Botanical Gardens

While we were in DC we went to the Botanical Gardens. It was pretty cool, if not a bit small for my tastes. They had a beautiful collection of orchids of which I took a lot of pictures. The desert was my favorite though--I love feeling the desert climate, it just feels like home. Below is a picture from the outside garden toward the Smithsonian Native American Museum. The building looks really cool, but according to our friends, the museum itself is kind of disappointing. We didn't go.

Niagra Falls

On our way out to Boston we stayed the night in St. Catherine, a city just 10 miles away from Niagra Falls in Canada. We arrived at midnight only to find every hotel we stopped at booked for the weekend. We finally found a MotorInn with some vacant rooms for $80.00 a night. What a rip off. We only slept there for 7 hours!

In the morning we got an early start and stopped at the falls for a little walk. It was so cool. There were hardly any people out that early so we had the falls pretty much to ourselves. They are fantastically huge. It was hard to get pictures because the sun wasn't yet strong enough to burn the mist off. I think it added to the experience though.

DC at Night

As you many know, there are tons and tons of things to see in DC. So many monuments, historical buildings, and museums. We were hard pressed to see them all in a mere three day visit, especially amongst daily runs, dinners with our friends, and walking Bark (see Our Furry Children). To efficiently utilize our time we ended up visiting several monuments after dinner on Friday around 10 pm. I almost think it was better to see them at night. It was less crowded and the lighting was gorgeous.

World War II Memorial

The Lincoln Memorial

The Jefferson Memorial

The Washington Monument

We also went to the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial. It was really cool with a lot of water features and inspiring quotes carved in stone. Unfortunately, there wasn't enough light for photos. I guess you'll just have to go see it for yourself!

Boston Marathon

The reason Alex and I included Boston in our east coast tour was not so much that we wanted to explore (we've both been there numerous times) but because our friend Heather was running the Boston Marathon. She did fantastic! Her time was 3:21:49 which is about 7:41 miles. That's more than a 10 minute improvement over her qualifying time. Alex and I (and Chad) were about a half mile from the finish line. We saw Lance Armstrong run by. His time was somewhere around 2:40 I think. Pretty good given the rumors that his longest training run was 14 miles. I had a pretty good view of the runners, but when Heather came by I was torn between cheering and picture taking. So, I only got one shot of her. After the race we walked around Boston with her, Brian, and her parents looking for beer and seeing the sights. She must not have been too tired... that's her in her trophy jacket that her mom insisted on buying for her.

Views from the Empire State Building

As many of you know, Alex and I just returned from a tour of the east coast (or at least a sampler tour). We started in Boston, went through New York City, and ended in Washington D.C. I had never been to the latter two cities and of course returned with many, many pictures. Contrary to my usual orderliness, I think I will post them somewhat randomly starting with some from New York City. New York was definitely an eye opening experience. I was so struck by the enormity of the city. So many people living amongst so many over-sized buildings and so little empty space. It's just plain huge. I think this is demonstrated best by some pictures I took from the top of the Empire State Building (we only had to wait in line for about 15 minutes!) and one I took at Times Square.

Up

Down

South
North
Times Square
(on a Wednesday afternoon)

Twins v. Tigers

Last Monday we went to a baseball game in Detroit at Comerica Park.


We took Jason (Alex's favorite co-worker) and Leah along with us. Jason is a dyed in the wool Tigers fan and Leah just likes baseball. She used to work at the Mariner's games as a food vendor. It was fun to root for the Twins among 30,000 Tigers fans. I like being different.


Prior to meeting Alex, I really had no interest in baseball. Do they even play baseball in Utah? Anyway, it has taken some time, and I'm still nowhere near as interested as Alex, but I definitely have come to enjoy attending games. Especially since it's an outdoor affair. Basketball, the only other professional sporting event I've ever attended, is really exciting but you don't get to breathe fresh air or watch the sun go down. Monday was a beautiful evening. Clear skies and a chilly breeze. With three jackets on plus one to cover my legs and insulated boots I was quite happy.


The Twins lost, much to our dismay, 10 to 9 (or something like that). But what an exciting game. The Tigers had been on a losing streak (I don't think they had won a single game yet), so the crowd was going crazy when they pulled ahead in the eighth inning. By the way, the Twins are in gray in the pictures, the Tigers in white. Also, Joe Mauer is the Twins catcher shown below--he's one of my favorites. I'm not alone in that sentiment. Joe is a homegrown Minnesotan and is pretty much every Twins fan's favorite (see here). It helps that he's 6'5" and cute.


So if you've never been to a baseball game, I highly recommend it, especially if the Twins are playing!

Hallelujah!

Yesterday I handed my dissertation proposal in to my committee. We're meeting next week to discuss it. Thank god I'm done with it. What will I do with myself now that I don't have that hanging over my head? Oh! I know. Maybe I'll actually start doing some research...

I thought, just for fun, I would post my proposal for people interested to know what my research is about. Plus, I think this program for embedding PDF's is kind of neat! And please don't feel obliged to read it : )

Read this doc on Scribd: Messinger Dissertation Proposal