In photos: A day with the ducks at Edinburg Mill

I find the Shenandoah to be a beautiful and pretty special place. On a glorious spring-like day last December, our first stop was at the Shenandoah Caverns, but on the way back we stopped to see the Edinburg Mill. I had come across brochures for it before, but never had the opportunity to stop while driving through. Being this was a total leisure trip, we took the time to visit.

As soon as we pulled up, a bunch of ducks came running towards us when I tried to snap a few photos (we expected them to run the other way!). Turns out they were expected to be fed as the museum inside the Edinburg Mill sells food to help raise money to maintain the historic site.

 So we toured the inside of this interesting museum (not what we expected, but very cool nonetheless) and then purchased some food to bring to the ducks. All in all, it was a great day with the ducks.

I hope those humans thought to bring food this time!

Here they come, here they come!

"Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy!"

"Now that's the way..."

I've gone back one other time since, but that was in June and the ducks weren't as hungry. But they were still around.

Photo credits: Leigh Goessl

Some of my other favorite day trips: 5 great day trips from Washington D.C.

In Photos: Visiting Shenandoah Caverns

Last winter over the holiday week we went on a day trip down to the Shenandoah Valley. It's a beautiful region with a lot of scenic views and historical value. We started off our day at Shenandoah Caverns before going on a few other adventures. This region of Virginia has several caverns and, while there are some similarities, each has its own distinct "flavor." This was our first time to this particular caverns (I have gone back once since).

The tour was about an hour long and it was very enjoyable. We learned about the history of the Shenandoah Caverns, about cave formations and also got up close and personal with the interior (some areas are low "ceilings" and even a short person like me had to duck). 

This photo does not do the formation justice. I'd seen "drapery" formations before, but not like this, these were called "bacon", which absolutely fit. 

More formations -

This formation absolutely sparkled. You can see flecks of it in this photo, but I just could not capture it all. In person it looked like a little waterfall full of diamonds.

More formations -

All in all, visiting Shenandoah Caverns and other parts of the Shenandoah Valley was a great day. We moved on to see some museums and also visited with some ducks at the Edinburg Mill.

In Photos: Gardens at the Home of FDR

The Hudson Valley region of New York is both beautiful and historical. In addition to its lovely mountainous landscapes and deep roots connected to the Revolutionary War, there are many other historical buildings and landmarks that remain throughout the region. One such place is the Home of Franklin D. Roosevelt, located in Hyde Park.

I went on a tour of this home in July 2014 and found it quite interesting.  It has also been wonderfully preserved. Also remarkable were the gardens at the home of FDR. Summer was a good time of the year to catch a variety of flowers in full bloom.

The garden is large, you can see a variety of flowers in each section.

Flying critters were also aplenty in this garden, most particularly bees and butterflies. Although a family member of mine did spot a hummingbird moth too (I missed it!).

 
All in all it was a wonderful visit! I'd love to go back again someday.

 

Chasing dragonflies in the Shenandoah Valley

Yesterday we took a ride out to the Shenandoah Valley to tour, explore and just have a nice relaxing day. We managed to see a lot of things, but one exciting moment of the day for me was when I captured my first dragonfly with my camera. These critters I don't see a lot in my neighborhood, and when I do, they are always so elusive. I've never taken a photo of one.

That changed yesterday, here are a few pics taken outside the Edinburg Mill Museum (under the bridge). Other than being cropped a bit as I took them from a distance, these have not been edited.

Rainy day daisies in my garden

Last week we received a lot of rain here in Northern Virginia, so on my way out in the morning, I grabbed my camera to see what I could find. It turns out our daisies were in full bloom and looked so pretty with the raindrops I couldn't resist snapping a few photos.

I was pretty happy with the results. My Sony Cybershot can't do a lot of things (like capture movement), but it's a pretty neat little camera and it does allow me to get some nice close up shots.

Other than resize, this one has had no edits

A different view of the same batch of daisies

I cropped one of the photos to see how close I could get the water drops

In photos: Busy buzzing bee in my garden

As I pulled up into my driveway today it was extremely hot, all I wanted to do was run inside and cool off...however, I quickly forgot about all that after I noticed this buzzing bee in my garden.

About two weeks ago we cleared out an overgrown area in our yard and planted some flowers (mostly perennials - I'm low maintenance that way!) On the way into the house, I glanced over to admire the plants as I like to do and noticed a bee.  I ran inside to grab my trusty Sony Cybershot and took a few pics.

The bee was a bit distracted by my photo taking and kept buzzing on and off this same flower, even though there were many other flowers of this type and more.  I guess I interrupted its work and this bee wanted to get the job done.

Although, for the most part, this bee was a pretty good sport!

I'm not sure why this one uploaded sideways!

Same angle as above but zoomed out a bit. Also uploaded to Blogger sideways!

Cropping in to see what I could see

Hailstorm in Northern Virginia

I've been living in the area a while now and occasionally we'll get some hail, but not usually the big pieces of ice you might see in the Midwest states (and this is probably small in comparison). Last week we had a storm blow in and by the looks of the clouds, it was ugly. Was out walking at the time, so raced home and made it just in time.

The wind was blowing pretty hard so didn't get too many shots of the hail, but here are a few that I was able to get.