7 Hours in New York City

Spent Saturday 8 plus hours on a bus, with 7 hours in New York City. Took in the "Under the Bridge" Festival in the DUMBO area of Brooklyn (near the Manhattan and Brooklyn Brides) and then had dinner in Triceba.

H Street Festival

Moving up two in the alphabet....Last week I went to F Street festival, so this weekend I checked out that the H Street Festival. If you recall from last spring, I had a blog post about this up in coming neighborhood in Northeast DC.

This is where my friend and I had lunch. It's a Indian food truck that parks in a different neighborhood everyday. The only way to know where's it's parked is to check out their web site or follow them on twitter. I am told, these travelling food carts are very popular in LA and New York City.

Arts Festival and Protesters Downtown

Saturday afternoon in downtown Washington DC. Went to the Arts on F Street Festival, where they had food samples from many of the finest DC Restaurant, booths from local artists and a number of stages for entertainment. And also mixing in the crowd were protesters coming back from a big rally to the Capitol..


This wax statue caught many people of guard, some thinking Robin Williams was at the festival.

This was the Cooking Stage. Local chefs whipped up a meal in less than 40 minutes, sounds like a scene from Top Chef doesn't it?

And the protests and protesters, this sign was welcoming to many of the anti-congress, anti-Obama, group that had been marching to the Capitol (about 9 or so block away from festival).

I am told my a friend who walked thru the rally that there were a lot Pro-Fox News and Anti the so called Liberal Media signs at the Teaparty rally...

To read more about the protesters (estimated between 50 and 100 thousand) check out this link: http://www.wtop.com/?nid=25&sid=1761130

8 Years Ago....

It's hard to believe that 8 years has passed since we were attacked. I hope we all take (or took) a moment to remember all those people whose lives were changed for ever. This large flag is on a the building across from my work place in Virginia..



This photo I took at the Pentagon Memorial last fall. On this location 184 people died after American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon.

DC Health Care Mural

No better way to start the new month off on the blog than with a mural dedicated to health care reform which will be debated and hopefully passed this fall on Capitol Hill.

The below art work/mural is on side of a gas station on Connecticut Avenue in Chevy Chase DC. The artist is Regina Holliday, who lost her husband in June to cancer. 39 year old Fred Holliday didn't have health insurance, and Regina believes that if he did have health insurance he would have received earlier diagnosis and better treatment, and may have been saved. Now the mother of two boys (ages 3 and 10 years old) hopes to get this message out, "This this horrible, horrible thing had to happen to us. We had such a stressful time, our entire hospitalization experience. We couldn't do anything to save him, but if we stepped forward, we could save other people, and we could make a difference with his life" as recently reported by a local news station who told her story.

I met Regina while I was taking these photographs. I actually had seen her before where she worked at the local toy store in Chevy Chase. She told me she plans to find other locations to paint her mural's and continue her push to "Change the Face of Healthcare"

Late Summer Evening in Washington DC

Wednesday night I met up with my old photography teacher for an "on location" class downtown. The class was spent mostly at the Tidal Basin and FDR Memorial. Here are a few photo's from the night.


This was taken before the class, the sun setting on the Potomac River.

It's bird, it's a plane, it's a helicopter going past the Washington Monument.

National Harbor Maryland

This weekend I didn't have much planned, so I drove to National Harbor which is located on the Potomac River near the Wilson Bridge (and near the Maryland/Virginia border). This huge complex in Maryland opened a few years ago, and is home to the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, six hotels, more than dozen upscale restaurants, shops and lots of activities. It can be reached by car or water taxi (from Georgetown and Alexandria). This is first photograph is the view from the convention's center lobby bar.


This is from 19th floor of the Gaylor hotel. This the National Harbor Marina with the Woodrow Wilson Bridge in the background.

This is the famed "Awakening" statue that was moved (after being sold by a private owner) from Haines Point in Washington D.C. to this location.

You can rent bikes, seaways, and sailboats....

Earlier this year, Disney announced they bought 15 acres for a 500 room Resort Hotel on National Harbor Complex (which is 300 acres).