Sunrise, Sunset

Aren't sunrises and sunsets spectacular? It sounds so cliche, but really, they are superb, beyond what a camera can capture, of course. The above picture is in New Jersey, the one below is above California somewhere between San Jose and Los Angeles. I love how the fog looks like it's been poured on.

2008 Youth Rally for Life and Mass

Okay, I know this is a terrible picture, but it is the best I have, and it sort of gives you an idea of the magnitude. That white patch you can see is about a third of the priests who were there (the rest were directly across, on the other side, and on the altar). The arena was totally full - 25,000 people! It was really great to see so many young (and old!) people so alive with their faith.

Washington Landmarks!

Well, I've lived here for long enough now that it seemed somewhat disgraceful not to have seen nearly any of our capital's monuments or landmarks. So Saturday (a very cold and gray day), Jason and I set out to sightsee. Try looking at the picture above and imagining a penny around it (the Lincoln Memorial). If you actually look at the back of a penny, you can see Lincoln inside of it (very, very small!), just like the picture below.
Below is the Washington Monument, which is very tall and pokey and not terribly beautiful.

San Francisco!

We (Jason, Laura, Betsey, Marie and I) went to San Francisco last Tuesday, where the girls rode the Cable
Cars for the first time! They also ate their first Indian
food (how much they liked it is questionable :-)
We walked through Chinatown and Little Italy and had
a fantastic time, despite the fact that it was cold and
raining.

More Mystic Photos...

This picture below is from one of the cemeteries we went to... I think it looks really eerie, as if an angel should be coming out the clouds at any moment.

This cider mill was established in the 1800s. We had the best hot apple cider ever there, tasted different kinds of apple wine, and ate apple cider doughnuts. Yum!

Mystic, Connecticut

The day after Thanksgiving, we went on a trip to Mystic, Connecticut, which is on the coast of the Long Island Sound, just a few miles before Rhode Island. It is an adorable little town, which was first settled in the 1600s. While we were there we did some hiking, walked around the harbor and the downtown area (which has a working drawbridge!), ate clam chowder and fried clams and drank hot apple cider from a cider mill, and tried to stay warm (I am still not used to the freezing cold weather and spend a lot of time shivering). I have many pictures, so I will try to post more later on, but here is a start, at least.

Smithsonian Museum of Natural History

Aren't butterflies amazing? I hope they found all of these already dead.

This is a very rare and extinct mammal (on the left).