National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

Now that summer is over - it’s a great time to visit museums. On a recent Saturday, I enjoyed the National Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center. I still bought tickets for the IMAX film I wanted to see when I first got there (just before 10:30) before wandering around to look at the planes, rockets, gliders, and shuttle. There are docent led tours periodically but I had been to the museum enough times to enjoy looking at things on my own. The weather was sunny so the view from the tower toward the Blue Ridge and Dulles Airport was quite good. Enjoy the slide show of my favorite pictures below!

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 11, 2012

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles I read this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article:

NASA images reveal massive forest die-off from tiny beetle - Before and after satellite pictures of Colorado

Movement Along Fault Line Threatening Cliff Palace At Mesa Verde National Park

Video Sampler Introduces You To The More Than 20 National Parks In Virginia

Zentangles - Get more out of doodling!

Black Drink: Evidence of Ritual Use of Caffeinated Brew at Cahokia - made from a holly tree that grew hundreds of miles away

10 Green Ways to Improve Our Cities

Sky-High Design: How To Make A Bird-Friendly Building - tweaks to make modern architecture better for birds

How Olympic athletes' bodies have changed over the last century - an infographic from NPR

The Bison: A National Symbol for All Americans - From National Geographic…the first post in a series about the American Bison

Chart: the world's endangered mammals - From the International Union for Conservation of Nature. The primates are faring the worst with 49% of the species being ‘threatened’ - which means that they are threatened with extinction. Overall - 21% of mammal species are in ‘threatened’ status.

Pictures: Surprising Effects of the U.S. Drought - From National Geographic

Road Trip in May 2012 - Shenandoah National Park Day 2

Our second day at Shenandoah started out at a very foggy Pocosin Cabin area (mile 59.5). There was a lot of birdsong - almost as if they thought it was still dawn. The hike is along a gravel road. There was a collection of walking sticks at the marker post at the entry to the hike.

Franklin Cliffs (mile 49) is, as the name implies, cliffs. It is an easy and short walk from the parking area. The green of the trees in the valley extends gradually up the hills - not quite to the top yet. There are different kinds of flowers here - lots of lichen on the rocks - and pools of water in the depressions from last night’s rain. It was quite windy and the trees made eerie creaking sounds as they swayed back and forth.

And finally - a slide show of trillium pictures taken at Shenandoah. The flowers start out very white and then turn pinkish as they age. Enjoy!

Road Trip in May 2012 - Shenandoah National Park Day 1

Our first hike at Shenandoah was at Gravel Springs Gap (mile 17.6). It was a short hike with some steep places. The water from the springs trickled through rock lined channels that we crossed many times as we made the look. The area was lush and we enjoyed our first glimpses of the wild flowers that were already blooming - maybe a bit early this year. I've picked my favorite pictures from the Gravel Springs Hike for the collage below.

Next we decided to hike down to Dark Hollow Falls (mile 51). Like many hikes in Shenandoah from Skyline Drive, the first part is downhill and the return is up.  I took one picture of the falls and then focused on the wildflowers, shelf fungus, and the way rocks hung over the water. This was the first location I photographed trillium and noticed that the maples are significant later than at home where the samara have already flown off the trees.

By the time we made it to the hotel, my Fitbit had recorded that I had climbed the equivalent of over 80 flights of stairs! It was quite a day.

Road Trip in May 2012 - Goshen Pass

Goshen Pass Natural Area Preserve in Virginia is a natural heritage area under the auspices of the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation. We followed the directions in the fact sheet to the parking area located 1.7 miles north of the VDOT rest area on State Road 39 West. There is a swinging bridge to take across the Maury River. It was a great way to start and end the hike!

We were there in the morning and noticed that the little bit of extra warmth from the sun peeking through the clouds made the birds and butterflies more active. It was a wonderful woodland walk. The mountain laurel was just beginning to open and there were other flowers that seemed to be a bit further along in their blooming than what we saw in Shenandoah.

After the hike, I noticed more flowers blooming near the parking lot and walked over to take a look at them. The big surprise was the first hummingbird moth I'd seen this year. These are fun insects to photograph because they are big enough to see easily - but also a bit of a challenge because of their speed. Even with the coolness of the morning, this specimen was extremely active!

Road Trip in May 2012 - Virginia

We just got back from a 3-day road trip to Shenandoah National Park. It was a little cool and wet but the wild flowers were wonderful. We started out referencing the park's wild flower weekend schedule (it's this weekend if you are in the area) then supplemented it. Now that I'm home I'm looking more at their wildflower web page to identify what is in my photographs! I'll post more of my photos of Shenandoah and Goshen Pass over the next few days. The ones today are just the intro!

First are some pictures from the Virginia rest stop. I took a similar picture of the 'welcome' sign back when I took my road trip in December. This one has a lot more green in it! It was also a little warmer and I enjoyed the iris that were beginning to bloom. I also noticed that the benches have the Virginia map shape on their backs - it was too wet to sit on though!

There were not many people at Shenandoah while we were there. It is early in the season and we were there on week days. The wet weather probably kept some people away as well. It didn't rain on us while we were out but there were plenty of muddy areas. It was good that the big panoramic views from the overlooks were not our primary objective for the trip because it was way too misty along Skyline Drive. The wildflowers actually are probably better in not-to-bright weather.

Just to give you a small sampling of what we saw - I've included azaleas and trillium photos in this post.

The cool weather is also great for roses and there were some at our hotel that looked so wonderful with their water droplets that I couldn't resist photographing them.

April Celebrations

April is just about here. What is there to celebrate? Here are some ideas:

Wild Flowers. This is the time of year that many wild plants bloom; hikes to photograph then are a beautiful way to celebration spring. Don’t forget the flowering trees as well - dogwoods and redbuds are my favorites. Information about the wild flower festival in Smokey Mountain National Park can be found here. The one in Shenandoah National Park is planned for early May but the program schedule is already published and could be used to plan your own hikes in the park in late April.

Kites. March is the month most associated with kites but many communities hold kite festivals into April and early May when it is a bit warmer and still breezy.

Palm Sunday on the 1st, Good Friday and Passover on the 6th, and Easter on the 8th.  Observe the days in April that sustain your spiritual health.

Gardens. Formal gardens are greening in April too. Depending on the area of the country - there could be rows and rows of tulips or iris just getting ready to bloom of camelias. This time of year orchards are quite beautiful as well - full of blooms. Just as with the wild flowers - noticing the unfurling of spring is a great way to celebrate spring time.

Spring Break. Some schools have already taken a spring break…others have it early in April. A mini-vacation before the sprint to the end of the spring semester is always welcome. Celebrations can be as simple in a picnic in a local park on a warm day. In many parts of the country, showers are frequent in the spring so have a backup plan for if the day turns rainy and cool (or cold!).

Earth Day on the 22nd. Some communities have celebrations or festivals associated with Earth Day. One in my area is at Brookside Gardens.