The Average Blogger : The Week in Photos

**Edited to add: I should note that the photo below of Stella Chang was taken by the Young Prince, not me. For one thing, had I taken it, I'm pretty sure Stella would have chucked the camera into the Potomac, and for another... well, hey, I have to give credit where it's due. I don't know if this means the camera is entirely idiot-proof or if he's got some innate talent, but I like to think it was my stellar instruction. Notice that the subject is centered in the frame. Snerk.**

Saturday's hike: I don't think the kid was quite as unhappy as he appears here. Mostly he was sulky because I wouldn't give him the camera.

Tuesday was the Fourth. After watching the kid steadfastly refuse to eat apple pie, we headed down to the National Mall for the fireworks and so forth. After the usual stop at the merry-go-round, we took a mockery tour of the modern art at the National Gallery, then bopped on up to Air and Space, where we picked up McDonald's for an early dinner. As per usual, the moment we sat down to eat, the skies opened and it simply dumped rain, with lots of nice lightning and thunder to go along. We waited it out and the timing wasn't going to be too awful, except that after the rain stopped, we were forbidden by D.C.'s finest to do either of the following:

a: go back onto the Mall and cut across it to our intended destination, or
b: walk up one block on a city street to same.

Apparently this was because they didn't want the embarrassment of anyone getting struck by lightning and dying on A Capitol Fourth. So first they forced us back into the museum (prompting me to ask, "What flipping country IS this? When did we move to Soviet Russia?") and then let us go out the other exit -- because apparently it's OK to get electrocuted if you're NOT on the Mall. A doubly annoying aspect was the discovery that people were allowed to walk this city block coming from the other direction. Not Your Average Blogger offered to walk backward, but the cop apparently didn't find that very amusing. We wound up taking a cab six blocks around the back of the Capitol to go what would have been 2 blocks in front of it. Argh!

But eventually we persevered and met up with the lovely Stella Chang. Poor Stella got caught in the downpour on her way to meet us, but you can barely tell here. She dries out well, no?

The agency where Stella works has crack security. Apparently they let any random schmo wander the building as long as they had a happy face stamp. Or, in Stella's case, the Anti-Happy Stamp.

I got some decent fireworks shots, but really, seen one, seen 'em all. That would be the Washington Monument off to the left. Unfortunately, I didn't manage to get its glowing red eyes. (I think they are actually intended to keep airplanes away, but all I ever think of is Amityville.) Maybe next year.

Today, it was Saturday again. We took the day and hied ourselves up to Gettysburg for the Civil War re-enactment going on. Unfortunately, because it was supposed to happen last weekend, the re-enactors were sharing the town with about a bazillion motorcycle enthusiasts, since this was "Bike Week." I apologize for this: I failed to get any photos of Union soldiers hauling off any Hell's Angels. Let's proceed right along to the re-enactment.

After the battle, which took place in a random field outside town, rather than in the actual park, we toured the battlefield. This is probably my favorite shot of the day. It's a statue of Gen. G.K. Warren -- you will note, I did not center him in the frame: