Caution Extreme Awesomeness

This last week has been nothing but awesome! My friend Sterling flew in late Sunday night with the whole visit's plan and a surprise. He gave me this Old Navy bag and said, "This is going to be the theme of this whole trip." I opened the bag and found the following water bottle:

Caution Extreme Awesomeness!

Extreme Awesomeness is the perfect title for this last week's adventures! As I did warn you, I forgot my camera. But I just didn't leave it in the car; I completely left it at home. I'm the worst tourist ever! Sterling had a camera but we really didn't get it out the whole trip. I'm pretty sure it had something to do with the fact that we hauled his niece and nephews hiking with us.
Monday was spent at the beach and driving to Sterling's sister's house by Lake Placid. All I can say is it is an awesome drive. The Adirondacks are absolutely beautiful. I'm not exaggerating when I say that they are now in my top 5 favorite places I've been.
Tuesday we drove through the Adirondack park which is the weirdest national park I've been to. It is made up of both public and private lands and it's bigger than most of the major national parks all combined. As we drove we hit several trailheads and did hikes into different sites. We saw lakes, waterfalls, mountain vistas, ponds, and lots of canoes/kayakers. Overall we hiked 17 miles and drove approximately 75 miles. We did this with Sterling's two nephews who are the ages of 6 and 8 and his niece who is 4. Needless to say most of the hikes I carried his niece and he carried his 6-year-old nephew. All I can say is at least the scenery is awesome.
We stayed at his sister's house again and on Wednesday we said our good-byes and went and did the Pharaoh Lake loop which was roughly a 7 mile loop and several more easy waterfall/pond/lake trips which were roughly 1 mile a piece for a total of approximately 15 miles for the day. The Adirondacks were so worth it. I can't wait to go back! Which I probably will this next October so I can see them with all the Fall colors! I'm so excited all ready!
 But so you can see some of the awesomeness I saw, I stole a few photos from the internet.

A Hidden Lake

Limekiln Falls

Canoes! I wanted to go canoeing/ kayaking the whole trip! Oh well maybe next time...

When we got back to Baltimore the funniest thing happened! I forget how good looking Sterling is. We were doing laundry since neither of us had clean clothes which left Sterling to wander around my apartment in his swim trunks. I got ready to go have cake for my friend Elizabeth's birthday and Sterling got ready to take a nap (which actually turned into him just going to bed since he didn't wake up till the next morning). Upon exiting the bathroom, I came upon one of the funniest scenes I've ever seen. My roommate was just sitting in the chair staring at Sterling sleeping (even I have to admit he is pretty ripped). The funniest thing is I went to the birthday party and came back and she was still staring at him. She hadn't moved. Good thing Sterling was asleep or he may have been a little self-conscious.
 Thursday, we just wandered around Baltimore. We went to the harbor and took the water taxi to Fort McHenry. Then that evening I put him on a plane and the awesomeness ended. I don't know who was more sad; my roommate or me.
 Saturday, I was able to go to dinner with some friends for my friend Lori's birthday. All I can say is Broadway Diner may be one of my favorite restaurants ever! And you know it's good when it was featured on the Food Network. Overall, Extreme Awesomeness was a perfect description for the last week with more awesomeness to come in the next few weeks! I get to go a Harry Potter party (my roommate is dressing me up), I'm going home for a month, and the last Harry Potter movie is coming out. Can summer get any better than this?

Excitingness!!!

This week is going to be so exciting! I picked up a good friend up from the airport and we have an exciting week planned! Tomorrow we're going to the beach (which will be my third trip this month) and later this week we're going hiking in the Adirondacks. And if we have time we'll make a trip to DC.
Stay tuned for pictures. Hopefully I don't leave my camera in the car like I did when I went to Shenandoah.

DC with Bethany!!!

I've been very blessed to have so many visitors this year. First Ryan in March, my parents in May, and Bethany this last week. Both Beth and I needed a vacation. She just finished her dental hygiene program and I just finished my first year of grad school (I passed Advanced Biochem!).
We visited DC and went camping. I'm going to split our vacation into two parts: DC and camping. We picked the worst days to go to DC weather-wise (it was 97 degrees both days). While in DC we went through most of the Smithsonian's and saw the major monuments. I'm becoming quite the tour guide of the National Mall.

We went to the National Air and Space Museum first. This is my all-time favorite of the Smithsonians (although the Natural History museum is a close second because it has dinosaurs). Every time I go I'm tempted to buy the aviator hat and goggles that are supposed to be for the little kids (Don't laugh they fit).

I'm in the pic with the bomb to give you an idea on how big that sucker really is.

Next, we went to the Museum of Natural History to see the Hope diamond and my favorite, the dinosaurs!

Beth with the creepy sloth thing in the mammal exhibit.

Me contemplating how it would be to be eaten by a T-Rex. Painful I would imagine. I may or may not have watched all 3 Jurassic Park movies in the last few weeks.

Beth looking like she's being eaten by said T-Rex. "I have a big head and little arms!"

We next ventured to the Archives and saw the documents that are so very important to our country. Then on to the Museum of American History! Which in my opinion is the biggest hodge-podge of exhibits. Inventions, the dresses of the First Ladies, War, Abe Lincoln, science, and American icons like Kermit the frog and Dorothy's slippers.

Beth and Abe Lincoln's top hat.

Yes, I did find a model of DNA in the American History Museum. I'm a nerd remember. They also have a recreation of a chemistry lab from John Hopkins and the lab/testing area for the Manhattan Project.

And we found something better than Dorothy's slippers. C3PO! They also have awesome star wars memorabilia in the gift shop. I kinda want the Yoda backpack, the Darth Vader and Stormtrooper bobbleheads, and the stuffed wookie.

After the main museums, we hit the monuments.

Beth doing a handstand in front of the Washington Monument. It took a lot of pictures to finally capture it and I'm still not sure of the reasoning behind having to have a picture of doing a handstand in front of the monument.

Me in my favorite tree at the National Mall. It's awesome. You should visit it sometime.

Beth was born on the anniversary of Pearl Harbor so the trip to the WWII memorial was a solemn one.

We finally made it to the Lincoln Memorial.

Beth and I in front of old Abe.

Between the heat and all the walking, we were exhausted by the time we got to the Lincoln Memorial.

Don't judge. I was dying of heat and it was cool in the shade. I got a lot of funny looks though.

And you thought I looked exhausted.

We weren't the only ones bushed from the heat. This poor little guy hardly moved when we got close to him to take this picture.

We kept pressing on and finally got to what I think is the most awesome thing in DC. Einstein!!!

I wonder what she is thinking. Maybe she wants to be like Einstein.

Beth's legs are almost as long as the statue's femur.

I'm just showing my appreciation to my number one favorite scientist.

I've always wanted to learn at the feet of Einstein.

Somehow at the end of the day we ended up at the Foggy Bottom metro stop on the George Washington campus.
Our next foray to DC included the National Arboretum and the Arlington National Cemetery. The arboretum is beautiful and houses a very large collection of bonsai trees (over 53 of them) and scholar's stones. I also think that it would be a most excellent place to run.

A scholar's stone with a Chrysanthemum pattern that occurs naturally from high heat and pressure.

Close-up of the pattern.

This stone includes light house, mini hikers, and miniature kayakers.

This bonsai has 'been in training' ie growing since 1625. That is one old little tree.

These are the original columns from the Capitol Building when it was expanded. It is now a monument at the arboretum.

It was pretty awesome.

Eternal Flame at JFK's grave.

There were a lot of funerals on Tuesday. Here's a coffin going to a grave site. Did you know you have to qualify to be buried at Arlington?

Pierre L'Enfant's grave/memorial. He was the one who designed the layout of DC.

View of DC from the Arlington House (aka Robert E. Lee's House). It was interesting to learn that the government took the land from Lee because of back taxes and commissioned it a place to bury Union soldiers. I found it all very ironic.

Even seeing DC as many times as I have, it still hasn't lost its charm and wonder for me. I still have to pinch myself. I never imagined myself living so close. It's almost surreal. I really enjoy visiting it and sightseeing with friends. There is so much to see I doubt I will see all of it by the time I'm done with grad school. I had an awesome time with Beth and I'm glad I got to share the experience of her first visit to DC.

A little bit of nerdiness

So at the first of March, I got to hang out in DC with my friend, Ryan. I finally got the pictures from him! We did awesome things like go to the National Air and Space Museum!

We saw The Spirit of St. Louis. (I'm a fan of Charles Lindbergh!)

 And I got a picture with one of my female heroes, Amelia Earhart. Ok, it's a cardboard cutout but it's the closest I'll get.

We also ran into another one of my heroes in holographic form (Einstein!).

We hit the Museum of Natural History next, and had a brush with death in the Africa room. The cheetah is smiling on his branch next to his kill. Kinda awesome, huh?

I had a Jurassic Park experience. Please don't eat me! Dinosaurs are so cool! I also had the urge to yell, "I have a big head and little arms", but I resisted.

After lunch came the highlights of the day. The first being the World War II memorial (Ryan had never seen it and it was the number one thing he wanted to see).

 The star wall is awesome but sad when you realize that there are roughly 4000 stars with each star representing 100 Americans that died in WWII (roughly 400,000).

I love how every time you take a picture there is always a random stranger in it.

 Of course we couldn't go without taking a picture of the Idaho pillar.

And then we found Einstein! He's my number one scientific hero!

I got to sit in his lap! Well I had done it before but now I have photographic evidence!

Ryan decided to copy him. Who doesn't want to be like Einstein?

Then came the even nerdier moments... In case you didn't know, the floor at Einstein's feet has little metal dots that represent the major stars and constellations in our galaxy. That's what I'm looking at. Ryan took the picture standing behind Einstein's shoulder to "see the universe through Einstein's eyes."

While he was looking through Einstein's eyes, I elected to be the center of the universe. Boy, aren't we a bunch of nerds? Oh well, I'm okay with that!

Sadly the National Academy of Science was closed for asbestos remodeling when we went to see that next.

By the end of the day, we had found a flaming sword and a rather inappropriate boy scout memorial. Overall, an awesome day! Thanks for the memories Ryan!
But my nerdiness didn't stop there. A few weeks later, I picked up the nerdiest (but most awesome!) piece of memorabilia ever. A reduced price Einstein bobble head! (I'll admit it. I've always wanted one!)

Ahhh! The joys of being a nerd! He's now sitting next to my Beaker and Dr. Bunsen Honeydew plush dolls. Love it!!!