Photos from Trip to Washington D.C., Atlantic City, and New York City, and Miscellaneous Photos (June 22, 2018)
(Click on any of the thumbnails below to view the full-sized photo.)
Before the trip, there was some preparation. First, I did work out (only once) in preparation for climbing the 354 steps up to the crown of The Statue of Liberty.
A few weeks before the trip, I did replace the headlamps in the Hyundai (the headlamps were 160,000 miles old). That was quite a job, and YouTube videos saved me. It ends up that there is a hinged gate in each headlamp ...
And I did check the car spare tire ...
Before we left on the trip, I let Trista and Bubby try out my electric lawn mower and week wacker (video, about 500MB).
Entering Ohio ...
A bridge I've never seen before; somewhere near Toledo, I think ...
Bubby and Trista at a McDonald's somewhere en route ...
Status on the GPS ...
An impressive bridge that was about 50 feet above the freeway ...
Entering Pennsylvania ...
A toll booth (one of many), and toll cash ...
Trista and Bubby, riding in the car ...
Trista and Bubby at a restaurant, possibly The Olive Garden somewhere near Hagerstown, Maryland. (We stayed in Hagerstown because affordable hotels in D.C. are hard to come by.)
In the hotel in Hagerstown (I think) I have a video (about 12MB) of Trista bogarting the bathroom.
The main hangar floor of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, Virginia; with some photos showing Trista, Bubby, and Janet ...
The SR-71. I always wanted to see one.
The decommissioned space shuttle Discovery. Seeing this hardware (which has really been to space and back) was my favorite. It was far larger than I expected—some real payload space in that thing. While on the upper level of the hangar, there was also a view into the area where they do the restoration work to prepare exhibits.
The observation tower. Since Dulles Airport was very close, many visitors were watching airplanes land and take off.
Trista and Bubby posing by a movie exhibit.
The "Wall of Honor" at the museum. I assume that this wall was to acknowledge donors of money and time.
They had a Cessna 150, and were having visitors manipulate the flight controls and watch the control surfaces move. I'm sure it was very enjoyable, especially for kids.
We rode something that they called "The Space Shuttle Simulator or similar title. Great fun for kids, and less fun for adults. All four of us went on it together.
They also had some fun activities for kids at the museum (video, about 350MB).
Photos of the four of us in front of The White House. (Thanks to the tourist from North Carolina who took this for us.)
A statue near The White House. (I have no idea what this is or why I took the picture.)
It became clear that some in Washington, D.C. do not support Mr. Trump ...
We also saw the aftermath of a car accident (video, about 110MB) somewhere in or near Washington, D.C.
Entering Atlantic City ...
Unhealthy food purchased in the food court in the casino / hotel ...
We ended up staying at The Tropicana. There is a bit of a funny story there. I had booked over the internet at The El Dorado Motor Inn. There were criminal types hanging around the hotel, I was approached by a prostitute when walking from the car to the hotel office, and there was a roach in the room that went scurrying for cover when we entered. This was enough to convince Janet and Trista that we could not stay there, so we found a room at The Tropicana.
The kids had just finished swimming in the indoor swimming pool of The Tropicana, and this is when (after asking the lifeguard where the ocean is) we looked out the window from the indoor swimming pool and realized how close the ocean was.
Janet and the kids had a great time swimming in the ocean. They had never done that before.
I also have the following beach-related videos:
We rode the trolley along the boardwalk, which, to my surprise, is almost five miles long. I'm not sure why I snapped the photo of Massage Paradise.
I also have the following videos of us playing boardwalk games:
These are photos of the room, which was really nice. The shower door hardware caught my eye—they put the roller hardware at the top (rather than bottom) to avoid having channels that collect gunk. It seemed like a great system—I've never seen that before. I also have a video of the shower door (about 32 MB).
I won $180 playing Blackjack. My observation about the Blackjack at The Tropicana is that it is fair (3:2 payout, no odd rules that I noticed). Some of the casinos in Detroit are greedy (6:5 payout, odd rules the benefit the casino).
I have two videos of our approach to the hotel. In the first video (about 608 MB), we cross the Verrazano Bridge. In the second video (about 533 MB), we approach the hotel.
Trista posing with a statue outside a gift shop in Manhattan.
We had a nice lunch at Da Nico in Little Italy. I believe the spaghetti met with Trista's approval.
Photos from Little Italy, including some cool T-shirts ...
Battery Park. Trista wanted to see The Statue of Liberty at a distance before we visited.
Walking The Brooklyn Bridge ...
The subway trip back to the hotel. The subway cars were made by Kawasaki (which surprised me).
We found a 24-hour supermarket near the hotel. It was convenient, despite that fact that several perishable items were spoiled.
We visited the 9/11 memorial and museum. A very emotional and sobering place.
Unhealthy dinner at a diner near the hotel ...
We visited The Statue of Liberty, including taking the stairs to the crown. That was a workout!
Madame Tussaud's House of Wax in NYC. James Bond owed me money, so I had to collect.
I also have two videos of us in New York City. In the first video (about 913 MB), we ride the Staten Island Ferry (and the Statue of Liberty comes into view around 5:40). In the second video (about 380 MB), we are in the Ghostbusters section of Madame Tussaud's.
The trip back, including Trista doing gymnastics in a travel stop at about 3:30 a.m.
And now the miscellaneous photos ... geese near my workplace ... they think the fountain is grand ...
Cats being cats ...
Canadian currency (much prettier than U.S. currency). I believe this photo was taken when I went to Canada to give Bill Hacke a ride back after he gave his late wife's vehicle to his wife's family.
The latch trim on the Hyundai. When I had the latch replaced, they used a different color trim (formerly blue, now black).
Scraped mirror. A truck on the freeway actually swerved into my land and made contact with the mirror. Fortunately, there was no other damage.
Doing outdoor yardwork. I often listen to podcasts on a Bluetooth speaker,m but this time I actually watched television outdoors.
A bulged can of tuna I found among my mom's things. Naturally, I did not eat it.
An ODFL (Old Dominion Freight Lines) truck on the road. Although (at the time the picture was taken) I owned ODFL stock (and still may), I had never seen one of their trucks on the road.
The front lawn, which could definitely use improvement.
A less-than-nutritionally-sound food purchase at the local 7-11.
A Yoda (Star Wars) figure on a colleague's desk.
Sweetie out at night ...
A particularly warm day ...
Disposing of a shopping cart from my mom's garage ...
An unusual single-vehicle accident in the parking lot near the Biggby Coffee where I go ...
A car with novel decorations ...
An unusual product for sale in a restaurant ...
I drove through one of my old neighborhoods in Detroit and made a video (about 1.2GB). 12350 Birwood (5:26 in the video) is a former address. I used to live upstairs.
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