The End of Cherry Blossom Season in Washington D.C.

It's almost the end of April, and the famous Tidal Basin cherry trees have lost their blooms, so I feel safe declaring this weekend as the end of the Cherry Blossom season.  I have mixed feelings on the cherry blossom tourism craze as a resident of the D.C. metro region.  The flowers are gorgeous, but after so many years of dealing with the traffic jams they create, this season in particular I just couldn't really get into them.  I did one sunrise visit, with overcast skies, but only brought my iPhone for photos.  Other than that, I somewhat celebrated the annual festival by trying two new themed offerings.  The first is a pop up bar and the second a cherry-based afternoon high tea.  

Good news, there is still time to visit the Cherry Blossom Pub before it closes after this weekend.  Pop Up Bar DC  by The Drink Company is known for super elaborate themed drinking experiences that change quarterly at the same venue.  I've been once before last year for a Game of Thrones themed bar around the time of the season premiere of the show.  Like that GoT bar, the Cherry Blossom Pub was divided into four rooms with different decor.  The four themes were cityscape Japan with exposed lighting wires and hanging lanterns, sushi bar with origami swans, a small garden scape with butterflies clustered on large sphere paper lanterns, and the beautiful cherry blossom bar with the ceiling covered in pink blooms (fake of course).

At the Game of Thrones bar, they had a "photo booth" room with the iron throne.  With the Japan themed, the Cherry Blossom Pub's photo op was perfectly paired with a mechanical Godzilla that breathed smoke periodically.  The drink menu was also cleverly curated.  I opted for the bean paste take on a piña colada, the beaña colada, that was served in a cute ceramic cat mug.

Don't worry if you can't make it into Washington D.C. to catch the tail end of the pub.  Since they have already announced the next theme will be The Royals, I suspect that we will know soon the opening date and that it will likely be around the upcoming wedding of Harry and Meaghan.

The second cherry blossom offering I tried was high tea at the Fairmont in D.C.'s west end near Georgetown.  This hotel does regular high tea seatings, however this one in particular was cherry based - desserts and tea.  

  

The tea sandwiches served were all delicious:

• Curried chicken, mango, toasted almonds, and cherry marmalade on a brioche

• Smoked salmon, horseradish creme fraîche, and salmon pearls on dark rye

• Prosciutto, cucumber, and Boursin cheese on a mini croissant

• Heirloom tomato, burrata cheese, and butter on sourdough

We actually opted out of the salmon sandwich and were served a sliced turkey on brioche.

The tea options had your standard tea selection with an additional black cherry almond tea specifically for this service.  The hint of tart cherry was fantastic!
 
For the desserts, there were four items, each with a cherry ingredient:

• Chocolate cherry donut

• Sour cherry almond pound cake

• Rose panna cotta with rooftop honey

• Rooftop honey tea scone with cherry jam

While this particular menu is no longer available due to the end of the cherry blossom season, I highly recommend the venue for high tea on any week - theme or no theme.  

Happy end of cherry blossoms!  (some morning iPhone shots below)

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Top Photos from 2016

While I didn't bake as much in 2016 as I have in previous years, I certainly did not slack on my photography.  In fact, I'm excited to take things to the next level in 2017.  My Christmas present arrived this month - a new and much better camera!  I also finally finished creating a separate website for the photos I believe would look great framed on a wall, and they are all available for purchase. Trust me, there is a rigorous decision process I go through to determine if a photo is good enough to post on that site.  On this blog, I'm not quite as picky on quality because I am primarily concerned about the photo telling the story of the event or the travel adventure.  Speaking of stories, here are some of my favorite photos from this past year and quick blurbs.

I'm starting off with a fantastic memory.  This photo was captured with a Panasonic Lumix point and shoot camera that I take with me to concerts to pass the no detachable lens restrictions on cameras.  For a point and shoot, it's pretty solid in the low light, with it's 1" sensor, but of course being close to the stage helps a lot!  The guy in the photo is Marcus Mumford of Mumford & Sons, and it was taken in Nashville last spring.  About a year prior, I met some lovely women at a very small Mumford & Sons concert, and we became - affectionately - "mumfriends." This concert was the first one where we all traveled to a destination to see a show.  My mumfriends are a little more die hard when it comes to location in the general admission pit, wanting to be on the rail all the time which, while it was a lot of time spent waiting in line, worked out phenomenally for me.  I spent probably too much time taking photos during the concert when I should have been dancing, to be honest.  I love this photo because it is capturing Marcus telling a funny story in retaliation for Winston, on his left on banjo/guitar, revealing an embarrassing tale about Marcus.  It really encapsulates the fun bond of friendship the two of them share.

My cousin came to visit me this summer for a long weekend, and she's been wanting to learn how to handle her camera a little better.  I took her to the Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens outside of Washington D.C. to shoot the July lotus blossoms in bloom for some practice.  Added bonus: we got to collect stamps on our National Park Service passport book.  There were a couple of resident dragonflies flying around the many lotus beds, so I was really tickled to capture one when it landed.  I wished I had a longer zoom lens though.

Speaking of NPS passport stamps, a fun national park to visit is the gypsum dunes of White Sands National Monument.  The gypsum retains moisture under the large dunes, and in the case of this photo, the sand was quite dense with water so instead of the wind blowing loose sand around on top of the dunes, over time the heavier particles made this gorgeous wave pattern.

I have been wanting to travel to Alberta for several years now, and this was the year I made it happen. This was shot at sunrise just off of the side of the road near Moraine Lake.  I love the summer mountain wildflowers, the cloud patterns, and the little bit of sunlight that is peeking through the horizon clouds to shine a nice highlighted stripe along the mountain peaks.

This shot of The Remarkables mountain range that borders Queenstown, New Zealand is a perfect example of both luck and being aware of your surroundings.  I was actually walking along the lake shoreline with my back to the mountains, and I stopped to turn around to see if I liked the composition.  In the few minutes I had been walking away from the town, this fantastic rainbow had formed.  It actually stayed for a good amount of time, which allowed the sun to set lower and provide a great glow on the mountains.

Shooting the gypsum dunes at White Sands National Monument provided endless opportunities because the sand was shifting constantly with the winds.  While the wind was helpful in clearing footprints, it made for some challenging photo conditions.  Fortunately, the last day I was there, the wind calmed down and the sun put on quite a show that evening.

Timing can be everything in photography, and while we can't control everything, shooting in the morning and evening light will provide a better chance of getting great light and interesting colors. When we drove down the road to a lake outside of Queenstown, NZ all we were expecting were some good pinks in the sky and maybe some morning mist lifting off the lake.  Little did we know we would be surprised by a hot air balloon launch as well!

And finally, the majority of photos that you see of Banff National Park on social media tend to be of the turquoise mountain lakes, like Louise, Moraine, Peyto, etc.  While that was what lured me up there, I can say without a doubt that my favorite experience and equally favorite shot was atop the Canadian Rockies shooting across a large green meadow with B.C.'s famous Mt. Assiniboine making herself known amongst the peaks.  This photo also demonstrates how expectations can still be exceeded when visiting a highly anticipated photography destination.

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How to Improve a Long Drive Home - See Some National Parks!

A week ago, I was driving back to Washington D. C. after a fun weekend in NYC where I saw a live episode of the popular radio show, A Prairie Home Companion, hosted by its new host and a favorite of mine, Chris Thile from The Punch Brothers.  Also that night, one of the guests was one of my top artists right now, Marcus Mumford from Mumford and Sons.  Marcus came on and sang two of his songs from his Bob Dylan lyrics collaboration effort called the New Basement Tapes as well as two additional Bob Dylan songs and a cover of Radiohead's "I Will."

When I go up to NYC for the weekend, I primarily drive because, while it's at least 4 hours in normal traffic, it ends up being more convenient and sometimes less expensive than the train - especially when I have my dog with me.  Last Sunday, on my way home, I had no urgency to get back, so I thought I would take the opportunity to get some more cancellation stamps in my National Park Service passport book.  These books are a fun way to document your visits to national parks.  This year, with the centennial celebration, there is often an additional stamp at each ranger station.  My cousin and I are in a very loose and unofficial competition to see who can get the most quantity or the coolest stamps.  She got a really neat one up in Acadia.  I obtained some unusual ones this year too, but I'm winning on quantity with my unfair advantage of being on the East Coast with access to more parks than where she is in California. When I left NYC, I had identified a minimum of 3 NPS locations I wanted to visit for sure, and a few others if time permitted.  The first stop was Thomas Edison's Laboratory in West Orange, N.J.

This multistory laboratory is where Thomas Edison and his team explored new concepts after Edison made the move to West Orange from Menlo Park in 1887.  This laboratory is where Edison created the beginning of the modern movie projector, as well as innovations on the delivery of sound over phonographs and through the creation of recordings.  Nearly half of his 1,093 patents were based on things invented or experimented with on this campus.  At its peak, around 10,000 employees worked in the buildings and it was one of the first and the largest designated research and development facilities.  In addition to the machine shops housed in the large building, there are other buildings for chemistry projects, metallurgy, and pattern cutting.  In the research room is Edison's desk, left pretty much the way he last had it organized because it remained closed and locked for many years after his death.

Just a half mile away from the laboratory is the Glenmont Estate, Edison's home with his second wife, Mina.  The house is located in a gated community, one of the first of the time.  Edison was not its original owner.  He came upon the house for cheap when a bookkeeper for a large department store was caught embezzling, the money from which he used to build this ornately decorated home.  Rather than going to jail, the bookkeeper was given the option to forfeit the home back to the company, who later sold the property to Edison. Just before the purchase, Edison had asked his wife if she wanted to remain in the city or retire to the country. Since the couple were both from Ohio, the country was her selection. The house had all of the modern conveniences of the time - central heating, hot and cold running water, indoor toilets, and refrigeration.  Edison, of course, made sure that it was also wired for electricity - with the DC electricity being fed from his laboratory generators down the hill on underground cables.  In the separate garage on the property, the electricity was used to recharge batteries for his cars.  Being close friends with Ford and Firestone had its perks, as Edison was always supplied with models of the latest cars, if desired.

Heading a little south in New Jersey, the next stop on my NPS tour was Morristown to visit the home George Washington occupied with his staff during the months of December 1779 through June 1780. This is also the location, highlighted in the Broadway hit Hamilton ("1780 a winter's ball and the Schyuler sisters are the envy of all..."), where Alexander Hamilton met his future wife, Elizabeth Schuyler who was staying with her uncle down the street.  This home was owned by the Ford family. Mrs. Ford, a widow when her husband died in the war in 1777, and her children occupied four rooms in the mansion while the other rooms were "rented" for offices and accommodations for the General, Martha Washington, and his aides-de-camp like Hamilton.  Washington's troops were encamped 5 miles away at Jockey Hollow (see the photo at the top of this post or reproduction camp shelters).

The dining room turned aides-de-camp work room.

Aides-de-camp accommodations.

Washington's accommodations.

Study turned Washington's office.

Finally, going a little backwards in time, I made my way down to Pennsylvania to Valley Forge National Park where Washington spent the winter and spring of 1777-1778.  The highlight of the 3500 acres is the restored stone house where Washington set up his headquarters. Near this house is a set of reconstructed soldiers huts, one of several sets on the park land.  The soldiers held a contest with monetary prizes to see how quickly they could build their temporary homes.  I'm sure that the cold weather also provided adequate motivation to build them fast as well.

I have to admit that I didn't know much about the encampment before I came.  In fact, I naively equated the location with the famous crossing of the Delaware, not realizing that not only are the locations 45 miles apart but the crossing occurred a year prior to the encampment.  Another example of why you should never stop learning!  Sadly, or fortunately, the Park Ranger said it is a very common question people ask her.
 

Washington's headquarters at Valley Forge.

Aides-de-camp accommodations.

Aides-de-camp accommodations.

Washington's accommodations.

Washington's office.

Aides-de-camp work room.

Temporary shelters for troops.

And, of course, I would be remiss if I didn't again mention how this historical site made it into Broadway's Hamilton.  Can you tell I love that show??  In "Stay Alive," Hamilton sings "I have never seen the General so despondent.  I have taken over writing all his correspondence."  These lyrics were actually from the original song by Lin Manuel Miranda called "Valley Forge," but it was cut and the bars condensed into the song now in the show.  "Valley Forge" was officially published in a remastered demo version on the Hamilton Mixtape album released earlier this month.

By the time I finished with Valley Forge, the sun was setting and the remaining parks on my list were closing, so I'm going to have to save those parks for the next trip up I-95 that I have planned in the new year.  Stamps!!!!!

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New Zealand Nuggets: Fiordland Crested Penguins!

Besides what I already had planned in Queenstown this past October, there was absolutely one thing I wanted to see no matter what while on New Zealand's south island.  Once I saw a photo of the adorable yellow eyebrows of the Fiordland Crested Penguin, or Tawaki in Maori, I was sold on this little flightless sea bird. There are other penguins on the south island, like the blue penguins on the east coast near Omaru, but the Fiordland Crested are notoriously hard to find and skittish when found, so a solid spotting session, when it happens, is enjoyed by all!

While the Fiordland Crested Penguin, the second rarest breed of penguin in the world, can be found in and around New Zealand, South Australia, and Tasmania, it exclusively breeds on the south island of New Zealand. The breeding grounds are primarily on the west coast, but some of the larger known areas are being threatened more and more by New Zealand's growing ground pest issue, as stoats and weasels are getting to their nests and eating the eggs. Finding the nesting grounds can be tricky because they are often hidden off the beaches in the coastal forests, under tree roots or in scrub bushes sometimes hundreds of meters inland. And the fishing pattern of the adult penguins is all day, in and out, instead of the more predicable dawn out/dusk return pattern of the blue penguin.  Their timid nature with humans also doesn't help when it comes to finding a colony and observing them over a period of time.  When we were photographing these penguins, we were semi-hidden behind rocks and I was using a focal distance of 200-300mm on my zoom lens.  It also took about 45 minutes before we saw our first penguin pop out of the forest.  Over a 2-3 hour period, we were lucky to see over 15 penguins either coming in or going out.  Supposedly, the daily average is higher in November as the baby birds grow older and more demanding of food.



I mentioned "we" before, and that is because I was with a special guided small group tour.  Since seeing these penguins was a goal, I knew I was maybe going to have to go to extra monetary lengths to find them. I had the timing correct, since October and November are the best viewing times, but I still needed a location. What I ended up doing was staying at the Wilderness Lodge at Lake Moeraki just north of Haast. The couple that runs the lodge are avid wildlife conservationists and keep a keen eye on the annual populations and breeding patterns of the local penguin colonies. They also maintain the area on a beach that is favored by the breeding penguins to ensure safe passage from the nests to the ocean and encourage the penguins to return the following years. They lead small tours to this beach for an additional fee, which I was more than willing to pay. There are also other group nature walking tours from the Lodge that are free during your stay, and I had a lot of fun learning new things on those too - especially the glow worm evening tour where we not only saw a huge colony of glow worms that looked like Christmas twinkle lights but the skies gave us a show that included the Southern Cross and Magellanic Clouds, or two dwarf galaxies only visible in the Southern Hemisphere. Oh, and one more comment on the lodge - the food was good!

So, it took a little - no a lot - of effort, but I think it was all worth it.  The drive to Haast is about 4 hours from Queenstown through the aptly named Haast Mountain Pass.  There are beautiful views along the way, though, and stop to walk to the Blue Pools and several waterfalls if those interest you - maybe hit some on the way out and some on the way back.  If you are driving from Queenstown, I recommend taking the road through Cardrona into Wanaka at least one way.  There is a famous lone willow tree in Lake Wanaka that you can visit.  Wanaka also has a cute downtown area.  A long way to drive, a little pricy to stay, but those bushy eyebrows are worth every penny and every minute behind the wheel!

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