As mentioned in the previous post, this weekend Tammy and I traveled to DC. One day was birdwatching, and the other was a visit to the National Mall. We did not really decide which museums to visit until that morning, but ended up checking out the National Museum of the American Indian, the United States Botanic Garden and the National Gallery of Art (West Building).
Since I thought it was going to rain all day, and I expected the museums to have policies against photography, I did not carry my camera with me on this part of our excursion.
Well, I learned a few things. First, the hourly forecast on Weather.com was pretty darn useless. Each hour it claimed anywhere from a 50% to a 70% chance of rain. In reality, each and every hour was dry. I guess, according to the laws of weathermen, their forecast was accurate because a 50% chance of rain is also a 50% chance of dry. It was my fault for assuming 50% to 70% chance of rain for each of eight straight hours means that I am probably getting wet.
Next I learned, at least for the museums I visited, their policy against cameras is pretty non-existent. The National Museum of the American Indian had no policy against photography at all as far as I could tell. The United States Botanic Garden requires special permission to use a tripod, but otherwise no limits. And the National Gallery of Art, the one that I figured would be really restrictive, had no policy against photography for their standing exhibitions, but did disallow photography for their special exhibitions.
So, I left my camera at the hotel for no good reason. It did not rain and the museums did not care if I had a camera. Next time I will know better.
Showing posts with label 2007 Jan - Northern Virginia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2007 Jan - Northern Virginia. Show all posts
Pollution Is Bad
This weekend Tammy and I traveled to DC just to be tourists. We split the trip into two pieces, one for birdwatching and one for the National Mall. I watched the weather forecast closely, perhaps too closely, and was convinced that we would be rained on the entire weekend. Despite the potential soaking we went anyway (i.e. Tammy convinced me to ignore the forecast).
She was right. It did not rain on us at all. It turned out to be very nice weather wise.
For the bird watching, I decided to visit a couple of parks that I had not been to before. They are situated on land that juts into the Potomac River, so the chances were good to see lots of diving and dabbling ducks. We started with Mason Neck State Park, then visited the Great Marsh Trail within Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge, and ended with a brief visit to Pohick Bay Regional Park. The birding was typical for the winter. In the spring and summer, there are places and days where I cannot keep up with the birds. In the winter, most of the birds are more stationary and the pace is just generally slower.
These two pictures are from the boardwalk in Mason Neck State Park. The water is Belmont Bay, part of the Potomac River. In the first picture you can see debris and lots of trash on the shore. And this is just the trash that actually ended up washed up on shore. Reminder to everyone: If you do not pick up your trash and handle it properly, this is where it can end up. Do not litter, on purpose or by accident.
The second picture is from the same location, but I am facing the opposite direction. I wanted to show that big tree that fell due to shoreline erosion. What you cannot see is that pollution is also the cause of that tree falling. There was some information in the park that explained this. Essentially pollution is killing the underwater vegetation, and that underwater vegetation acts as a break against wave action. One of the side effects of the vegetation dying off is that the wave action on the shoreline is increased and erosion is accelerated.
She was right. It did not rain on us at all. It turned out to be very nice weather wise.
For the bird watching, I decided to visit a couple of parks that I had not been to before. They are situated on land that juts into the Potomac River, so the chances were good to see lots of diving and dabbling ducks. We started with Mason Neck State Park, then visited the Great Marsh Trail within Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge, and ended with a brief visit to Pohick Bay Regional Park. The birding was typical for the winter. In the spring and summer, there are places and days where I cannot keep up with the birds. In the winter, most of the birds are more stationary and the pace is just generally slower.
These two pictures are from the boardwalk in Mason Neck State Park. The water is Belmont Bay, part of the Potomac River. In the first picture you can see debris and lots of trash on the shore. And this is just the trash that actually ended up washed up on shore. Reminder to everyone: If you do not pick up your trash and handle it properly, this is where it can end up. Do not litter, on purpose or by accident.
The second picture is from the same location, but I am facing the opposite direction. I wanted to show that big tree that fell due to shoreline erosion. What you cannot see is that pollution is also the cause of that tree falling. There was some information in the park that explained this. Essentially pollution is killing the underwater vegetation, and that underwater vegetation acts as a break against wave action. One of the side effects of the vegetation dying off is that the wave action on the shoreline is increased and erosion is accelerated.
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