Skyline Drive in Autumn

This weekend, we headed back to Skyline Drive in Shenandoah, Virginia, to see the National Park in autumn before it gets too cold!

Firstly, we went to the visitor Center at Dickey Ridge, and took a short walk around there. Here's the view from the top:

The walk took us past a cemetery of an early homestead in the area:

We continued out drive, and saw some amazing views. The tree's were beautiful:

Finally, we took a walk from the road along the Appalachian trail, starting here. We also used this as an opportunity for us to model one of Sarah's new crotchet creations and get some good photos:

I think the hat is brilliant. We (I was heavily involved....) have made a similar, smaller, one for our niece as a thanksgiving present.

The Mound Building Ants @ Little Bennet Regional Park

This weekend, we visited Little Bennet Regional Park, one junction north of Germantown on the I-270. It's getting colder out, there are not many leaves left on the trees and I had to finally put on my winter coat.

The area also contains one of the largest populations of Allheny mound building ant, which build large mounds in the forest. These ant's are cool; building multiple mounds connected by tunnels in a single colony, killing nearby trees with formic and farming aphids (ants being one of the only other species that farm other species, including aphids and fungi). Ants are very, very cool.

Here is a picture of me near the giant ant mounds:

Also, here is a picture of Sarah near a downed tree. We are not sure if it was the work of ants, or beavers. Who can tell?

Rally to Restore Sanity

Last week, we took my parents to DC on Sunday to see the Rally to Restore Sanity. The Rally was organized by Comedy Central, and we foolishly thought - it'll be busy, but its not a proper rally, so it won't be THAT busy.

This was proved false as we reached Shady Grove Metro Station to find one of the longest lines I've ever seen snaking out of the station. On getting to the Rally, accompanied by crowds of people swarming onto the Mall, we realised that whilst the rally was focused on Sanity; the nearness to Halloween led to a wide proliferation of crazy costumes:

The signs were even better:

We managed to have a picnic on the Mall before the rally by staying further down away from the crowds. It was fun, picnicing whilst all the craziness went on around us!

However, people kept flowing in, and eventually even where we were became standing room only!

There was a great feeling at the event, and everyone was polite and friendly, despite the crazy crowds. After enjoying some of the music and seeing more costumes and signs, we ran for it and got a not too crowded train out of the city.

We even got home in time to see John Stewart's final speech on TV! A great day and I was amazed at all the crowds - I have ever seen so many people together at one event before...

Ice Hockey Game: Capitals vs Thrashers

My parents are in town visiting from the UK, and to show them some excitement in DC, we took them to see an Ice Hockey game in the Verizon Centre last week.

The game was my first live ice hockey game; although Sarah used to go when she was younger to see the (now-not-a-team-any-more-although-we-don't-say-this-very-loud-around-Sarah) Hartford Whalers. The Stadium slowly filled up for the pre-game:

Once the game started, it really got busy - a sell out game. The action was frantic and great fun. Although the Caps started off behind (and suffered from a disallowed goal), they came back and eventually were in the lead....

At this point, even my parent's were getting excited.

However, the Thrasher's scored with less than 30 seconds on the clock. It was only a goal in overtime that gave the Caps the win. A very good first game to go to.

Finally, a picture of my parents on the mall in front of the National Monument:

More pictures of the visit soon.

New Game: Carcassone

Sarah and I played Carcassone, a medieval town board game, and Sarah won by a nose due to my over deployment of farms!

Connecticut Photos

Last weekend, we were in Connecticut in one of the first weekends of Fall (Autumn). Here is our car by a beautiful church near Sarah's parents. We parked here to have breakfast last weekend.

We also went to see some of the leaves (although we were early this year). To get a good view, we went Apple picking at a local orchard. Here's a view from the orchard, on top of a hill. It also shows the proliferation of pumpkins, which are having a very good year this year.

Here is me with our haul of apples:

This weekend has been quieter. We went to the Gaithersburg Oktoberfest (which was more child-orientated and less Beer-orientated than the one in Munich, I feel). We also did some house-hunting stuff; and took a walk around some nearby lakes in the area we are looking:

Driving to Connecticut

Drove to Connecticut yesterday too see Sarah's parents. 400+ miles, took 8 hours, one if which was having dinner! America is a beautiful country to drive through, wonderful scenery on the way.

Here is a pic of me at a Roadside Friendly's diner:



More pics of CT soon. We might be a little early for the really good Fall leaves....