I believe I've already shared my confusion with you over the difference between azaleas and rhododendrons. But here are a few more pictures of the spectacular displays of them at the US National Arboretum. I think I got shots of all the different colors, if not all the different variations in the flowers themselves. As you'll see, they're all fairly showy.
Another of the new places I visited on this most recent trip to DC was the US National Arboretum, not only to see their collections of plants and trees, but to see the Capitol Columns. These columns used to be on the Mall side of the Capitol building until a renovation and addition in the mid-50s. After removel, they lay in storage for almost thirty years before being erected at their current site at the National Arboretum. It's a pretty impressive site to see these columns just standing out there in a field. All of the stones you see around them was also salvaged from the Capitol prior to the additions, each piece is chiseled with a code that can be tracked back to exactly where it was located before it was removed.
Unfortunately, during our visit, there was no water flowing through the small channel leading down between the steps in front of the columns, and the pond was almost dry. I would have liked to get some reflection of the columns in the water with the bright blue sky in the background. I guess that will have to wait until next time.
On the far side of the field is one of the capitals from the columns, mounted down low so you can actually see the detail in it. They were carved of sandstone, and you can see the effects that years of weathering have had on the soft stone. I believe the current columns at the Capitol have been carved from marble to give them a much longer lifespan.
What is this, some type of daffodil? This is another flower that seemed to be pretty common in DC, but not something you see in Florida very much. I'm sure they're around, just not in the same numbers. It was hard for me to get anywhere while touring around DC, not because of the traffic, but because I had to stop and take pictures of everything. I think I've shared over 100 pictures with you already from my trip, trying to work my way through mostly chronologically, and I'm less than 24 hours into the trip. I'm not complaining, mind you. I love to take pictures. It's great to be somewhere different where there's new stuff to see and try to document. It just makes it hard to make plans.
Sometimes I take pictures of odd things for no good reason. This is the DC Metro station at New Carrollton, I think, or at least the parking garage next to it. It's the last stop on the Orange line, at the Eastern end, and that's where I usually got dropped off in the mornings for my train ride into DC. They did a cool job of decorating what is usually a bland, boring concrete structure.
And unlike most train stations where time is of critical importance, this station features a giant clock.
Unfortunately, this clock is of little help if you actually need to know what time it is. 'A' for effort, 'F' for execution.
Check it out. I got to Sun-N-Fun on Friday just in time to see some of the pyro going off for the warbirds show. Some of the simulated bomb bursts made giant smoke rings in the sky. I'd heard about such things, but never seen it happened. I guess the charges were just right, and the weather was just right.
Isn't that just the coolest thing? I don't know if you could make something like this happen if you tried, but there it was.
I kept hoping one of the warbirds would try to fly through these rings, but I guess they have to fly a pretty tight flight plan since there are so many planes in the sky during this show.
OK, you guys have been really good, putting up with all my Washington pictures when I know what you really want to see are the Thunderbirds from Sun-N-Fun. Well, here are a few pictures from the Thursday rehearsal. Well, they called it a rehearsal, but for those of us on the ground, it sure seemed like a full show.
I always try to get a shot of the planes with a flag in the foreground. I don't think I've gotten a good one yet, but I keep trying. They're just too fast, and the flags are always too close.
I always try to get pictures of the planes seeming to intersect in midair. The 8 frame-per-second capability of my 7D should make that easier, but I miss them just as often as I get them. Maybe I should try to get them when I'm not at maximum zoom, I think that might help. Always a neat shot when I get it, though.
Ah, the dirty pass. An airshow standard. Some of these jets are so fast that the only way to slow them down is to lower the flaps and drop the landing gear. Maybe it's the truth and maybe it's just a story, but it makes for an interesting picture.
I love it when the two solo pilots (Thunderbirds 5 & 6) join back up with the diamond. It's pretty cool to see four planes flying in formation, but it's at least 50% cooler when there are six planes in formation!
Look real close at the pictures above and below. See the number 5 is on the plane upside down? His is the only plane marked that way. All the rest are right side up. I read on the internet that he's the lead solo pilot, and usually if there's an upside down maneuver to do, he's the one doing, thus the upside down number. I don't think you can see that sort of detail from the ground, or at least I can't. That's what I have a 400mm lens for.
And a shot of one plane on the ground, just so you know I'm at the end. I hope I didn't overload your senses with all these great shots. And this is only from one day, I've got two more shows to share. Unfortunately, this was the day with the best weather, so these probably are the best shots I got. It's hard to get a good picture of a white plane against a dark gray sky. But I'll share the best of them, though maybe not quite as many.
