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Unfortunately, all our pictures from the first half of this year have been lost due to our hard drive dying on us, but not a lot happened (that I remember), so not too much has been missed.
This summer was rather disgusting really. About mid-June, the temperatures soared and the humidity ramped up and it stayed that way til September (not my idea of nice weather). But Gareth and I managed to vary the heat and humidity slightly with the aid of some airline travel passes (obtained for the princely sum of $250 each), which enabled us to travel to cities east of the Mississippi River and only pay the tax (around $18 each way, so a good deal!). The airline this offer was with has their hub in Washington DC (Dulles), so you always had to fly via DC (a minor pain), hence we took a number of trips just to DC itself.
On our first excursion, we barely left Dulles airport. The National Air and Space Museum recently opened a new exhibition (Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center) on the edge of the airport grounds (and being a Smithsonian museum, entrance is free, yay!). The exhibit is located in a huge hanger, crammed full of planes and a space shuttle (Enterprise). The planes include an Air France Concorde, an SR-71 Blackbird, the Enola Gay, a de Havilland Chipmunk, a Hawker Hurricane, a P-38 Lightning, two Pitts Specials and a Boeing Dash-80, to name but a few!
On our second trip to DC, we went into the city itself, care of a $3, 90-minute bus ride. The day was exceedingly hot, so we decided to walk the entire length of the National Mall (Capitol building to the Lincoln Memorial) twice. Needless to say I suffered! But we got to see the White House and the Washington Monument and various other places.
To break-up trips to DC, we next took a trip to NYC (via DC, of course!). Again, it was an exceedingly hot day, so instead of walking round Manhattan, we did an open-top bus tour (note: these are somewhat expensive for what you get to see, but I do now know where to go to get cheaper tickets for the Broadway shows!).
For our third trip to DC, we visited the National Zoo (also free). There were a number of renovations going on while we visited so some of the zoo was shut off, but we saw a fair number and a good variety of animals and birds. A baby panda had just been born, so everyone was very excited about that, but we couldn't really see a whole lot, but then pandas aren't too keen on hot and sticky weather either!
For our final trip on our summer travel passes, we took a mini-holiday to Tampa, Florida (not exactly very good at escaping the heat and humidity are we!). While in Tampa, we hired a car for a couple of days (getting around on public transport doesn't really work there on Sundays apparently), enabling us to see much more than we had planned to. Our first port of call was Adventure Island water park, all good fun and lots of flumes, no scary ones for me though! Afterwards we took a drive to Clearwater and looked at the beach (it was so unbelievably hot, neither of us wanted to be outside the nice air-conditioned car). The following day, we started early as we wanted to take a tour of the Big Cat Rescue (only viewable with Internet Explorer). It turned out that we got a private tour as no one else was there. It was so strange to be so close to tigers and lions and mountain lions, sooooooo much better than a zoo, and mostly run off donations. I heartely reccommend visiting this place if you are ever in the Tampa area, it is a little hard to find, but well worth the effort! A couple of personal accomplishments for this holiday included being taught to snorkel by Gareth in the hotel pool, and finely finding a decent Italian restaurant in this country, all be it a few thousand miles away!
The big news from this summer is our new car, a Hyundai Elantra (Lantra in England). We found a deal we couldn't refuse, and now Gareth has no excuse for not learning to drive! It is a manual, so I haven't sold out to the world of easy driving, and it has air conditioning, a god send given how the summer was. We haven't taken it too far from home as yet, just a quick 50 miles or so to Lake George in the southern Adirondacks, and then just over the border to Massachusetts on a Heinz Baked Beans run.
In October Gareth went on a solo trip to Boulder, Colorado to learn how to use a a program to model the weather.
Most recently, Gareth and I and some other grad. students took a trip to Buffalo, NY (near Niagara Falls) to see an NHL (National Hockey League) game with the Toronto Maple Leafs playing the Buffalo Sabres. We were sat way up high in the arena (scary going down the steps), and Sabres fans were very much out-numbered by Leafs fans. But, the Sabres won so all was good.
We having been watching a lot of hockey recently since we have an AHL (American Hockey League, one lower than the NHL) team playing in Albany, the River Rats, they pretty much suck, but hey, the game is much faster paced than American football or baseball (my god, they are dull!).
Our little plane being made ready for its trip to Washington DC.
Angry plane (Curtiss P-40E Kittyhawk).
Mmmmrrrooooowwww (Vought F4U-1D Corsair).
Über cool plane (Lockheed SR-71A Blackbird).
NASA Space Shuttle Enterprise.
An Air France Concorde.
Bush Jnr's home away from Texas (and his gardeners).
Me, looking hot outside the Capitol Building in DC.
Gareth looking slightly happier than me outside the Capitol Building.
President Lincoln sitting in his (rather large) chair.
The view from the Lincoln Memorial. Looking across the "Reflecting Pools", past the WWII memorial, towards the Washington Monument (the big, spikey thing).
Our plane (in the wee hours of the morning).
OK, I think we all know what this building is by now.
A view down Fashion (7th) Avenue in NYC.
A view of the Brooklyn Bridge.
The United Nations building.
Oh yes, I look so thrilled to be here! At a beer festival on possibly the hottest, humidest day of the year.
Gareth, obviously taking full advantage of the free flowing beer.
A munching giraffe at the National Zoo in DC.
An elephant splashing itself in dirt to cool down.
Flamingoes.
Our flight to Tampa, FL was made all the more interesting by having to dodge lots of very large clouds.
Looking out into the Gulf of Mexico from Clearwater Beach. The cirrus clouds were part of the outflow from Hurricane Katrina, which was on its way to New Orleans.
A cute little kitty (mountain lion or cougar) relaxing in the excessive Florida humidity.
Just one of the many tigers at the Big Cat Rescue. It was amazing just how close we were able to get to these huge cats. It was also very interesting to see these cats individual personalities, they are just like normal little kitties, just bigger, with bigger claws and bigger teeth!
Either an ocelot or a margay (not sure which). This cat was either growling or purring, but it sounded like a little jet engine!
This leopard was enjoying rolling around and getting stuck on its back.
Just one of the many long bridges in the Tampa area.
Our plane landing in Tampa, ready to take us back to DC.
Au revoir Tampa!
The overshooting top of a cumulo nimbus cloud (above the anvil) complete with pileus cloud.
The shiny, new car on its first longish trip away from Albany to Lake George.
The boat that took us on a tour of Lake George.
Adirondack Mountains surrounding Lake George.
View on the Rocky Mountains from Boulder, CO.
Gareth and I in character as members of the British aristocracy at a Halloween Party.
The Albany River Rats' Aleksander Suglobov scoring a break-away goal against the Binghamton Senators.
Toronto Maple Leafs at Buffalo Sabres.