Our Christmas tree this year.Acadia National Park and trip to Boston
We visited Acadia National Park and then our friends in the Boston area July 26 - August 3. Acadia National Park is a beautiful park, and we did lots of hiking. Unfortunately it rained the last couple days we were there.Here's a view toward the southeast from the top off Dorr Mountain. Next, a view looking south from the top of Cadillac Mountain, which is the tallest mountain on Mt. Desert Island - over 1500 feet tall (and we hiked up it and didn't take the easy car ride). We hiked down a trail that followed Canon Brook, which had some very scenic rapids and waterfalls.
Here's a view of the southeast coast of Mt. Desert Island, as seen from Thunder Hole. Next a view of the western coast of Mt. Desert Island, a beach that we stopped at during our kayaking tour.
A view of Somes Sound as we ascended Acadia Mountain. The views from the top were amazing; here's a view of Somes Sound again as we descended the south side of Acadia Mountain. And here's a great view looking south from the top of Beech Mountain.
This is a very scenic view of one of the preserved carriage roads on the island; we rented bikes to explore them. Here's a view of Bar Harbor as seen from Bar Island; we walked over to the island on the land bridge that is exposed at low tide.
We visited our friends in the Boston area: here are Phil, Lorraine, Candace, Kevin, and Bill outside of the Olive Garden.
Christmas 2008: The entire Smith family at the annual Christmas party. The Holquists (Mahdi, Kim, Gretchen and Jeremy, Tom, Bev, Corey), the Hayeses (Scott and Cindy, Dick and Barb, Bill and me), the Carl Smiths (Matt, Heather, Ben, Maggie, Carl), and the Don Smiths (Molly, Duck, Sarah, John, Diane).
In June, we hiked Sugarloaf Mountain in Maryland. Here's a view from White Rocks.Big Bend National Park
During spring break of March 2007, Bill and I went to Big Bend National Park in Texas. It was amazing! The geography there is so incredible. We stayed in a condo in Terlingua (clouds at sunset as seen from our condo), a tiny town outside the park, for about four nights, and headed into the park each day for lots of hiking. The last three nights we spent at Lajitas Resort in Lajitas, Texas, which is over on the very western edge of the park.The first trail we hiked was the Pine Canyon Trail; here's a look at the trailhead.
A relatively easy trail was the Grapevine Hills Trail: this trail had a rock window at the end. The view of the neighboring cliffs at the end was amazing, and the view of the surrounding countryside was spectacular. Here's Bill way up in the rocks - the white spot near the center of the image is his shirt.
At the center of the park are the Chisos Mountains: here is a view of them from the Sam Nail Ranch, some ruins that have been preserved. You can take a very narrow, winding road into the middle of the Chisos Mountains, called the Chisos Basin. Here's a view from inside the Basin, looking at the Window, a notch in the Chisos Mountains.
While we hiked the Dog Canyon Trail, we saw a jackrabbit.
The Chimneys Trail was another impressive hike because of all the rock formations at the end. Here you can seen the Chimneys from the trailhead - the Chimneys are very small rock formations just to the right of the of the mountain on the left. Once you get to them, they look much bigger! Here's a picture of the southern Chimney as seen through a rock window in the northern Chimney. And here's the northern Chimney as seen from the southern Chimney. Finally, here I am, in front of a blooming Thompson's yucca and the southern Chimney.
The park had lots of pour-offs, which are basically dry waterfalls. When there is a rain, then the water flows down the creek bed and over the edge of the cliff, carving out a nearly-complete tube in the cliff wall. But most of the time the pour-offs are dry. Here's a view of the scenery at the trailhead of the Burro Mesa Pour-off Trail. While on the trail, we saw a lizard. Here's a view from inside the pour-off, loking up the cliff. It's hard to picture what the pour-off looks like, so here's a movie panning up and down the pour-off (we couldn't back up far enough to get the whole pour-off into one picture).
There were lots of strange-looking rock formations in the park, such as Carousel Mountain, which we saw from the Sotol Overlook on Ross Maxwell Drive.
The Lost Mine Trail takes you up (almost straight up, it seems) to the top of Lost Mine mountain, which is one of the highest peaks in the park. Here's a view from the end of the Lost Mine Trail, and here's a movie panning 360 degrees around from the top. We were standing on some huge boulders with incredible drop-offs on almost all sides, so it was a little scary being up there.
One of the major borders of the park is the Rio Grande River. We visited the Santa Elena Canyon, which was cut by the river. Here's a view looking into the canyon from across the river. Once you get inside the canyon, it's hard to get a good picture of it, but here's one view from the inside, of a wider section. On our way back, I took a picture of the countryside inside the park, looking from the mouth of the canyon.
We spent our last few nights at Lajitas Resort, which was very nice. The food, in particular, was wonderful. The food wasn't horribly expensive, but the resort overall was pretty expensive. Here's a look across the golf course, and here's Lajitas Peak, just outside the resort.
I have many more pictures from this trip on my downloads page under the 3/25/07 download.
During this summer, we biked some 70 miles on the C & O Canal Trail. One of the attractions along the trail is the Monocacy Aqueduct: here's a view of the river from the aqueduct.
On another segment of the C & O Canal Trail that we biked in July, we stopped in Harper's Ferry, VA. There is a historic village there. Here's the Potomac River seen from the village, and the railroad bridge over the Potomac.Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore
In July, we traveled to Michigan to visit Bill's family for his grandmother's 90th birthday. After that, we drove up to northern Michigan to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore for about a week.We did a lot of hiking in the park. The toughest hike was on the Dunes Trail, which is the famous trail up a huge sand dune, and then across many dunes to Lake Michigan. Here's another view of Lake Michigan, looking out at South Manitou Island, which has a fog bank in front of it. Finally, here's a view looking toward the beginning of the trail (from the second dune), looking at Glen Lake.
Lake Michigan was consistently a gorgeous blue color, which you can see in this picture of the lake from the end of the Empire Bluff Trail.
While we were in northern Michigan, we went to Mackinac Island, which has a lot of colonial history and currently prohibits motor vehicles on the island. Here's a view looking through Arch Rock at the beach - the small blue dot in the water is the shirt on a person. This view is very scenic, looking toward the lake and Ft. Mackinac, from Ft. Holmes. Finally, here's a picture of Sugarloaf Rock - there is a (crazy?) man on top of it! He climbed down (on the other side) while we watched.
Back at the dunes, the contrast between the dunes and the surrounding normal wooodland was amazing. On the Pyramid Point Trail, the end of the trail had a view of the lake, sand dunes, and weird-looking trees with their roots exposed by the wind. But just a mile or so away, there were flower-filled meadows.
Another tough trail over many dunes was the Dunes-Sleeping Bear Point Trail. About halfway along the trail was a ghost forest (three of the figures closest to the camera are people) which is a forest that was buried in sand by the window, only to be re-exposed later, leaving behind tree trunks. Here's a nice picture on this trail showing the extent of the dunes and then the lake.
Most of the days we were there, Lake Michigan was very calm. However, on the day we hiked the Old Indian Trail, the waves were much higher.
I have many more pictures from this trip on my downloads page under the 7/24/07 download.
In August, we visited the National Arboretum. One of the most intriguing displays there is the arrangement of the Capitol Columns, which are the old sandstone columns that used to be part of the Capitol, before it was renovated.
In September, we went hiking in Catoctin Mountain Park, which is a national park that surrounds Camp David. The landscape there is stunning, as this view along one of the trails shows. It's a very rocky area, and there are some large rock formations. Here's a view from Chimney Rock.
Here's our Christmas tree this year.
My mom and I went to Sedona, AZ, for my spring break, Mar. 18 - 24, 2006. We had a good time, even though events conspired against us: I had the flu for several days, and it snowed!
On April 1, 2006, Bill and I went downtown to see the cherry blossoms - it was a beautiful day.
In May 2006, Bill and I visited Great Smoky Moutains National Park, which is on the Tennessee/North Carolina border. We stayed in Gatlinburg, TN. We did lots of hiking in the park.
In August 2006, a bunch of friends joined us at Hilton Head: Lorraine's mom, Phil, Lorraine, me, Bill, Candace, and Kevin.
In October 2006, Bill and I hiked the difficult A section of the Billy Goat Trail in the C and O Canal Park. Here's one picture of the beautiful scenery. I have more on my Camera Downloads page, under the 11/9/06 download.
My grandfather died shortly after Thanksgiving; his funeral was on November 30, 2006. Many out-of-town relatives came to the funeral. Samantha, Jeremy, Heather (Nick's girlfriend), Nick, Scott, Cindy, Bill, me, Jodi, Paige (Tammy's daughter), Tammy, and Angela and Mom, Dad, Glenda, Rick, and Charlene.
A pretty sunrise from the guest bedroom of our house, in late February.
On February 26, we went to see Spamalot in New York City with Kevin and Candace and Phil and Lorraine. We took a walk through Central Park to see the gates by Christo. Before the show, Phil posed as a French Taunter. Finally, here's everyone but me after the show.
During a thunderstorm on May 14, I managed to take a picture of lightning from the computer room of our house. (The picture was taken with F/8, ISO 50, and 13 s exposure time.)
Many horde members came to visit Bill and me in May. We did a lot of walking around in DC, since it was nice weather. Here are Lorraine, Phil, Candace, Kevin, Aaron, Dan, Bill, and me in front of the Capitol on May 21. It was really great to see everyone again!
We finally got our kitchen renovation completely done over the summer. Here's a picture of how it looks. We're pretty happy with it.
Here's a rainbow behind our condo after a thunderstorm in early June.
On June 6, Kevin, Candace, Phil, Lorraine, Bill, and I went to the NY-MA-CT tri-state marker. We hiked from Connecticut to the marker to Massachusetts. Here, Bill and Kevin prove they can at least find the sign to the marker. Here we are, at the marker. It was a little wet that day.
June was a month of goodbyes for Bill and I as we got ready to move down to Maryland. We saw Dan and Mel and went miniature golfing. We saw Kevin, Candace, Lorraine, and Phil and went out to eat.
On July 1, we moved into our new house: you can see pictures of it here. The yard was in pretty bad shape, so I spent a lot of the summer weeding it. I discovered that we have wild onions growing in many places. Usually I pull them before they get very big, but here's one that grew to full size.
Bill got me a very nice new digital camera for my birthday. Here's the Moon on November 28, 2004, at 6:45pm. It's in the waning gibbous phase, and the image was taken with 1/100s exposure at F4.9 with 3x optical zoom.
Here's our Christmas tree this year - a real, live one! Here it is with the lights out.
On President's Day 2003 the Boston area had a huge snowstorm. In Norton we got about 20" of snow. Here's a picture of the yard behind our condo the day after the storm. Here's a picture of the huge icicle behind our condo, also the day after the storm.
In May, my sister Cindy had a couple wedding showers. I could only go to one of them. Here's my sister just before the shower started. And here's my sister and her bridesmaids (except me): Airen, Tara, Cindy (my sister), Dawn, Mel, and Megan.Trip to Paris
In April 2003, Bill and I went to Paris. Bill had to go to Brussels for work, but Phil and Lorraine and Kevin and Candace were going to be in Paris, so we thought it would be nice to meet up with them. Our hotels were very close to Hotel des Invalides (although on the other side from where this picture was taken). Here's a view inside the dome. On Saturday before we met up with Phil and Lorraine, the rest of us visited the Catacombs; here's a picture of a portion of them. Very creepy.On Sunday, I got some nice pictures in Saint-Chapelle: downstairs and upstairs. Then we went to the Chateau de Versailles. We took a tour of some of the inside, but we spent most of the time walking through the amazing gardens. Here's Bill and I in front of one of the fountains. Here is a random gazebo by a pond that was picturesque. Later that night we went up the Tour Eiffel. Here's all of us posing in front of the tower, and here's Bill and I. Finally, here is the tower at night, which is neat.
On Monday, we did lots of stair-climbing. We climbed up to the top of Cathedrale de Notre Dame de Paris; here's a view of the Tour Eiffel from the top, and here's a gargoyle sticking its tongue out (this was for Bill). Some of us (not me) also climbe to the top of the Arc de Triomphe.
On Tuesday, more stair-climbing. After climbing about four flights of stairs out of the Metro station, we visited Sacre Coeur. We climbed to the top of Sacre Coeur: here's the Tour Eiffel seen from there. I departed on Tuesday afternoon and Bill headed to Brussels.
You can see more pictures from Paris (unaltered) on my downloads page, under 4/20/03.
Dan and Mel bought a house in May, and we went to visit them in June. Here are Marc, Patty, Mel, and Dan.
My sister Cindy's wedding to Scott Jordan was on July 19. It was held at Turtle Bay Lodge in President, PA. Here's a picture of the wedding cake, which was beautiful. After the wedding, there was dancing at the reception. Here's a picture of Mom and Dad, and Scott and Cindy dancing. Separately, here's Mom and Scott and Cindy and Dad dancing. Finally, here is Scott removing Cindy's garter.
Marc successfully defended his PhD thesis in September. Here's a picture of Marc, Erin's boyfriend, Erin, and Emily at Marc's party.
Here's a picture of the Moon in totality during the lunar eclipse on November 8. I took this image through my 6" Newtonian telescope with a 40mm eyepiece.
This year, Bill and I hosted the gift exchange. Here are Candace and Kevin and Phil and Lorraine.
While visiting my family over Christmas, Bill and I went bowling with two of my high school friends. Here are Ali, her daughter Megan, her husband Kirby, Eileen, and Bill.
Also over Christmas, Bill and my parents visited Cindy and Scott at their apartment in Erie. Here are Cindy and Scott in their apartment.
A picture of Lobby 7's restored skylight.
On May 12, Bill and I attended the "open bridge" for the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Bridge, part of the Big Dig. It was very rainy and about 50 degrees F, and we ended up waiting in line about 1.5 hours. Nevertheless, it was very interesting. Here's a picture as we walk onto the bridge. It was hard to take good pictures because we were actually on the bridge. We walked to the other end of the bridge, the high end, and took a picture looking back, which shows both cable towers. Here's a picture of some of the cables ending at the bridge surface, with the Boston skyline in the background. The last picture is looking up directly underneath the inverted-V of one of the towers. I have more pictures of the bridge on my digital camera download page, under the May 20, 2002 download.
Here's a picture from my first performance with the Williams Chorale. (I'm in the middle row, far right.)
Over Memorial Day weekend, Bill and I visited my family in Pennsylvania. They have many nice walking/biking trails, many of which go along the Allegheny River. One day we walked to Indian God Rock (info on Indian God Rock), near Belmar, which has lots of carvings in it, the earliest from Native Americans. Here's a view of the Allegheny River near Indian God Rock. We also visited Potter's Falls (which is not on the trail), in Rockland. Here's another view of the falls, with my mom. We also visited my grandmother in her assisted living home -- here's me, Grandma, and mom.
A large bird of prey likes to hang out around BU and land on our office air conditioner (I'm on the sixth floor). We're not sure what kind of bird it is -- maybe a peregrine falcon? (Updated April 2007: an amateur birder in our department thinks it's probably a red-tailed hawk.)
I just can't keep all of Electra's pictures out of here - she's about to take a big bite out of Bill's arm (she's actually just yawning).
Kevin's parents were kind enough to donate to us tickets to the Broadway show The Producers that they were unable to use. So in July, Bill and I, Phil and Lorraine, and Candace and her sister Lori headed to New York City. We walked through Central Park during the afternoon. Here's a monument at one corner of the park. Here's a view of a pond in the park. Later that night, here are Phil, Lorraine, Candace, and Lori after the show, as well as Bill and I. The next day we visited the Rose Center for Earth and Space, part of the American Museum of Natural History - here's a picture; the large sphere is a planetarium. The planetarium show was really amazing.
Here's a cool picture of a storm approaching our condo on August 2. The clouds on the left are white and puffy, but on the right they are dark purple.
In August, we took a trip to visit both of our families and to go to Bill's cousin Katie's wedding in northern Michigan. First we stopped by Lancaster, PA, to visit Justin, Stacy, Adam, and Jade Fry - we rarely get to see them except at Christmas. Then we stopped by Franklin, PA, to visit my family, but I apparently didn't take any pictures. Finally we went to Michigan. Katie O'Rourke's wedding to Ken Outcalt was held in Petosky, MI, near Traverse City. Here's a picture of the church, and here are Katie and Ken hugging during the ceremony. The reception was at the Little Traverse Bay Golf Club, which had some great views: the 18th green. Unfortunately there were a lot of shadows, so my people pictures didn't come out very well. Here's Bill and me and Bill's Mom and Dad. Here's Katie and Ken. The morning after the wedding we went to a brunch on the beach at Petosky State Park (this picture is big!).
During my observing run in October, the forest service was doing prescribed burns around Flagstaff. Here's a mosaic of smoke hanging over the valley west of Anderson Mesa just after dawn on October 16.
Bill and I hosted Thanksgiving again this year. We had a big snowstorm the day before, but by Thanksgiving the snow looked beautiful. Kevin carved the turkey - he looks way too excited about it. Finally, here we are just before we eat.
Here's a picture of our Christmas tree this year. Kevin and Candace hosted our annual gift exchange.
When we visited Bill's parent's house, their dog Schroeder decided that Bill just wasn't clean enough.
My parents got me an amaryllis for my birthday. I planted it right away so that it would hopefully bloom by Christmas, but I didn't quite make it. However, I have some time-lapse pictures showing its growth.
Also in February, I took another trip to Lowell Observatory in Arizona and used my digital camera to take lots of pictures on the way. Here are cloudtops seen from the airplane, as well as mountains. Here are some mountains outside of Phoenix and mountains outside of Camp Verde seen from the bus. Here's a view of the San Francisco Peaks seen from Lowell Observatory. As I was leaving Flagstaff, I took a picture of the sunrise and mountain view. After the sun had risen, here's another view of the mountains.
In March, we had a gathering to watch the Oscars. Here are Bill, Kevin, and Candace and Lorraine and Phil.
On Kevin's birthday, we tortured him by making him perform strange acts, like drinking from a very full glass. Candace and Bucky enjoyed Kevin's birthday.
On my observing run in Flagstaff in May, I took an image of sunrise on Anderson Mesa; Venus is visible.
While on my observing run in Flagstaff in July, I literally encountered a bug in the telescope. Here's part of a CCD image showing the bug...the other ring shapes you see are from out of focus dust on the filter.
During June, July, and August, our kitchen was remodeled. (Here's a before picture.) Here's what the kitchen looked like after the first day of remodeling. And after the second day and third day. Here are pictures after countertop installation and tile installation. And finally, the finished kitchen! Here's another view of it.
During my observing trip to the Perkins telescope in July, there was a conjunction of several planets. In this picture, you can see Jupiter, the Moon, Venus, and Saturn just before dawn over Anderson Mesa.Trip to Europe
Bill's cousin Peter got married on July 1st in Newbury, England. This made a good excuse to visit Europe. The morning of the wedding, we visited Stonehenge (here are Bill and I).The wedding of Peter and Emma took place at Highclere Castle. Here is a view of the rear of the castle, where the wedding took place. Here are Bill's mom, Katie, Aunt Sue, Aunt Meg, Grandma, and me before the wedding. Here are Emma and her father walking down the aisle. After the wedding, I took a close up of Emma (doesn't she look great?) and a full-length shot of her dress.
After the wedding, a bunch of us traveled to Bath for a night's stay. We took a gondola ride down a canal nearby. Here's one of the beautiful views we saw during our ride. Our hotel was wonderful -- here's a picture of it, although it's only part of this building.
Then Bill's parents and Bill and I went on to London and Paris; we visited many of the same places we saw on our honeymoon. Here's Big Ben. Here's a view of the front of the Cathedral of Notre Dame and some stained glass windows seen from within. Among other places, we also visited the Arc de Triomphe. Finally, here is a beautiful view of the Tour Eiffel at night.
There are many more pictures from this trip on my downloads page under 7/10/01...I didn't want to put too many here.
Here's a picture of Phil, Lorraine, Kevin, Candace, and Bill before the Cirque du Soleil show, Dralion.
Here's all of us at Thanksgiving.Hilton Head Trip
Over Labor Day weekend, Kevin & Candace, Phil & Lorraine, and Bill and I went to the condo on Hilton Head that Bill's parents own. One night, Kevin played master of the grill for dinner. Candace took a picture of me taking a picture of her (and look at our peeping Tom neighbor! Just kidding...). Here are Kevin, Phil, Candace, and Lorraine, triumphant over their puzzle. I think this picture shows that the excitement went to Candace's head.One of the days we were at the beach, we built a large sand castle. Here is Kevin showing off the castle. You will notice that the castle is basically a very large lump of sand with a moat, a curtain wall in front and a few little towers here and there. The goal was to make the castle last as long as possible against the incoming tide. As the tide came in, water eventually entered the moat. This whole thing was so exciting that Candace videotaped it. Gradually, the water filled the moat and took out the most vulnerable towers. The next thing to go was the curtain wall. Meanwhile, Lorraine tried to stop the incoming waves, Once the moat was gone, the main hill started to fail. The water ate away at the base of the hill until the overhanging sand was about to collapse. Here's the first main tower to fall. The water caused a large fissure to form in the hill, which finally collapsed. The waves got larger. Kevin and Bill watch the last few towers. Finally, only one tower is left. The huge sandcastle was finally beaten down into a lump.
We also did a lot of miniature golfing. Here's Candace with a challenging shot. Bill was the golf champion. Kevin makes an easy shot, showing he also did well. Here's a more challenging shot for Phil and a distance shot for Lorraine. And saving the best for last, here is Kevin looking manly, while Candace looks unimpressed.
We had our Christmas gift exchange at Phil and Lorraine's house. Here is all of us (and Stefan). Kevin and Candace got some special bubble-making liquid as a gift, and we had fun playing with it. Here is Bill with a stack of bubbles, and Candace with a bubble on her nose.
During my trip to Arizona in December, I took two 360-degree mosaics. The first mosaic was taken at a rest stop south of Flagstaff at about 6000 ft. elevation at about 8:30am (the truck on the right looks kind of screwy because it moved in between images). The second mosaic was taken at a rest stop south of Camp Verde at about 3000 ft. elevation at about 10am.
Here are pictures of our Christmas tree, Bill's stocking, and my stocking. (I made the stockings.)
When I visited my family over Christmas this year, I got together with some friends of mine in high school, whom I haven't seen in years: Eileen Ashbaugh, Lisa Huegel, and Ali (Stewart) Montgomery, with her daughter Alexis.
Here's a picture of my sister Cindy and Scott, her fiance, in their apartment.
Kevin and Candace visited for New Year's Eve, and after Phil and Lorraine's plane landed at about 11pm, they came over. Here are Phil and Lorraine, looking a little frazzled from their long flight, and Bill, Candace, and Kevin.
Dan Eldredge and Melanie Donahue got married on October 21, 2000. Bill and I were guests, so of course I took pictures. Here are Dan and Mel dancing and cutting the cake. Here's the back of Mel's dress, which was gorgeous. Some of the other guests were Andy Byrne and Pam Davies, Jeremy and Sarah Hallum, and Marc and Patty (Marc was the best man). You can see more pictures of their wedding on Dan's wedding page (currently non-functional).
Here's our Christmas tree for the year 2000. And here it is with the lights off, which is kind of cool. I unfortunately forgot to bring my camera to the gift exchange.
Here's a picture during the snowstorm on December 30, 2000.
On New Year's Eve, Kevin and Candace came over to celebrate. Kevin relaxed. Candace poses. Bill protested having his picture taken. Finally, here I am. Kevin and Candace brought over whistling noisemakers and balloons to blow up with them. Here's Kevin blowing up his balloon. Candace had trouble blowing up hers because she was laughing.
On January 9, 1999, Phil and Lorraine got married. (Here's their wedding home page (currently non-functional).) Here are some of us at the reception. Here are Bill and I.
Electra lost her fight with a plastic bag.
In May 1999, just after The Phantom Menace came out, we all splurged on the best seats for a Boston Pops concert with John Williams conducting Phantom Menace music. So we took the opportunity to get all dressed up: Phil and Lorraine, Kevin and Candace, and Bill and I.
Candace shows off the chartreuse pillow she made for Bill. Bill seemed to like it.
On July 17, 1999, Kevin and Candace got married. Here are some pictures from the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner:
Here is our engagement picture.
The infamous Marc/Dan duo decided to Hack my cubicle (link currently non-functional) upon my return from my wedding and honeymoon.
Some of us got together for Thanksgiving.
My cousins at Christmas: Corey, Kim, Sarah, Ben, Matt, Molly, me, Cindy, Bill, Cindy's fiancee Scott.
Here's our tree that Christmas. And at the gift exchange, we had Phil and Lorraine, Kevin and Candace, and Bill and I.
We also celebrated New Year's Eve together. Bill abstained from the party favors.
At the Astronomy Department Classical Music Soiree, Marc gets a little too friendly. And here's a dangerous-looking trio of Nathan, Marc, and Dan.
In the summer of 1998, Kevin, Candace, Bill, and I went to my parents' condo in Myrtle Beach. While we were there, we had to build a large sandcastle. We also got really, really bad sunburns (don't use Hawaiian Tropics!). First we waited until low tide to begin building the castle. But due to our sore everything from the sunburn, we waited until dusk to finish it. Actually, Bill and Kevin basically finished it. Finally, we watched it get washed away by the tide. Here, Kevin valiantly guards the castle.
In August and September 1998 I made my first two trips to Flagstaff, AZ, to use the Perkins Telescope at Lowell Observatory. While I was there in August, my advisor and I took a side trip to Meteor Crater. It's amazing! The Perkins Telescope is also pretty cool. Here's the dome it's in. Here's a view from Anderson Mesa, where it is located. One morning in September, I left sun shining on the mesa to find fog in the valley to the west. It was really cool.
On Bill's 23rd birthday, he nearly dove into the cake!
Here are Bill and I before my grandfather's wedding.
Here's Bill on his first day of work at PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Marc always knows when it's time to come to me for help, but Dan always resists.
For the gift exchange for Christmas 1998, I forgot to take a picture of all of us again! But I got one of Phil and Lorraine displaying their presents, and Candace showing off the goods. Bill doesn't seem too unhappy that he apparently didn't get anything.
Bill graduated that spring. That summer he moved into our apartment, after Dave moved out.
That fall, I carved another pumpkin. (You can see where my priorities are about taking pictures.)
Here's Phil blowing out his candles.
That Christmas, I forgot to take a picture of us at the gift exchange. I did, however, take a picture of the Christmas tree.
Jacob finally decided to come out...of his room?San Diego Trip
In the beginning of January 1996, Dan, Jacob, Kevin, Phil, Aaron, Bill, and I took a break from the horrible winter weather in Boston and went to San Diego. We got a really nice condo... Here's a picture of it.
It was right on the ocean. Here's another view of the ocean. Aaron and Jacob enjoyed sunning themselves on our porch. We also had fun playing pool.
While we were in San Diego, we visited the Zoo, where we learned about the birds and the bees from nature.
During the rest of our stay, the men took it upon themselves to build a sand castle. Here are some pictures of its construction:
However, this sandcastle did not survive high tide later that night. So the next day they embarked on the construction of a bigger and better one. After the high tide, this is what it looked like.
Our last trip to Dawn's cottage in Vermont was in May. We exercised by launching water balloons. Kevin and Candace looked cute like always. Phil, however, seemed to be having problems (and they weren't because I exposed the film). Here, he's doing it again! After this excitement, we relaxed. Bill looks thoughtful. Here we are before we left.
Here's a picture before graduation.
In the fall of 1996, Kevin, Phil, Dave, and I moved into an apartment in Somerville. For some reason, Bill, Candace, and Lorraine were around a lot. :) That fall, we carved pumpkins for Halloween. Here's mine.
For Christmas, we continued the gift exchange tradition. I also got an artificial Christmas tree.
Here's a pictures of the ill-fortuned Raid can label.
Here's the Jolt can just assembled, but I wouldn't know anything about that. Here it is hanging in Lobby 7.
We made our second trip to Vermont. This time we tried to start a fire on the dock. Alas, it did not work. Otherwise, we relaxed. Kevin, however, continued to exercise his tongue. Here's a picture of some of us before we left.
Dave looks happy because he finally got to blow something.
On July 4th, we played cards on the Esplanade.
Electra explored my sink.
Phil and Lorraine first start to look cute, as do Kevin and Candace.
Phil received an interesting gift in the gift exchange.
Here is all of us in the gift exchange of 1995.
Here is Electra trying to steal my pudding.
Aren't Bill and Electra cute? (Maybe I'm biased.)
Pramod gets a lift.
Shabby laughs at his birthday cake.
Kevin couldn't wait to suck up his birthday cake this year.
Kevin offering to trade Electra a remote control for his backpack.
Bill and Electra share some potato chips. (No, not really.)
Good heavens--what's happened to Pramod's room? But wait, it gets worse.
Jacob loved his OK soda shrine. But while he was away, it was discontinued! Here's where the shrine was hiding.
In May we made our first trip to Dawn's parents' cottage in Vermont. The first thing we did was stick Kevin in the fire. (No, he's actually making a fire.) While we were there, we played lots of cards. We also went to Lake Champlain's "beach". And we got to go in a rowboat. (This was really much more exciting than it looked.)
This is all of us dressed up before going to see Phantom of the Opera.
Here's a pictures of us wearing our krunk it! t-shirts.
Aaron is confused about his birthday cake.
Bill and Kevin are very close.
Here's a picture of the gift exchange of 1994.
Here's a neat picture of Electra sitting in the sun.
Of course, Kevin and Dan took time off to make their first cake, for Shabby's birthday. Then we all presented it to him.
Dave shows that he is still his usual self.
Aaron is actually a secret Coke advertiser.
Here we are at the first horde gift exchange.
Dave shows off his calculator.
In this pictures, Dan demonstrates the art of zen computing.
Here's me my freshman year.
Here are some of the original Clams, Dave and Scott.
Yes, Jeanne, it really is a camera!
During our freshman year, some hackers made Lobby 7 into the Cathedral for Our Lady of the All Night Tool. Only two of my pictures of it came out. The Commandments and the "stained" glass.
Erika dressed as a gypsy for Halloween.
Yes, the sleeves are too long, Jeanne says to Sharon.
The Bird Dance, performed by Erika and Sharon.
Here we are tooling in the lounge freshman year.
What are Erika and Dean doing?
avondale@astro.umd.edu
