Daniel Miller's Shameless Self-Promotion

Christmas In Toledo

Some friends were visiting from California so we decided to go see the Lights Before Christmas at the Toledo Zoo and of course I went with camera in tow.

Photo by DANIEL MILLER
My friends Mary, Mark, Jim and Joy walk toward an evergreen tree decorated with blue lights while viewing the Lights Before Christmas at the Toledo Zoo. The holiday event features over ONE MILLION twinkling and chasing lights, 200 images of animals and strolling carolers

DC Final Chapter

Long live procrastination and busy weeks! Here's the final batch of photographs from my trip to Washington.

Photos by DANIEL MILLER
The National Building Museum stands opposite the escalators of the Judiciary Square Metro station.

A woman looks over while riding up one of the multi-story escalators in the Washington Metro system.

The ceiling at the Metro center stop follows the same textured theme as the rest of the Metro stations.

A circular atrium in the ceiling is seen through a doorway inside the National Gallery.

A lone student sits between stone columns in the domed rotunda of the National Gallery.

Edgar Degas (French 1834-1917) Little Dancer Aged Fourteen – Wax Statuette 1879-1881

Ok, here it is. My touristy picture of the Washington Monument at night as seen from the rear entrance of the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. Now where did I put my bermuda shorts and Hawaiian shirt?

(Balti)more Fun

Everybody get comfy on the couch and stuff some popcorn in yer mouths. Here's round two of Dan's vacation pictures! Be glad I'm not into home movies...

Photos by DANIEL MILLER
Mary Beth is excited to be eating at Pizzaria Uno. (one of the best pizza places in the world)

Mary Beth is not so excited that I usually have a camera attached to my face.

We were heading over to The Gallery at Harborplace (read: the mall) so we took the footbridge to walk over the midday traffic. I looked down and saw a man sitting in the sun quietly doing his daily crossword puzzle.

After taking a wrong turn (and ending up in the Baltimore ghetto) Mary Beth checks her map to plot a new course on our way to shop in Fell's Point.

The Baltimore ghetto. [Edit: I have been informed that this is NOT the ghetto. Actually this was the 'safer' part of the area we drove through, where I wasn't afraid to bring the camera up into plain view. My apologies for the error in labeling -Dan]

The late afternoon sun makes long shadows fall on the herringbone patterned sidewalks of Fell's Point, a quaint, kitschy shopping area near the Inner Harbor.

Despite what you may take from the expression, MB has never seen the movie. Everyone's a critic. (ps. MB, remember to rent the movie!)

Smithsonian A&S

I had visited the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum some years ago and it was interesting to see how much things have and haven't changed. It's easy to let the scale of the exhibits overwhelm you and force you into only using your wide-angle lens so I decided to use the zoom and see things from a different perspective.

Photos by DANIEL MILLER
The Bell X-1, named Glamorous Glennis after pilot Chuck Yeager's wife, hangs in the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum. Yeager piloted the X-1 to mach 1.06 to be the first man to fly faster than the speed of sound. [More historical information]

This is a detail shot of the original Spirit of St. Louis, a Ryan NYP (New York-Paris), which Charles Lindbergh flew during the first nonstop solo transatlantic flight in 1927. The flags painted on the cowling represent the different countries he stopped in during a later tour through South America. [More historical information]

NASA is painted on the tail of the North American X-15 A-1. X-15's were the first aircraft to fly 6x the speed of sound and took manned flight into space. [More historical information]

East Coast Finale

For anyone who's remotely curious, here is the belated and long winded entry for of the rest of my week in DC.

Friday
Shannon and Beth took me out to eat at Maggiano's Little Italy. Good god... lasagna to die for. It almost made up for the large table of little punks from the military academy who were obviously having some kind of pre or post dance meal.
After the supp, we walked over to Kramer Books, which is a strange mix of books, people, cafe and bad 2-man musical groups. We mainly sat up in the balcony seating eating desserts and describing (read: making stuff up about) the lives and goings-on of interesting looking strangers below.

Saturday
It was decided that since I'm a Michigan fan, maybe it wouldn't be good to go watch the annual Michigan/OSU game with the local Ohio State Booster's Association. So we hopped the Metro to Washington's ESPNZone for "The" game. Let me first say that as tourist traps go, this one is first-rate despite the fact that it took the cute bartender 5 tries to get beer for us. No kidding... I ordered 3 tap Killians', she checked and came back asking of bottles were ok. "Fine" I said. Then she came back saying they were out... would Newcastle be ok? "Sure!" This time she came back exclaiming that she was new and should surely know their beer selection by now. "Heh, ok... do you have Bass?" Everything was going smoothly until I notices she only brought 2 glasses. When I asked about the third, she said "Oh, three? Ha ha, well the Keg's being changed now." She wasn't kidding. At this point I just said, "Please... make it cold, yellow and vaguely beer-tasting."
The only other thing that developed for me that evening was a large case of jealousy because of the new 27"Panasonic Surround sound TV, Beth and Shannon bought. Damn, what a great picture.

Sunday
This was tourist day for me. See the sights, gawk and make the proper "oohs and ahhhs."
While walking to the Mall area, we passed the Dept. of Justice whose flag was flying upside-down. Looks like someone there is still pissed about the penalty for Microsoft after they "won."
We walked on to the National Gallery where I found myself standing in front of many pieces of art that I spent hours studying in my Art History classes in school. It's amazing to realize that you recognize a piece that you are finally standing in front of. It's like hearing your favorite song played live for the first time only better. Photos can't show the detail in a 16th century oil painting or the texture of the fabric on the Degas statue.
After some other typical sightseeing, aka. walking up and down the mall, we grabbed the red line to the Tenleytown-AU stop to eat at Guapo's Mexican restaurant. The food was as good as it was loud and they even had this curious machine next to our table that served both as a tortilla baker and crematorium. Apparently, if the vigilant tortilla maker guy isn't being very vigilant, a tortilla will get stuck, blow up like a balloon and burst into flame. Who knew there would be a floor show?