!  Kathryn and her family are the type of people who love to hear stories and who ride along with all the emotions of the stories, which is a precious gift to a quiet storyteller.

A few days later, at the end of one of my days at the conference in DC, I took the subway up into Maryland with friends from the HPS group.  That was fabulously fun!  One of them came to pick me up at the hotel and then reported back via cell phone to the others that she “had the package!”  *laughs*  And off we went!  It was a new and growing experience for me to meet up with friends in a strange town and go out to dinner.  I never once doubted that they would take good care of me — and they did, including escorting me back to my hotel (I had gotten lost earlier in the day even in daylight so navigating my way in the dark was cause for concern!).   It was all great — visiting with them, enjoying lots of laughs, and going out on the town for the evening.  I loved it!  Here we are near the end of our evening.

It was such a treat to see friends on a trip that was for a school-related conference.  They added so much joy to my travels.

Trip Photos, Part II

Washington DC was in full bloom when I was there last month.  And this is truly an instance where pictures are worth thousands of words.  There were cherry blossoms in white and pink.

And tulips!  Tulips everywhere!

Trip Photos, Part I

At long last, some photos from my trip!  I’m going to post the photos with stories, not in chronological order at all.  So this is from Day 4 of the trip.

Story One:  The Cathedral

My fascination with Washington National Cathedral had a weird origin, which was the TV show “The West Wing.”  At the end of the second season, a dear friend of the President dies and her service is at the National Cathedral (and the show got permission to actually film there, which is an amazing story in itself).  During that episode, the President asks that the Secret Service seal off the Cathedral and leave him in there.  He then has a meltdown and yells at God (in English and in Latin), and he lights a cigarette, throws it on the floor of the Cathedral, and stomps on it.  It is the type of raw, emotional moment that draws me right in.  And the fact that it was set in this stunning Cathedral made it all the more compelling.  And that is the origin of my fascination!  I told you it was weird!

I was in DC in 2006 but did not make it to the Cathedral then, so it was at the very tip top of my list on this trip.  And I finally got there on a rainy Monday.

That picture above does not show how enormous the Cathedral is, so I got another view as I was starting to go up the stairs.

Going inside the Cathedral was literally breathtaking for me.  It is magnificent, visually and spiritually.  The grace of God feels so tangible in there.  I lit a candle and said a prayer and walked around speechless.  All around me were gorgeous stained glass windows and high pillars and dedications to people who have gone before us.

I sat on one of the chairs, trying to take it all in.  I walked up the center aisle, trying to imagine Martin Sheen having to yell at God in this place.  The organist was playing off and on, and the music filled the Cathedral.   I thought about Presidents and others who have been remembered here, about Presidents still living who have been to services here.  I wanted to soak in every image, every sound, every feeling of this awesome place.

Whirlwind

Ten days and 12 hours ago, I was in Washington DC.  I was probably packing by that point, and I would later watch the magical bellhop go up the escalator with our cart of luggage.  (That was a sight to see — can you imagine transporting a luggage cart full of stuff up and down an escalator??!  They did it fabulously well!  I could have watched them all day.)  I would then travel through four states before getting back home to Michigan.  Sigh…  I wanted to stay in DC.  I want to go back.  It was one of the all-time best trips.

Since I’ve been home, I wrote three papers for class, gave a presentation on one of them, put together my first-year portfolio, found amazing things in my advisor’s data, and prepared lesson plans for eleven sections of the algebra textbook that I’ll start teaching from tomorrow.  Tomorrow!  I teach!  I haven’t taught since the end of June last year…not for real anyway (we did get to lead discussion three times in our classes during winter semester, which was kind of like teaching but not really).

Is it any wonder that I feel like my life has been a whirlwind the last couple of weeks?  From DC, back home to crazy busy stuff with school, and now crazy busy stuff with teaching.

I am remembering that I promised DC trip stories and photos.  They will appear here eventually.  I can tell you about the Flaming Lips!  (Who?  Yes, that’s what we said!)  And getting lost (but continuing to take pictures in my lostness, of course!), and visiting friends, and sneaking out in the dark to try to get a shot of the unbelievably awesome capitol dome at night, and lighting a candle in the National Cathedral, and getting brave at my conference, and never ever wanting to come back.