No Lightning

I drove home from the movies last night in and out of some rough thunderstorms. They were all localized, though, so when you weren't right under them, you got a pretty good light show from the lighting. Once I got home, I grabbed the camera and the tripod to see if I could get some pictures, as it wasn't raining at all near my house. I tried for about half an hour at three in the morning to capture some shots, but I got nothing worth anything. These are the best of the shots, and you can actually see a little bit of flash in two of them, but not enough to make it interesting, I'm afraid.



I've had a little more luck in the past, but it takes some pretty specific conditions to get decent lightning shots. You can check out my old pics here and here.

Air & Space & Dulles

Since I just mentioned it in a post, here are a couple of pictures of the Air And Space Museum at Washington-Dulles International Airport. You can visit it on it's own or you can visit after checking your baggage for the flight home after a long weekend of shooting pictures in DC. It's got some pretty impressive stuff on the inside, well worth the fifty cent bus ride from the terminal. And since it's a branch of the Smithsonian, entrance is free!

Star Trek

The new Star Trek movie came out the weekend I was in DC for a wedding, so I wasn't able to see it. I finally got to see it yesterday, almost a month after it came out, and man, is it good. It's got plenty in it to recommend to the non-Star Trek fan, as well as plenty for the long-time Trek boys. So be sure you go see it before it leaves the theaters. We had to trek to two different theaters to find one showing the movie at a reasonable hour, and the auditorium only had about a dozen people in it during the showing, so it may not be showing for much longer. Now, perhaps the way to see it is to seek out a local IMAX theater. When I visited the Air And Space Museum at Washington-Dulles, they were playing the movie on the IMAX screen, and I got an email from Kennedy Space Center the other day saying it was playing there as well, so seek it out on the big, big, big screen.

Lithia

As I hinted about a couple of days ago, here are a few shots from my quick trip to Lithia Springs last weekend. When I was a youngster, we'd occasionally go here to swim in the big spring, and occasionally in the little spring, the one you see here, when it was still allowed. Eventually, enough people tried to dive into the cavern beneath the water, got stuck and drowned, that they had to post it off-limits and keep people out. The bottom of the spring that you see below is about 16 feet underwater. I'm told that it opens up into a cavern, but I've never seen it, and never been tempted to try and look.

All of these shots show the minor springs. The major springs are much larger, and packed with screaming kids. I suppose I was like that when we used to visit in the summer. We also went to Crystal Springs a lot, but that's been closed and is now used by Zephyrhills Spring Water as the source of much of their bottled water. Shame.

I know you won't believe me, but all of the greenery you see here is maybe three feet under the surface of the water. It's that clear! Plus, I used a polarizing filter on my camera. That helps remove the glare of reflected sunlight. Sorta like polarized sunglasses, but for the camera.

Little Black Snake

I spent a few hours yesterday hunting down an old watering hole we used to visit as kids, a place called Lithia Springs near Brandon, FL. But before I show you any of the pictures of the main reasons I went there, here are a couple of little pictures I shot of a black snake I saw. I heard something in the leaves, louder than a lizard, but quieter than a squirrel, so I started looking, and sure enough, there he was. He gave me the evil eyeball for a few seconds, just long enough to get a couple of shots, then he took off down behind a tree and I couldn't find him again. I'm sure he must have had a hidey-hole back there for just such an occasion.

The Bee's Knees

I love Florida. You never know what you might stumble across. And you never, ever, leave your camera at home. As is usual, I went to Steak 'N Shake for lunch today. When I left, I noticed a bunch of bees flying around my car. A closer look revealed that in the half hour I'd been inside, a swarm of bees had alighted on a palm tree beside my car. I've seen similar swarms before, but they'd never materialized that suddenly, or at least not so suddenly that I'd noticed. I took a few pictures of them, getting closer than you might think safe, then I let the manager inside know that he had some bees outside, and that they'd be gone as soon as they found a good place to build a hive. I doubt if that's going to be good enough for him, so these bees might suffer at the hands of an exterminator soon. But maybe not. There are enough bees dying from that colony collapse disorder already, no need to kill any more of them off.

Another Kite

I spotted another scissortail kite yesterday on the interstate. At 75 MPH, it's hard to get a picture, so you'll have to make do with this picture of the one I spotted a couple of weeks ago. They're pretty few and far between, so I think it's odd that I spotted another one so soon. But they're cool birds, and well worth keeping an eye out for.

More Arlington

I had more pictures of Arlington that I wanted to share with you before the end of this Memorial Day.



And just in case you thought all the headstones at Arlington were the same, they aren't. I think the small white ones are provided free of charge to soldiers. Those wishing to pay for their own usually opt for something larger and similar to those seen in civilian cemeteries.

Tradition

As I walked through Arlington National Cemetery, I began to notice something odd. Every once in a while, I'd see a headstone with a rock on it. Then another. Sometimes it was a few small stones, sometimes just one. So I started taking pictures of them.

I wondered what was going on for a while, then I remembered the end of Schindler's List. I guess it's a way that Jewish folks honor their dead, by placing a stone on the grave. Sure enough, all of the headstones I noticed with rocks atop them also had a small Star of David engraved on them. Mystery solved!

The Price Of Freedom

Even knowing the extent of the graves at Arlington National Cemetery doesn't prepare you for the actuality. They go on forever. Hill after hill, mile after mile. They seem like they will never end.

RFK

Just around the corner from the burial site of JFK sits this simple cross and inscribed headstone. This is the resting place of Robert Kennedy.

JFK

Down the hill a little bit from the Lee house, lies the Eternal Flame, commemorating the life that was John F. Kennedy.

In this spot lie the bodies of JFK, Jackie, and two children they had who died shortly after birth.

The flame burns forever.

Lee's House

At the very top of the hill near the center of Arlington sits the home of General Robert E. Lee of the Confederate States of America. That may seem odd to some, but it's just the way some things happen. Lee was only the custodian of the house for his wife's family, who had built the house as a tribute to George Washington. It was seized during the Civil War, and returned to the family some years later thanks to a Supreme Court decision. The US government later bought it from the family.

After the house was first seized, parts of the property were turned into a cemetery to prevent the previous owners from ever wanting to return. It didn't work as planned, but that was the genesis of what is now a National cemetery.

Unlike the stately columns of most homes like this, these are not white, but instead a banded beige color. I like it.

The home sits on a hill with a commanding view of DC. Those people in the foreground are viewing the grave of JFK, the first short road is the entrance to Arlington. Further out is the bridge over the Potomac, leading to the Lincoln Memorial.

The Pentagon

This was the best view I got of The Pentagon from Arlington National Cemetery. I don't think this shows you the size of the place, though, and it doesn't make clear the five-sided design. But it was the best I could find. Look close and you can see Ronald Reagan International Airport in the background as well, or at least the tails from some of the airplanes. And that's the Potomac River you see flowing by.

Still In Use

Lest you think that Arlington National Cemetery is no longer an active burial ground, I spotted this horse drawn hearse in use while I was there. I kept thinking I was hearing horses, when I saw a single rider go by behind me down a hill. I turned, raised the camera, and saw a team of six horses pulling a coffin at a rather quick gallop. I only managed to squeeze off a few pictures, and those are from far away and entirely uncomposed. But you get the idea.

Remember The Maine

Very near The Tomb Of The Unknown Soldiers in Arlington is the mast from the battleship Maine, destroyed in Havana, Cuba, just prior to the Spanish American War. The destruction of this ship in fact precipitated the war, and the rallying cry became "Remember The Maine". The mast is on a pedestal encircled with the names of all the seamen who died in her destruction. This view of the mast is through the Amphitheater at the Tomb Of The Unknown Soldier.

Above is the anchor and below is one of the guns, both from the USS Maine.

Despite two or more official inquests, the cause of the destruction of the Maine remains unclear. It was either a mine planted by unknown assailants, or ignition of coal dust in an area near the charges used for the onboard armament. At this date, the truth will probably never be known.

The View From The Hill

Here's the view of The National Mall from the Tomb Of The Unknown Soldiers. To the left is the Washington Monument, near center is The Capitol Building and to the right is The Jefferson Memorial. I'm sure there are lots of other recognizable buildings in there as well, but I couldn't tell you what they are.

The Tomb Of The Unknown

In honor of Memorial Day, here are some pictures I took at Arlington National Cemetery at The Tomb Of The Unknown Soldiers.

That white tomb in the background holds remains of unidentified American soldiers from World War 1, World War II and Korea. Until 1998, it contained an unknown soldier from Vietnam, but I believe they identified that soldier.

24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, soldiers march back and forth, symbolically showing their respect by guarding this tomb. The soldier never acknowledges the amphitheater full of people to his right, concentrating only on showing his respect to the soldiers that went before him.

The tomb is high on a hill in Arlington, VA, overlooking Washington, DC. The National Mall and it's attendant memorials is just to the left in this shot. The Pentagon is to the right.

Down At The End

There were so many people at Siesta Beach this evening, I had to do something to get out of the crowds and wait for the sunset. So I just started walking. I walked and walked and walked, until I reached the end of the beach. Well, the beach doesn't really end, but someone did build a house out on the point, and that's pretty much the end of the public beach. But if you hop up on the seawall surrounding the house at low tide, you can get around to the other side, and there I found something that I had not seen in Florida before. The end of the beach is called Point of Rocks, and among those rocks are a series of tidal pools. I thought those were a California only thing, but there it was. Lots of little shallow areas among the rocks, with all sorts of little critters in there.

As you can see, the rocks go on for quite a ways. The further you go, the more life you find because curious tourists haven't walked all that way and pulled all the critters out of their homes.

Some searching yielded this mollusk and sea urchin together. There were plenty of both all around, but this was the only pair I found together. I think these guys are enemies, so they don't hang out together too much.

Probably the top predator in these waters is the great blue heron. This guy was keeping his eye on a small trickle of water draining from one of the larger pools. Anything hoping to make it out to the open water had to get past him first. I was pretty surprised to find this area, and I hope to get back when the light is better. I also need to find a closer place to park so that I don't have to walk more than a mile down the beach each way. Time to break out Google Earth!

Beach Bunny

I figured that since it was a holiday weekend, I'd go down to the beach for the sunset. I haven't done that in a while. I went to Siesta Beach, recently declared the second best beach in the country by Dr. Beach. I'm not sure why it's the second best beach in the country, since it's only redeeming features seem to be it's expansive width and it's nice white sand. Unfortunately, you couldn't much see either of those benefits for all the people there. One nice thing I did see was this rabbit, hopping along in the dunes. I got a few quick shots of him before I had to go deal with the thousands of people on the beach. Turns out that sunset was obscured by some thick storm clouds, but I did get some other pictures I'll share with you later.