Planes: Lots and Lots of Planes

I've been to the National Air and Space Museum on the Mall in Washington, D.C., it's very cool, but the constraints of downtown real estate make it a relatively small museum. However, Nilan and Jackie discovered the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in middle-of-nowhere Virginia, which is a larger wing (ha!) of the D.C. museum. It's a 760,000 square foot facility which is essentially a giant airplane hangar filled with planes. The history of aviation plays out in that space, from actual aircraft built by the Wright brothers (plus replicas and reconstructions) to the Concord (and beyond). Nilan and Jackie took us there on our most recent trip to visit them in Silver Spring. 

Friends across the Midwest (and Boise)

 

RD and me in front of the Boise Capitol

Coffee and pastries with Sara Baker - friends for years, but met her for the first time here. 

Kristen, me, and Sara

3901 Greysolon Road, Duluth, MN

Lake Superior

Robert and Charlotte Boyd (Uncle Bob and Aunty Char) 1950-something

Christina and me in Birmingham, MI

Vancouver Island

 One of my favorite places ever; Greg's first time there. 

Whale watching:

Cathedral Grove

Butchart Garden

Weekend in Vermont

Windsor Mansion Inn, Windsor, Vermont

Mt. Ascutney

Whales

We weren't feeling hugely patriotic on July 4th so we took the opportunity to go out to sea (sort of) on a whale watching excursion that left from the Boston waterfront. Saw a couple of humpback whales who also, you know, seemed concerned by the current political climate. 

 

Boston Central Library

The Boston Public Library System was founded in 1848 and is the third largest library in the U.S. after the Library of Congress and the New York Public Library. The Central Library on Copley Square opened in 1895, and we took a tour of the building on Saturday. 

Every library should have a bar

Never would have guessed that these renaissance style murals were done by John Singer Sargent.