What I want for Christmas

Christmas is way to commercialized. Always has been but it seems so much so now. That doesn't mean that I can post a couple of thing I want. What I really want is time to read as many books as I possibly can. I don't know why, but it does drive me. However, shopping at Derby Books in Salem takes you life in your hand. I would love to see a chain reaction of hundreds of books falling. That would be cool.....

Things to be Thankful for

How can you resist that face? Lots to be Thankful for this year. Got a full house coming over. Should be fun.

Millionaires Row Washington DC

Lots of wonderful buildings in the DuPont Circle neighborhood in Washington DC. Here is a great example along what used to be called Millionaires Row.

Moon rising over Russian Cathedral in Washington DC

Caught the moon rising over the Russian Orthodox Cathedral of St. John the Baptist located on Embassy Row between the National Cathedral and the Navel Observatory in Washington DC. Hard to see in a small thumb print, but the moon gave a good view next the to cross on top of the church.

 

Dupont Circle

One of my favorite places to visit is the Dupont Circle neighborhood in Washington DC. Nice collection of bookstores, bars and restaurants in a residential area near the White House. I always look forwards to visits to that part of the country.

Things are looking up at Aria

Quite an attractive hotel, the site of the movie, Last Vegas, but some say a little cold and impersonal. Most hotels are like that for me anyway, so I don't have an opinion one way or the other.

When in Vegas, Shoot for the Moon

The Aria carport seems to be pointing to the Moon. Not sure what that means.

Not Everything In Vegas is Unnatural

View of the mountains around Vegas, taken from the Aria on the strip.

Aria Front Porch

Nice view of the Aria front entrance from my hotel room. Not a high floor, but a decent view nonetheless.

Looking up on Michigan Avenue, Chicago

Some old and some new on Michigan Avenue.

State Street, that Great Street

Beautiful old clocks from the Marshall Field building. Now a sad Target.

South Michigan Avernue, Chicago

 Waiting on traffic and the lights on Michigan. Time enough for a quick shot.



Three Ringed Planets

The three ringed giants of our solar system, Jupiter, Saturn and Uranus. As shown by Alder Planetarium. Cool view.

View From the stage of the Chicago Theater

A wide angle, somewhat distorted view of the seating area from the stage of the beautiful Chicago Theater. I think I was standing back in 2010 right where Stephi got to sit this past May right before her Valedictorian speech. Weird.

Inside views of the Chicago Theater

Stairwell inside the Chicago Theater.

Back Inside the Chicago Theater

Back in 2010, I did a tour of the inside of the wonderful art deco Chicago Theater. That post from
October 10, 2010 happens to be one of my top hits on this blog. Not sure why but the title "Chicago Theater from the Inside" a literal description of the shot (http://mdshotoftheday.blogspot.com/2010/10/chicago-theater-from-inside.html) must match some popular search term for finding out what is up in the Chicago theater scene. I thought I would mine that photo shoot for some additional shots. Love the interior view of this wonderful theater. Plus, Stephanie got to give her Valedictorian speech here this past May, which was very cool.

Lisle Arboretum Sunshine and Shadows

Maybe one last shot from the Lisle Arboretum of the beautiful fall colors as the weather starts to finally turn colder.

Lisle Arboretum

While the Arboretum in Lisle was mostly yellow when I went last weekend, there was some red showing.

Lisle Arboretum Field of Yellow

Yellow was the dominate color at the Lisle Arboretum this past weekend. Amazing field of color.

Looking up in Lisle

So many colors available just by looking up. From Lisle Arboretum.

Fall in Bloom

Took some winter pictures this week up in the mountain but I can't let fall get by without some fall colors to shoot. This is from the beautiful Lisle Arboretum.

First Snowman of the Season

Got in the first snowman of the season off of a scenic overlook on the Donner Pass. Time was limited so just a tiny one, but it counts....

Donner Pass--Winter is Coming

The calendar said October, the weather man said "snow" and that is what we got traveling over the Donner Pass while traveling over the Sierra Nevada's between Sacramento and Reno. Strange to see so much snow so early. Beautiful, but as the picture below shows, somewhat scary.