Poplar Forest

On Saturday, Cissi and I were supposed to be going for a flying lesson. We were really excited but when we got there, they said it was way too windy! :-( So we are going to have to wait until March. But as we were in Lynchburg anyway, we ended up at Poplar Forest, which is Thomas Jefferson's private home. In September I went with mom and dad to see Monticello which is his main house. I have been wanting to see Poplar Forest since then. Some things were the same (like the alcove beds which are cool) but there were as many gadgets as in Monticello as he built it late in life and probably didn't even see it finished.

Front entrance to Poplar Forest

Jefferson's holiday home

Layout of the main floor

We got a tour inside the house but you can't take any photos. When it was sold after Jefferson, the new owners altered it to update it and make it more user friendly for their needs. The preservation society are trying to put it back to the original, using the same methods used 200 years ago. They are still renovating the house so it is not as done up as Monticello but it means you can see all the building methods which was interesting.

Walkway over the wing 

Walkway to the house

Undercover walkway near the kitchens

We had a walk around outside but it was really cold! So we didn't stick around other than to take a few photos. The shop was great though. Jefferson liked wine, reading and science. So a lot of the things related to those 3 subjects. I like this guy! He was also obsessed with symmetry so every felt very elegant. It's thought he was going to put a second wing on the house because, just one wing would annoy even me! He also had what looked like a pizza oven in his kitchen which was used to baking.

kitchen

Pizza oven

Wine cellar covering ~1/4 of the lower floor

There is a sunken garden at the back of the house, which was dug out by one slave (paid to do it) and would have been lined with roses. The dirt removed to make the garden was put at the end of the wings  and used to hide the out door toilet. The toilets mirrored the same design as the main house (this guy was detail obsessed) and even had a little toddler's potty for his grandchildren!

Outdoor toilet

Toddler's potty!

After, we headed to Toys'R'Us for Cissi and then home, where we got stuck in traffic. :-( Which meant I was late meeting a friend for a very nice sushi dinner. But I am looking forward to going back to Lynchburg to do the flying lesson in March! :-)

National Harbor

On the Sunday I managed to have time to take a walk around National Harbor. It's fairly new and right on the Potomac. I had a walk along the harbor front. It was very cold!

View of the bridge to DC

Gaylord centre from the harbor front

Along the sea wall

They have quite a few statues dotted around. Some were very interesting.

Not a clue! 

On the first day, this was also in the lobby of the hotel. :-)

Balloon Darlek

 On the last day of the conference I found the tea shop. I have never seen teas that are priced $110 for 2oz! I didn't buy any of those! But I did sit and have a cup of tea and chat to the shop owner, an Air Force Vet who had lots of questions on astronomy! It was great fun. Plus I got a huge tube of green mint tea and some packets of Wine mixers. You add the tea to wine and cold brew. I am really curious. It combines two of my favorite things, wine and tea. So it could either be absolutely amazing or awful. I'll let you know!

Huge tube of green Menthos tea!

Tea wine mixers

And it has been freezing! The Potomac froze! Everyone has been dashing in and staying as close to the centre as possible. Luckily National Harbor is quite small so you can get to all the restaurants fairly quickly. (Seriously I have never felt cold quite like it. It was -15F / -26C with the wind chill one day!)

The frozen Potomac!

Neil Degrasse Tyson talk

On Monday night, Neil Degrasse Tyson gave a talk at the conference, called "Tales from the Twitterverse and other media excursions". It was a really good talk, very funny.

Neil Degrasse Tyson

And again

The best bits were some cartoons he had found and his take on memes, which I found out are those things you remember even if they aren't true, that's passed from person to person. He showed some of the memes around the internet. Here are some of my favorites.

So cute!

The new hulk.

You're a geek if you get it.

He also should some photos of awesome astro tattoos he had some across. Though not for me I think.

This had to hurt

Carl Sagan quote

from the Voyager satellite (minus Pluto

The only time I winced was when he was talking about Brian Cox, who I really don't like.
He also talked about politics relating to science. The only bit I really enjoyed (as I don't follow American Political minutia) was the following. I picked the right state apparently. (Sorry Caroline!)

Virginia is one of the best educated states!

Gaylord National Convention Centre

On Saturday I took the Megabus to Washington DC for the American Astronomical Society (AAS) 223rd National meeting. The meeting was huge with an estimated 3200 people (though I did hear 4000 at one point.) The conference was actually based at the Gaylord Nation Convention Centre (yes that's it's real name) in National Harbor which is a 15 min drive from the centre of Washington. The hotel is really nice, though super expensive. And when I got there, they still had all the christmas things up so it was very pretty.

Christmas tree

The hotel is set up in a U shape. In the middle part, there is an atrium with live trees, birds, some cafes, and a fountain, which 4 times an evening does a light, music and water display. Which was very pretty.

Fountain

Kids train

Little surprises when you walk around

One thing about the hotel is there is no chance of my getting drunk and making a fool of myself. Because a single glass of wine is $12! I have been volunteering to get my registration fees paid, which is actually fun. And I got food vouchers as well so it saved me a lot of money. Though Sunday was a long day. I was on the registration desk from 2 until 8pm without even a bathroom break. So I was exhausted. But it does leave me more money for future travel so a pretty good deal really.

New Year

The past week has been great. I have spent it mostly chilling out, working and going for runs. Basically being a hermit. Not everyones ideal week but it did me good.
New Years Eve was also relaxed. I skyped my parents around their midnight, though they didn't quite make it until midnight. Cissi came over and we made pizza. I used to do this a lot but with the whole gluten problem, I haven't had the chance. But recently I found a GF option. :-) And I taught Cissi how to properly load a pizza. She was much too conservative with the toppings! (Normally mine are much more loaded!)

New Years Eve pizza Feast

We also opened a bottle of wine we brought ages ago and have been calling the Naked Man wine. It was very nice. And a few glasses of a hot spiced apple wine I brought from near Penn State in June. And I got to use my really cool (and geeky) pizza cutter I got for my birthday last year.

Enterprise pizza cutter

Naked Man wine

We watched Despicable Me 2 and wrote bucket lists, which sounds morbid, but it was really fun thinking about all the fun things we wanted to do. And for me, all the things I am going to get to tick off that list this year.

I was in bed and asleep before midnight. :-) Happy 2014!