Our Nation's Capitol

Our second day in Washington DC, began at the US Capitol.  It was a beautiful day, with an unbelievable blue sky.  As it was early in the day, it wasn't too hot...yet.  When we arrived, I was in awe of the massive size of this building.  It is absolutely jaw-dropping in size!  As we were walking up to it, this was one of the first photos I took.

If you are anywhere near the National Mall area of Washington, DC, the dome of the building dominates the landscape.  It seemed that no matter where I was, every time I turned around, I was able to find a new perspective and view of the dome.  It's hard to believe that this is only the fifth tallest building in Washington, DC.

The photo above was taken in front of the Capitol on the east side of the building.  The wind was just perfect, blowing the flag from left to right.

The photo below is at the base of a small reflecting pool looking up at the dome.

According to Wikipedia, the US Capitol building sits on approximately 274 acres.  It is enormous!

The last photo I'll leave you with is a view of the Capitol from the west side.  This was taken with my 75-300mm lens.  I was standing on the National Mall, about halfway between the Washington Monument and the Capitol.  This was definitely one of the coolest buildings I saw in DC.

Sith Eyes

2011 was a difficult and challenging year to say the least for my family and I.  It was mainly due to this that we decided to "get away" for Christmas. When it's winter in central Indiana, going somewhere warm and tropical was an easy choice.  As going to California has been on my "bucket list" for as long as I can remember, we decided to "get away" to sunny San Diego!

When my wife and I decided on San Diego, we started talking about things to do while we were there.  At the top of the list was the San Diego Zoo. The zoo sits on 100 acres and is home to more than 4,000 different animals!  Needless to say, the zoo lived up to all of the expectations we had and more.  The zoo affords you the opportunity to see many of these animals up close.  Even though many of the animals were close (relatively speaking), I decided to go with my 75-300mm zoom lens for most of my photos that day.  One of the animals we were able to see the closest, was the flamingo.  They were seemed close enough to touch, especially with my zoom lens.

Now at this point, you are probably wondering what the title of this post has to do with the San Diego Zoo or flamingos.  Well that's an easy connection to make with a bit of background.  My son C loves Star Wars.  As soon as C saw the picture below, he thought it looked like the flamingo had Sith eyes, "ya know Dad, like Darth Maul!".  Enjoy this week's photo, and if you ever have the occasion to visit the west coast, I highly recommend San Diego and the zoo, you won't be disappointed.

If you have an iPhone or iPad, and you would like to have last week's photo of the Reuben Wells or this week's photo as wallpaper for either one of these devices, please leave a comment or send me a direct message through Facebook or Twitter.  As always, your feedback is welcome!