Road Trip: Day Six
After touring the surprisingly pleasant city of Cincinnati, David and I headed to one of the places we are least welcome, the Creation Museum.
This museum is a private institution (that's why we had to pay so much, right?) that is dedicated to spreading the word about creationism and beating down the myth of evolution. In my head this was much funnier but upon getting there, it was just kind of pathetic. There was very little appeal to reason and much more "yes, it's this way and isn't that awesome?"
David even sprung for the planetarium tickets. The show was pretty well done and I found myself enjoying the show. And then they explained a light year and I wondered, "why don't they just give the real definition instead of putting it in miles?" The answer came later, of course - because if it really took light that long to get to where we are, we wouldn't see anything, because the universe was created just a few short thousand years ago.
Nothing to laugh at, really. Plenty of people - I mean, everyone at the museum besides us - believes it.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Road Trip: Day Five
On the way out of the unmentioned relative's neighborhood, we tried to hit up a couple of places and fell short. We did manage to get into the Woodford Reserve distillery, though. Apparently it was high-class but I think I have to admit that I just don't like whiskey. I don't. I've tried.
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Road Trip: Day Four
From the unnamed relative's house, David and I headed out to Mammoth Cave to see the largest cave system in the world. We were that close, we had to go. The rangers proved much more knowledgeable and entertaining than those of Luray Caverns but the sights paled in comparison.
I was more pumped about the "Dinosaur World" down the road but it was more than the caves and we just couldn't swing that. There was a really neat antique store across the way and that's how I snagged this photo of Pabst cans.
Columbus Day, Monday, October 13, 2008
Road Trip: Day Three
Our Columbus Day should have been spent exploring the abandoned coal mining towns of West Virginia's New River Gorge. Unfortunately, my period made a show that day and turned me into a raging bitch and turned my belly to mush. So we only visited one ghost town, a "restored" ghost town: Thurmond.
This is a picture of the coal elevator from Thurmond's heyday. It was the biggest town around and all the railroads had to pass through so it was booming until... it was dead. The coal elevator was really neat and everything else was so obviously cared-for it didn't hold any falling-apart charm. More of the elevator in my flickr.
From here we went straight to an unnamed relative of David's. She fed us and continued to feed us for the rest of the trip.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Road Trip: Day Two
We woke up in Elkins, West Virginia, quite refreshed and ready to start the road trip over, since we were quite ready to call it quits the night before (see previous post).
Right in front of the hotel were these two old trucks seemingly being left to rot in the middle of a field. The light was streaming through the windows and they were perfect. More shots in my flickr.
Day two took us to the National Radio Astronomy Observatory for a pretty awesome tour. For a twenty-five mile radius around the observatory, no one is allowed to broadcast anything. The astronomers regularly have to hunt out sources of static in their area, like electric blankets.
The rest of the day was spent getting on down to the New River Gorge. We drove through some incredibly beautiful scenery but there was hardly anywhere to pull over and snap photos, so we largely did not.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Road Trip: Day One
David and I headed out after lunch with George and drove straight to Luray Caverns for some exciting spelunking activities. The cave was really awesome, though hugely overpriced. Check my flickr for pictures of "mirror lake" - an almost completely still body of water underground. It looks as though there's no water, until you realize you're staring at the ceiling reflected.
After stopping at this cool old cemetery to snap some pics, we unsuccessfully tried to play bingo with the locals and then spent three hours driving through mountainous Virginia and then West Virginia looking for a place to stay. Would you have made a reservation if you were going to West Virginia?
Friday, October 10, 2008
First post in a long time because I've been on vacation, a motoring vacation. More pics soon.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
This picture is far out of focus. When you zoom in my face is all blurry. There are a number of reasons this might be but #1, I'm going to go with quality of my lens and the fact that I was zoomed all the way in as the table I rested the camera on was far away. What can I do? Carry my BRAND NEW GIANT DSLR WITH ME!!
Other factors might include dirt on my lens, general incompetence. Totally not important.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
Today I finished my relief project for Design I. It took me at least 20 hours to complete, but I may be underestimating.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
This was taken at the Del Ray Art on the Avenue. I was blown away by how many vendors were out hawking their wares. More images are available on my Flickr (look left).
These babies were so cute and their Ma was full-on in the next stall over so I wasn't too shy. A newfound bonus of having an awesome SLR is that your face is in the same place as the camera so if someone's going to look at you, they're going to look at the lens. Score!
