July 28, 2020 [LINK / comment]
Photo gallery additions: 2011
After returning from my most recent trip to Peru (!) three years ago, I created a new system for cataloguing my immense volume of online photographs, to make it easier to find old photos. Since then, I have periodically added new pages, going back year by year, and I have just done so for my 2011 photos. This was prompted by trying to locate the photo I had taken of the Robert E. Lee statue in the Virginia state capitol building, during a field trip to Richmond I led for CVCC students in February 2011. (The statue was recently removed at the behest of the Democratic leaders of the Virginia General Assembly.)
Robert E. Lee statue, in the Virginia state capitol building, Richmond (Feb. 22)
Jacqueline and I went on many nature outings during the year, wanting to get the most value from the Shenandoah National Park annual pass that we had purchased. The Nikon D40 digital SLR camera I was using at the time didn't have a telescopic zoom lens, so I didn't get many good bird photos until I bought my Canon PowerShot camera in January 2013. I did get some good nature shots, however, including this Black Bear, which was only about 25 feet away at the time (we were inside our car):
Black Bear, along Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park (June 8)
The day after seeing a Washington Nationals baseball game with my friend Dave Givens on the Fourth of July (they beat the Cubs 5-4), I took the time to visit the Washington National Cathedral.
National Cathedral exterior, south side (Washington, July 5)
In early August I drove out to the Midwest, to visit my family in South Dakota and Kansas. Along the way, I stopped to take some photos in downtown Indianapolis, which I had never visited before. Of course, we went bird watching and sightseeing in various locations in South Dakota. I also saw baseball games in Sioux Falls, Kansas City, and toured Busch Stadium (III), home of the St. Louis Cardinals.
Indiana State Capitol (Aug. 5)
Sioux Falls Stadium, home of the Canaries (Aug. 13)
Kansas City skyline, fog (Aug. 17)
Back in Virginia, I took Jacqueline to Natural Bridge for the first time in several years. We enjoyed learning about history at the Indian village nearby, and visited a butterfly "zoo."
Natural Bridge, in Rockbridge County (Aug. 20)
In September, Jacqueline and I went to a Washington Nationals baseball game (they lost to the Marlins, 3-0), and on the way, we visited Arlington National Cemetery, where I saw John F. Kennedy's grave for the first time.
John F. Kennedy grave, Arlington National Cemetery (Sept. 16)
In October Jacqueline and I saw one of my favorite rock groups, Kansas. I had seen them once before, at the Capital Centre east of Washington, DC in the early 1980s. This time we were fortunate to get seats in the second row, and after the show, we got autographs from the band members. As recounted in my October 10, 2011 blog post, "Kansas totally rocks!"
Kansas in concert at James Madison University (Oct. 7)