An Urban Adventure, NYC Style - Part 1

Although my trip to New York City was back on March 19, I had a draft written up about it a few days afterward and including as many details as possible. So, I have everything about the trip as new as if I just been to NYC yesterday. Since that trip, I also found out a lot of history about the places I went to and was in the vicinity of. Now I can add that info to my post, along with a list of sites to see for a future visit to NYC.



I signed up for the trip only a few days before, to see the Broadway musical "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying," at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre, starring Daniel Radcliffe and John Larroquette. I remember Larroquette from the TV series "Night Court." Fliers with the "Harry Potter" star in corporate attire were hanging around campus advertising the trip.



Saturday, March 19 arrived and I met the rest of the tour group early in the campus cafe. It wasn't long before we were on the bus heading for NYC's theatre district. Until that day, I had not been to NYC in well over a decade. Ready with my camera, I snapped photos of the Empire State Building upon first sight of it from the bus. Our view of Manhattan was from the opposite side of the Hudson and we passed the Newark Airport as we drew closer to our entrance into the city via the Lincoln Tunnel.





The bus followed a circular path from Weehawken, passing the town's charming library with its old-world architecture. I couldn't get a good photo of that, so I'll have to try next time. A billboard of relief efforts for the disaster in Japan was displayed just outside the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel, and directly over the entrances were some billboard ads for the Apple iPad.



Going through the Lincoln Tunnel, in a way, was an early moment of culture shock during the trip. I've been through the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel before. However, the traffic in the Lincoln Tunnel was much different, crawling slowly with numbers of tour buses. I don't remember how I crossed into NYC years ago, whether by bridge or tunnel. So the sight of the traffic squeezed together into two lanes toward the city just amazed me.




A staff member from campus who sat in the seat in front of my said to someone, "Can you imagine commuting into the city every day in this?"

I think part of my own amazement stemmed from being excited to visit NYC again after so long. Although I don't consider myself a city person, NYC is a place that I love for a day trip or even a weekend stay. There was still so much I hadn't seen there, and was about to see more of NYC's sites for the first time. Regarding the idea of being a city person, I would have said on a scale of one to 10, with 10 being city person, I was a four prior to this trip.

After exiting the Lincoln Tunnel the new addition of traffic emerging into NYC was greeted with signs directing vehicles with two options. Uptown / Theatre District, go to the left. Downtown / Madison Sq. Garden, go to the right. The Al Hirschfeld Theatre was only a few blocks, and many taxis, away now.

I continued snapping photos to capture moments of everyday life in New York City, as well as any objects that reflected the feel of being in the Big Apple. Images of taxis, the overflowing streets, signs of Broadway shows and NYC businesses were already filling up my camera's memory card. This sign warning of a hefty fine for honking also caught my attention. I had never seen a sign with this message anywhere else. Despite the warning, I did hear some honking all around.

Everything I had seen to this point built up my feelings of NYC fever. I couldn't wait to see where the day would take me, besides the one known place, the Al Hirschfeld.

As our group pulled p outside the theatre, I didn't know who I'd be exploring the city with. Not really wanting to wander NYC on my own, I randomly joined four other girls from the bus once my feet hit the pavement. I didn't know them and so far didn't have any classes with them. As a sort of "survival-in-the-city" instinctive measure, I made a mental note of what they were wearing. That way, I'd be able to spot them in the crowd of people we'd share the streets with. One girl in my group of five had on a royal blue t-shirt with the name of our college sports team and slogan on the back in white letters. So she would be easy to keep track of during our urban adventure.

We had some extra time on our hands, so the five of us started out in search of a place to grab some lunch. With my pocketbook draped over one should and my neck, the strap under my sweater, I followed the other girls' lead. Two of them seemed to know more about the city, which was a great help. As we walked on, I gripped my camera tightly, snapping some photos along the way. One of the other girls also captured some images on her compact camera.

"A Slice of New York" was our lunch spot of choice, where I decided to try a slice of baked ziti pizza. I never saw a pizza topped with baked ziti before, and wondered if it was a specialty that began in NYC. Either way, it was very good, reminding me of Julia Roberts in "Eat Pray Love," when she says, "I'm having a relationship with my pizza." My trip to NYC so far, including bus, theatre ticket and lunch, cost only $45...quite a bargain!

We made our way back to the Al Hirschfeld, snapping more photos as we went. Once there, a line going around the corner and nearly to the end of that block greeted us. A middle-aged couple joined the line behind us and I overheard the woman saying with a laugh, "They're all here to see the "Harry Potter" kid!"

The line moved quickly and we were inside the beautifully-detailed theatre before long. I bought a souvenir travel coffee mug with the musical's funny line about coffee going around it, then made my way to my seat. A theatre employee directed me where to go, the 2nd row from the top, 4th seat from the right. Near center, it was a prett good view of the stage and the show's backdrop detail. Further excitement built up in me as I awaited the start of the first Broadway show I'd see.

This was featured in the waterfront Camaro Show on June 5th in Wilmington, DE. I walked around it to get the entire paint job depicting American military history on video. However, I have to edit the background audio out and try uploading it again to my Youtube channel.

Here is a view of the passenger side.

I'll probably try to edit the sound out of my video with software used on campus. Hopefully, that will work. You can get a better sense of the patriotic paint job in the video. So when the editing is finished, I'll upload it onto Youtube and add the link here.

A Grand Old Ship

After visiting Independence Seaport in Philly on Saturday, May 21, I took this photo of the SS United States.







There are efforts under way to preserve it, which you can find out more about on the SS United States Conservancy website. Since I took the photo from a distance, I want to go to where the ship is docked and take some close-ups of it sometime. Anyway, I wanted to share this as someone who is interested in maritime history. Anyone who loves maritime history will find a lot of interesting stories from this great ship's past. I hope its preservation will be successful.

My Must-See List of National Parks

For Earth Day 2011, I decided to post a list of the national parks around the U.S. that I hope to visit someday for photographing nature. I also shared this on my Tumblr page.

1. Denali



2. Glacier Bay



3. Grand Canyon



4. Saguaro



5. Channel Islands



6. Joshua Tree



7. Redwood



8. Sequoia



9. Yosemite



10. Mesa Verde



11. Everglades



12. Hawaii Volcanoes



13. Yellowstone



14. Acadia



15. Isle Royale



16. Congaree



17. Badlands



18. Arches



19. Bryce Canyon



20. Shenandoah



21. Olympic



22. Grand Teton

Travel for the Near Future

I thought I'd share a few places that I hope to visit in the near future to do some photography and video work. I guess they could be called special interest travel, as they all represent different interests that I have, or that others have who like these places for the same reasons. Those interests include architecture, literary sites, maritime and city scenes and various areas of history.

• New Hope, PA / Lambertville, NJ


• Cape May, NJ


• Florida's Space Coast


• Gettysburg, PA


• Indiana


• Hartford, CT


• Boston / Salem / Cape Cod, MA


• Sleepy Hollow, NY


• Charlottesville, VA


• Washington, D.C.


• Baltimore, MD


• Ireland

I went back to New York City for the first time in years, so keep an eye out for my post about it. Above is one of many photos I took there on Saturday, March 19.

What places do you hope to visit in the next few months or in the next year or so?

An Adventure at Ricketts Glen

Years ago, I went to Ricketts Glen State Park and within recent days I found out that a snowshoe / hiking trip there was being planned through my college. I was thinking about going on the trip, because I never tried to snowshoe before. The opportunity seemed to jump out at me, even though I'm not really one who likes Winter and snow. I just wanted to try something different because I haven't in a while. The trip takes place this weekend, on Feb. 20, and would be a great photo opportunity. Ricketts Glen State Park has a lot of beautiful waterfalls, and I remember seeing some of them during my past visit there. Unfortunately, I didn't have a camera with me at the time. The person in charge of putting together the event emailed me about a change in the trip's location because of difficult conditions. Even though I would have liked to visit Ricketts Glen again, a new location altogether for the trip would mean a place I haven't been to before. So that is an equally positive aspect in my opinion because I like getting to see places that are new to me. It turned out that I can't make the trip this time around. However, it's something to think about for a future excursion. I probably wouldn't have thought of trying a snowshoe trip if it wasn't for hearing about this activity through campus recreation. So I definitely give credit to my college, Cabrini, for the inspiration to try this outdoor adventure later on down the road. I have a new "bucket list" item...go on a snowshoe adventure!

Florida-Bound...Hopefully

After a Winter season like this, not too many northerners could resist a trip to a sunny destination like Florida. What's more exciting is when it is someone's first time visiting, and that's just the case with me going to Florida. Of course, no official plans have been put together yet. However, I should have enough money to go this year and I'm hoping to go there for only a short stay in June.


It would be great to do some photography and video somewhere I'd be visiting for the first time, too. The experience should give me plenty of things to write about as well. I'll post updates about any Florida travel plans later on.

A Day at the Renaissance Faire

It's been a while, but as promised, I'm reflecting back on a late Summer excursion to New Jersey for the Lakewood Lions Renaissance Faire.



It was a family excursion that started out with my mom, grandmother and I heading across the Delaware River bound for Lakewood. Once there, we stopped at an aunt and uncle's house since my cousins and I had arranged getting together for the event. My aunt and one cousin's boyfriend decided to join us for a day of renaissance festivities as well.



Taking two cars, we were on our way to the recreational park where the renaissance faire was to be held. We arrived within 15 minutes of leaving my relatives' house and were directed to park by some men dressed as monks for the faire. A girl in a purple velvet renaissance dress handed out programs of the day's scheduled events that would take us back in time.

With our cars parked, we then had the option of either walking about 10 minutes or taking a three-minute bus ride into the faire grounds. We opted for the short bus ride since there were varying walking abilities in our group. The blue and white Township of Lakewood bus winded its way through a wooded area, bumping here and there as it passed by lion-themed shields.

The bus unloaded and we entered into the renaissance faire grounds, filled with tents of vendors selling a variety of crafts. A few knights on horseback entered behind us before we began our way down a slight grassy hill to souvenir shop. One vendor, "Celtic Chairde Creations," caught my eye with a front table covered by a Celtic knot work tablecloth.

According to a brochure I picked up at their tent, the word "chairde" means "friends." Their tent had a lot of bath and body products, along with some crafts such as this "Ireland" stitching and others below.

I didn't by anthing yet, wanting to work my way around and see what the other vendors had in store for us. So I began to leave the tent and rejoin my group, when who did I see walking up the hill but Captain Jack Sparrow!



"Hey, Jack Sparrow!" I called out, and the very good likeness of Johnny Depp's popular pirate character turned around, reacting in full character.



We continued down to the bottom of the hill, where a procession of costumed characters was beginning to go by. Knights on horseback, belly dancers, medieval maidens, fire baton twirlers, and pirates were all there walking to a beating drum.



After the procession made its way up where we walked down from, some of us stopped to check out a little pirate scene. Like a scene out of "Goonies," the skeletons of two ill-fated pirates lay slumped against barrels of gun powder (or maybe Jack Sparrow's rum). A skull and crossbones flag, ship's wheel, cannon and a pile of cannonballs completed the swashbuckling scene. My grandmother loved the ship's wheel in particular, as she loves maritime-themed objects.



We worked our way up the hill, completing a u-shaped tour of the renaissance faire vendor tents before finally reaching a stage area. A pirate reenactment was starting up, during which a few interesting things happened.



As the reenactment got under way, I turned away for a moment to see a mysterious and fully masked Paladin knight talking with my aunt. It didn't seem like anyone else in my group noticed yet, their full attention on the pirates and the display of swordsmanship. When they turned to see the knight, they got a kick out of him as well, not expecting to see him there with my aunt. He had signed a paper listing various renaissance faire characters that attendants could get autographs from.



The next thing that happened was a shock to my ears because I stood leaning against the right side of the stage. That turned out to be a little close to the pirate action going on in the coming moments. One pirate standing in front of the stage and closer to the opposite side seemed to look in my direction. He threw something at an enemy reenactment pirate who stood somewhere between us. Suddenly, a medium-sized cannon only two feet to my left went off and startled me! Of course, nothing was actually fired out of the cannon. However, my hearing was somewhat muted for the next few minutes. It sent a few laughs through those attending the renaissance faire with me that day, and I couldn't help but laugh as well at that surprise.



During one part of the pirate reenactment, Captain Jack Sparrow showed up again and seemed to be making a bargain with the other pirates. When the bargain didn't work out, he went running into the crowd standing opposite where we were. Picture the scene in "Pirates of the Caribbean II," when Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) doesn't want to leave the island without Jack. Then he sees Jack trying to outrun the island natives and catch up with the pirate ship. When Jack is shown from behind running along the beach, that is exactly what the renaissance faire Jack Sparrow looked like. As I mentioned, he was in full character and did a very good job with the voice and mannerisms of the movie pirate.



Following the pirate reenactment, the next big attraction at the renaissance faire was the jousting event. I was really into the renaissance spirit by this time and bought a flowery halo with streamers hanging down the back, deciding to wear it at the joust.



A crowd gathered at bleachers across from the vendor area of the renaissance faire and awaited the arrival of the knights. We could see them riding slowly around a bend to the jousting grous, or lysts, as you might hear them called in the movies. There were a few cars parked nearby, giving humor to any photo of knights in shining armor as they approached on horseback.



One knight with long, flowing blonde hair finally galloped past the crowd on a black horse and then began to address everyone. He announced the two jousting knights as they each took a turn riding past the crowd and waving. Before the joust began, the crowd was divided by the announcer, who assigned rooting sections to the knights. A little friendly verbal jabs were exchanged between the opponents, bringing laughter to their respective fans.



Then the action began with some surprising practice runs that included the knights taking turns trying to slice a cabbage while galloping by. But that's only part of it, because the cabbage was placed on top of a helmet worn by a brave renaissance faire character. The following practice involved jabbing, while mounted on their galloping horses, a target placed on some hay.



The jousting began shortly after that and early on, the knight who I rooted for was knocked off his horse. However, he eventually won the joust and I even got a piece of broken lance autographed by him.



I have more photos that I took at the renaissance faire posted on my flickr page at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cdwyerphotojourney.

Recent Photo Excursions

My Fall classes have kept me pretty busy lately, although all very interesting. However, I will write about and share images soon from two recent photo outings with different time period themes. I'll be posting on a local car show sponsored by a 50s diner, followed by a renaissance faire in New Jersey.

NYC Bound

The first week of classes has come to an end, although not without assignments to work on. So this will just be a short post for now.


Next week, there is a campus involvement fair which I look forward to attending so I can sign up for a few things. Beyond that, I am already signed up for a late-semester shopping trip to New York City. It cost only $10 to sign up and because this would be my first time visiting the Big Apple since my high school years, I thought, why not?


I can't wait for this trip and I hope to get some good photos of the city!

A Goal to Reach

We are thinking about another trip to the Outer Banks, possibly for next Summer, because of a personal goal in the family.


My Mom had two heart attacks at the end of June and through cardiac rehab, she has been doing much better. When I went with her to a cardiac rehab session, I noticed a photo hanging up on one wall. I was told that it was of a previous patient at the cardiac rehab center, and that the photo marked a goal he had reached.


In the photo, he was standing in the chilly environment at Mount Washington Observatory in New Hampshire. A few days before, I was watching something on the Weather Channel about the observatory and its surrounding climate. So I pointed the photo out to my Mom and told her about the conditions there, and then she suddenly had a goal in mind.


"I know," my Mom said, "my goal will be to climb to the top of the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse!" When we went to the Outer Banks in June 2004, neither her nor I climbed it even though it was open to do so.




I hope that we will be able to make the trip, because now it represents more than just going on vacation. If things work out and we find ourselves back in the Outer Banks, I plan to record our climb up the winding red stairs of Cape Hatteras Lighthouse on video. Then, I will capture some video of the view from the top. We should share the video with the cardiac rehab workers who helped my Mom during her sessions there.


One thing is for sure...they will be as glad as we will be if her goal becomes reality, just as the patient who reached his Mount Washington Observatory goal. It will be great to reach the top of the lighthouse, and in doing so, beating her heart scare.


It depends on a few other factors as to whether or not we can arrange the trip for next year. However, after what happened this Summer, being able to join other tourists to view the ocean from the top of the lighthouse will make for a very happy moment.




As time goes by, I'll update on here about the plans to help my Mom reach her goal at the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse.

Smedley Park

My high school friends and I were originally going to have our 1st reunion at Rose Tree Park, but changed it to Smedley Park. It is located next to the Springfield Mall in the Delaware County area of Pennsylvania, not too far from Rose Tree.


Anyway, I thought I'd share a few photos of the scenery at Smedley in this post. One of my friends might do a full write-up on her blog page about the reunion itself. So I want to save that for her, and just post photos I took of our surroundings at the park.

I may go back to Smedley another time and take some more scenic photos of other areas there. The road into the park winds around past a few picnic areas until finally reaching a dead-end a few hundred feet beyond where the Blue Route sits overhead. At that point, it just curves around in a cul-de-sac so visitors can easily make their way back out.




And there is a snapshot of the Blue Route going overhead, which provided us with some extra shelter beyond the tarps we had set up. This is a view looking northward at the highway, which spans from Delaware County to the PA Turnpike.

NJ Shore Points Trip - Part 3

At this point of our NJ shore excursion, we were relaxing in the shade of the pavilion and umbrella-covered picnic tables. My mom, grandmother, aunt, cousins and I had cooled down from the boardwalk stroll in the hot sun. For a few hours we just talked and enjoyed our view of the ocean, maybe 100 yards between us and the waves.

I had hoped to get some photos of people surfing, but I'm not sure if that particular beach area was for hangin' 10. The boyfriend of one cousin said that the surfing is more in other spots along the NJ shore. So there were mostly some people on boogie boards and just generally keeping cool in the water while plenty of others relaxed on the sand.

What I like in the way of water sports is boating, although I have only rarely been out on boats in my life. I inherited the family interest, especially on my mom's side, in all things maritime - marinas, lighthouses and a variety of ocean-going vessels. So as I sat in the shade, I snapped photos of boats sailing along the shore and somewhat wishing to be out on one. Well, maybe sometime I'll go on one of those boat excursions for a sailor's view of lighthouses in NJ, DE or MD.

Gazing out to the horizon, I saw a large white ship but it was very faint due to all the humidity that day. This was the first glimpse, just to show how faint it looked from our view on the pavilion.

I thought it was a cruise ship at first as it came into better view, but it didn't have the numerous decks going up from the main deck. Below are the much improved views we eventually had of the distant ship.

This last photo of the ship is the closest zoom-in that my camera would allow. I think with just a little bit more, if not double, the zooming power would have revealed what name was on the side of the ship. Well, it was an interesting thing to see since it isn't every day we see such a large ship like that.

A while later, we decided to head back to the car and it was a much cooler walk this time around on the boardwalk. It was so much easier to enjoy the scenes in the cool breeze of the late afternoon. We watched some sea birds resting out on rocky jetties, and even two people trying to surf the waves. I never saw anyone actually get up on their surfboards, but it wasn't a good view to get photos of them either. They were far past the area where we had parked by an entrance to the boardwalk. So surfing photos will be on another trip to the NJ shore, but it was overall an enjoyable trip.

NJ Shore Points Trip - Part 2

Continuing on from my last post, we began walking along the boardwalk at Spring Lake towards a structure off in the distance. The boardwalk here was not wide like that of Atlantic City, and was lined with benches. It was a pretty hot day, so we took short breaks along the way and noticed that each bench had a dedication on it, honoring someone who had passed away.

While walking further on toward the structure ahead, I stopped a few times to capture some of these beach scenes below.

Such scenes make me want to visit the California coast someday as well...I always have wanted to go there. The scenes of boats and the ocean, however, weren't the only attraction for us at Spring Lake. There were so many beautiful beach houses just across the street from the boardwalk. We could only imagine what it would be like to have an ocean view from one of those beach houses. My grandmother even loved some of the pretty wooden fences enclosing the yards in Spring Lake. I loved the columns, balconies and fancy wrought iron details that gave the beach houses a classic look.

When we were just a few yards away from the structure, a pavilion as it turned out, we passed a bunch of colorful beach bikes secured at a bike rack. So many people were seen riding around this scenic beach town on bikes resembling these.

After the bikes, I noticed some maritime detail decorating the wall just out from under the shade of the pavilion. Coming from a family that loves maritime history, I stopped to take these two photos.

I also saw this "Hands Across the Sand" flier hanging up on the wall, since the event had taken place earlier that day. It was interesting that the flier, at least this one, was posted next to the wall detail of sea birds. I felt that it was another way in which someone was raising awareness of the wildlife affected by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Inside the pavilion, there was a little shop to buy snacks, water and souvenirs...and we were so glad to see that! We bought huge bottles of cold water and two of us had frozen fruit bars to cool down with in the shade. There was a little sitting area with round picnic tables covered by umbrellas, so we sat at one table and just took in the ocean view.

There is still a lot more to our NJ shore trip, so I will stop here for now. To be continued...

NJ Shore Points Trip - Part 1

On June 26th, we set out on the delayed family trip to Point Pleasant with the only drawback that day being the heat. It was my mom and I, plus my grandmother (who loves going to see the ocean) heading up to Lakewood. There, we picked up one cousin and unexpectedly, my aunt decided to go as well. Before we left their house, other shore points were suggested to avoid the possibly more crowded Point Pleasant.

The five of us left the house and while not sure yet where we'd end up, we decided to grab lunch at a nearby Cheeburger Cheeburger. Another cousin, the youngest of my cousins in this part of NJ was working there in the cool 50's themed diner. As we walked in, the first thing I saw was this cardboard likeness of film legend James Dean.

Lunch was great...food, service, atmosphere. With my burger, I had a sugar-free raspberry Shake-a-Soda which was served in a style that reflected the diner's theme.

After lunch, we were on our way again to pick up one more cousin from the area and it was decided that we'd go to Manasquan. Once there, it turned out to be a bit crowded and we were unable to find a place to park. It seems like a nice beach area to visit another time, and it was an area of NJ that we hadn't seen before...the first of many that day. Here are some photos I took there as we attempted to look for a place to park.

This old structure looks like it has some stories to tell, with how weather-worn it appears. I didn't catch a glimpse of any signs indicating what the structure is, but very interesting.

With no parking spaces to be found, we continued on our way again to see how things would be at Spring Lake. In Spring Lake Heights we spotted an Irish pub and decided to stop there for a few moments, so I took these photos.

I found out later online that Spring Lake has a very large population of people who are of Irish descent. Irish is what makes up the majority of my ancestry, so it was interesting to find out about the town's Irish connection.

The next time on the road, we were heading to the shore point of Spring Lake and we saw so many beautiful beach houses before parking the car. Some were across a lake that was being occupied by a large flock of swans. The best photo I managed to take of a swan was of one with its head underwater for a moment.

I'm going to leave off here for now, since there are still a lot of photos I want to post with the stories behind them. The trip so far was already interesting what with seeing so many things and being in places for the first time. To be continued...

Heat Waves, Storms, and Travel

During this week, I have been tuning in to the Weather Channel on and off keeping an eye on the weekend forecast. This was due to plans to visit Point Pleasant, NJ with family. Early this week, the forecast seemed all clear. On Wednesday, things did a 180 with rain and storms being called for Saturday through Tuesday.

We've had some scorching hot days and severe thunderstorm warnings two days in a row, Wednesday and Thursday. I didn't know until afterward, but my area was under a tornado watch for part of Wednesday. We did get a thunderstorm, but it wasn't so bad here that day.

Yesterday, however, it seemed as though we were in for one mean storm...very high wind gusts, cloud-to-ground lightning included. I looked out my front window at one point and the sky still wasn't stormy or ominous looking. Less than five minutes later, I looked out there again and a very dark cloud was looming overhead. That is when I took the photo below of the huge storm cloud.

These two photos I took were of the stormy view out back, another reason why severe thunderstorms always have me on edge! It makes me wonder how I'd be as a storm chaser...or someone who goes on storm chasing adventures with the pros. I doubt I'd really have the guts to do that, what with how nervous I get from the severe thunderstorms here.

The thunder and lightning started shortly after and the rain was pretty heavy towards the end as the wind whipped it around.

As the storm approached, I noticed that I had lost my internet connection...although that happens here sometimes even during decent weather. That, of course, is a total hassle for me as I use the internet to research for term papers, share photos, blog, tweet, etc. Below is a screen capture I made, which shows the disconnected internet icon on my computer's task bar. To the left of the speaker volume icon, the double monitor icon was missing a blue globe...an indicator not to try the internet because it's down.

Once I was able to get back online, I found out that some friends had lost power, saw large hail coming down and even big trees getting knocked over. Similar stories were also being shown on the Weather Channel and via story links posted by news outlets that use Facebook.

Meanwhile, the Weather Channel's weekend forecast changed again...this time calling for a sunny and hot day on Saturday. So, that was good news to see that once again it may be sunny instead of rainy and stormy on a day of plans. We'll see what happens, although I am looking forward to visiting Point Pleasant. These plans were already held off once because of car issues and other things, and it will be my first trip to this particular NJ shore point.

Exploring Near Arcadia U

For a while now, I've been wanting to visit Grey Towers Castle at Arcadia University or catch a glimpse of it for photos. I searched online to see if there were any scheduled public tours between semesters for those interested in architecture photography. Not really finding much on that, I did come across some other places of interest. I found out about them while researching the route to Arcadia University. The route, following Skippack Pike, has many historical buildings that I'd like to check out. However, there is one more very stunning place of historic significance that is entirely new to me...further to the East / Southeast of Arcadia.

That stunning place is Lynnewood Hall, not too far from Arcadia University as it turns out. So my search about Grey Towers Castle led me to the blog page of another person on here. From that point, I learned that efforts are in progress to save Lynnewood Hall and I'm so glad to find that out. It is always a great thing to find others who care about saving historical places. I feel that these places need to be saved, especially because you never know what stories from history may be found in the process.

Last year, at the beginning of October, demolition on the La Ronda mansion began after preservationists tried to save it. I had only just heard about La Ronda about a month or more before it was lost, and went to take some photos of the beautiful structure. I hope that for Lynnewood Hall, the preservation community sees a better outcome of a building saved for restoration.

Below are some of the photos I took when I went to see the La Ronda mansion early last September. I also have a slideshow of more La Ronda photos on my youtube channel.

Although it was lost, maybe La Ronda can serve as a preservation example of why Lynnewood Hall should be saved. I'm thinking of it in these terms...that we don't want to keep losing our history, and so Lynnewood Hall should remain standing. With each historic building we lose, big or small, it means more parts of our story in America lost. That is why I believe in preservation.

There is a tour coming up at Lynnewood Hall, so I think that will be a good time to explore the area surrounding Arcadia. I'll make it a roadtrip to Grey Towers Castle and Lynnewood Hall, along with any other interesting points in between.

Filmed On Location

There are so many movies that are filmed in locations I would love to see with my own eyes and of course take pictures of. Those I listed on the right side of my blog are only a few of just such movies, using a mix of historical and natural places. Below are two photos I took at Independence Hall a few years ago. Besides the history, this stairway is featured in the scene of "National Treasure," as Ben Gates (Nicholas Cage) and his friends go in search for clues to the treasure.

I'm hoping to go on a movie tour in Philadelphia soon, which covers a great deal of other movies filmed in the area. Of course, as my list of movies shows, my favorite locations on the silver screen go beyond the local scene.

A few days ago, "Rebel Without A Cause" aired on the Turner Classic Movies in honor of Dennis Hopper. If I ever get the chance to visit California, Griffith Observatory is on my list of sites to see. It was a great setting for the teen characters that James Dean, Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo played in the main roles. Griffith Observatory seems to be a very popular filming location, also featured in "Transformers."

Within the past week or so, I saw an article online about Astoria, Oregon...home of one of my favorites when I was younger, "The Goonies." The article was about tours focused on the locations used in that movie. Well, besides being featured in a favorite 80's movie, I'd like to visit that area for its dramatic coastal views.

The 2010 remake of "The Wolfman," was added onto my list of favorite film locations just from seeing the trailers. I loved the spooky, atmospheric scenes set in late 1800's England and couldn't wait to see the movie. I actually didn't see it until today, but it was worth the extra wait. The filmmakers did a great job with the look and feel of the classic monster tale, with haunting scenes indoors and out. My love of old architecture, historic settings, and even those with an eerie vibe to them draw me to film locations like those in "The Wolfman." The same goes for many other movies filmed in the British Isles.

I consider myself to be a growing fan of movies, with new interests watching not only the blockbusters, but indie films and documentaries. No matter what the genre, I find many film locations used that I would love to see. When it comes to movies in general, I feel that they inspire people in some way or another. They definitely inspire me in terms of travel and places that I would love to do photography.

Around Lancaster

I have been out to the Lancaster area many times over the years, mostly to have lunch or dinner at the popular Shady Maple Smorgasbord. This time was to celebrate my Mom's birthday, so I rode up there with her and my Dad. The variety of food is always enjoyable, as is the overall atmosphere in the dining establishment of rural settings. A bowl of Apple Crisp is what I love to top of my meal there. It just seems like the perfect country dessert.

Something else I enjoy about going out the Lancaster is the wide open space scenery, dotted with farms just by the road or off in the the distance. It's a whole different world from my area, which is suburban, yet sometimes I feel like it is too congested. So, I always say that I want to move to a rural area for a more relaxed pace among pretty scenery and any nearby historic attractions. Another thing about wide open spaces...room for horses. I've always loved horses and wish I could be around them more. While in the Lancaster area, I tried to take some photos of some horses in their paddocks. However, I didn't have too much luck trying to capture such images from my front passenger seat on the way to Shady Maple. The best horse photo I took is this one below...blurry, but I still like it, and the horse is beautiful! I'll have to try for better horse photos next time out that way...less blur, more close-up, etc.

Visits to the towns of Ephrata and Lititz were also included in the day, however we were a little short on time for full tour of any sites. Both are charming places in my opinion and worth another visit sometime. It was actually my first time going out that far along Route 322, so I finally caught a glimpse of the historic Ephrata Cloister. Even just in briefly passing by, I didn't take a photo of it in either direction. However, I managed to take some photos of some old buildings here and there. I wish I could find a tour of some kind that would allow for more photos of all the old architecture. A lot of what I saw in the way of old architecture was spotted where it was hard to take a photo. Maybe next time out there, while stopping at a local business, I'll take a short stroll to capture more images of the pretty architectural details. Below are some photos I managed to take, which I think were from good timing.

I edited the color in the photo with the flag outside the window, mostly because in the original photo, the window shutters looked too bright. It was even difficult to see the middle section of open shades in the original photo's lighting. After the color editing, the column looked better against the dark porch.

In the photos below, the tower features some very ornate Victorian details that I don't see too often. This is definitely something I imagine on the exterior of my dream house...the whole tower with its beautiful detail.

The photo below was taken somewhere on the way to Shady Maple, and what caught my attention was simply the very unusual wooden detail. Like the Victorian tower detail, it was not often seen...in fact, I had never seen the rollerskate-wheel-like details featured on a house before.

This photo of the star-covered silo is my favorite of the farm photos I took during this particular Lancaster area trip.

As an end to a day of being in beautiful rural towns, I snapped this photo below. This are seen elsewhere in PA of course, reminding us to respect the state's natural beauty throughout it. Sometimes, I like taking photos that are more of a photojournalistic style even if the photo isn't of something happening. As a nature lover and communications student who isn't always near an event (for example, an environmental meeting), I would sometimes just take photos of something that represents the environmental issue.

I hope to enjoy more natural beauty of my home state as time goes on. I've been out toward Western PA as far as Johnstown, and going north, somewhere a bit west of Easton, PA. So I still have quite a bit of Pennsylvania to see.