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We biked up to Reston Town Center today to see the latest Harry Potter movie. It was only 4 miles from where the W&OD trail crosses Hunter Mill (where we parked and unloaded the bikes), so it wasn’t as much of a workout as our past two bike trips. Next time, I think we’ll start from downtown Vienna, which will add a couple miles to each leg of the trip.
Total miles: 8.0
I’ve been trying to think of fun bike trips that Andrew and I can make — like going to Hole in the Wall Books in Falls Church (we were about a block from there, as it turns out, when we stopped and turned around last weekend).
In last week’s Sunday Source, there was a blurb on a fun-looking mini-golf course in Herndon. We decided to look at our VA bike trails map, and see if there was a way to get there by bike. We found something promising and it was going to be about 7 miles each way if we started from the point on the W&OD trail where it crosses Hunter Mill Road. Andrew was concerned that I’d be able to make that, but I reminded him that besides being stubborn, we would be stopping and taking a break after the first half, so I should be fine.
So, we put the bikes on the car, and headed up. I noticed that I was going fairly slow much of the way (8-9 mph), so was concerned that last week was just a fluke, but later realized that the entire trip out was on an incline. It was a small incline, but incline none-the-less. Our plan was to follow the W&OD up to Wiehle Avene, then take Wiehle to Baron Cameron, Baron Cameron to the Reston Parkway, and the REston Parkway to Drainsville. That would have at least gotten us close.
Well, the sidewalk on both sides of the road disappeared from Wiehle just after North Shore Drive (the second time we crossed it, because it’s a big loop around Lake Anne). So we decided to take the North Shore Drive to see where it would take us.
It took us to a farmers market and craft sale in a little shopping area around Lake Anne. Cool! We locked up the bikes, found Reston’s Used Book Shop, browsed the crafts, bought some kettle corn, and sat by the lake. It was a very pleasant morning diversion.
When we left, we continued around North Shore Drive (spotting Baron Cameron Avenue just outside the farmers market), and headed back to the car. Total miles: 9. It’s not as far as last weekend, but the way was much, much more hilly. In fact, I made it up two hills I never thought I’d make…cool!
Andrew and I decided to go out for a bike ride this morning. We haven’t been out since a particularly nice day in February. It seems that the nice weekends of late have been taken up with wedding stuff, so our bikes have languished in the shed for the last two months.
We drove up with the bikes to the Washington & Old Dominion trail (W&OD) in Vienna, and headed off to the south/east (for the first part of the trip, it’s mostly a gradual uphill — the benefit of going this way first is that on the way back, when we’re already getting tired, the way is mostly downhill). My original goal was to go at least 8 miles — that’s how far we went in February. We ended up going a total of 10 miles round-trip! This is a definite improvement over last year.
When we got back to our car, I bookcrossed one of my books at the caboose along the trail.
Andrew and I took the Metro down to Alexandria to visit the Torpedo Factory. My hope was to pick up something that I’d seen last week, but didn’t buy. Unfortunately, the artist wasn’t in the studio today. Sigh.
We did play around a bit, though. Andrew quite liked the Torpedo Factory, and has seconded my motion to save up next year (after the wedding expenses have disappeared) for some original art for the house.
(Funny comment from a boy, probably 10-12 years old, as he was walking past the sculptures on the stairway railing from the second floor: “And here we have a city of ugly people. And here’s a naked girl.” I wish I could have followed him around a bit longer…)
We stopped at the Olsson’s near the Torpedo Factory, and I found an entertaining book from 1936 entitled Back to Newton. In the introduction, the author, George de Bothezat, writes:
The generalization advanced by Einstein, as rigorously shown in this Essay, is most extravagant, being based upon a set of misunderstandings. Einstein’s fantastic conceptions have only involved Science into disconcerting sophistry based upon ill-founded arguments. It is with the thorough discussion and clarification of these misconceptions of Einstein that this Essay is concerned….
….It is only on account of a few weaknesses in the fundamentals of science that the erection of such a fallacious theory as the Einstein theory of relativity was rendered possible….
The Author of this Essay after mediating for more than twenty-five years over the fundamentals of Newtonian dynamics — one of the greatest cognitive creations ever conceived by a human mind — was able to eliminate these weaknesses, one by one. This once achieved it becomes evident — as was always felt by sound minds — that the whole of Einstein’s theories of relativity have no ground to stand on and really are but a stupendous delusion.
Hmmm…ever heard of de Bothezat? Me neither.
From the Torpedo Factory, we walked down King Street back toward the Metro, stopping in a few shops on the way. Just a couple blocks from the Metro is a used bookstore that we often forget about, since it’s off on a side street. Today we remembered, and popped in. Turns out they were having a moving sale — they’ll be moving around the corner onto King Street. That will probably be very good for their business (and very dangerous for Andrew and me).
I went the the DC Big Flea Market at the Dulles Expo Center today. I was expecting a flea market — mostly filled with other people’s junk where it takes a bit to scour through the booths and actually find something you like. Instead, I found what would be called an antique sale in Minnesota — what fun! (Here, in Virginia, it seems that an antique sale has to be hoity-toity stuff that no one actually buys.)
The flea market took up both of the buildings, which means it was HUGE! I found lots of things I could have bought — slide rules at several booths, a Pigs in Space lunch box, Empire Strikes Back thermos (though I don’t have the lunch box yet, so there’s still hope I could get the two together, and a few gifts for family (which I can’t mention, in case they read this).
In the second-to-last aisle, though, I found the piece du resistance. An armillary sphere. Andrew and I have looked at these before, but they are generally prohibitively expensive, so we figured we would have to wait until we were wealthy. I decided to look at the sphere, though, just to see how far out of my budget it was. But it wasn’t! I thought I had to be missing a number, but I wasn’t. I could afford it! Yay! Needless to say, I got it, and here’s a couple pictures:
The forecast for today was wonderful — mid 60s and sunny. We decided to take advantage of that by biking into Vienna for the antique show and lunch.
I’m so proud of myself, too. Last year at this time I was barely able to go a mile before making us turn around home. Today, the first time out this year, we biked a total of 8.5 miles! (3.5 miles into town, a couple miles to go from the show to lunch to Michael’s, and another 3.5 miles home) And, frankly, I could have gone further.
Yay!
I finally was able to get together with Jim and Maggie (my aunt and uncle who live near Atlanta) tonight. They came by the hotel, and whisked me off to the Shakespeare Tavern (a mere 0.5 miles from the hotel) to see their production of The Lion in Winter.
I had never seen this play before (or the movie with Katharine Hepburn and Peter O’Toole), so I went in not knowing what to expect. The basic story is in 1183 King Henry II’s three sons all want the throne. Richard is the obvious choice, being handsome and accomplished in war. John is Henry’s favorite, though, so despite his youth and awkwardness believes he will get the crown. Poor Geoffrey, now the middle child, is often overlooked. During the holidays, Henry allows his imprisoned wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine, to come visit. Meanwhile, Henry’s mistress, Alais, is betrothed to one of the sons (though it’s unclear which one). The play is full of scheming, conniving, and witty exchanges.
This production was quite good, though I might agree with Jim that I didn’t like Alais’ performance as much as I could have. I also found John’s portrayal a bit too over the top to be believable.
Earlier in the week I noticed that a lunch box exhibit was coming to the Museum of Design in Atlanta. I love lunch boxes. I don’t exactly collect them, though I am trying to complete my Star Wars collection (the original movies — I have Star Wars and Return of the Jedi). I also have a Battlestar Galactica lunch box, complete with its thermos. As luck would have it, the Museum of Design is on the block between the Hyatt (where the AAS meeting is being held) and the Hilton (where I’m staying). So I ducked out of the conference for an hour this morning to catch the exhibit.
I’ve actually seen this domed Star Trek lunch box at an antique shop. I believe it was going for about $900 when I saw it 5 years ago. I don’t recall if it had the thermos or not (though I suspect that it did).
There was a display on how the space race influenced lunch boxes — of course I thought these were about the best ones they had. I’ll have to keep an eye out in antique stores for these 🙂
Mom and Dad worked, so I dragged Andrew to the Mall of America. I was still living in Bloomington when “The Mall” first opened. Now, to me, any mall smaller than The Mall seems just small. I still like going each time I go home, so I can see what cool stores are still there, which ones have opened since I last was there, and which have disappeared. Fortunately, one of my favorite stores, The Afternoon, was not only still there, but had expanded. Another cool store had opened, Torrid. It’s a gothy-type clothing store for real women. While it’s not really my style now, I would have killed for a store like that when I was in high school.
Andrew, of course, was bored out of his mind, but at least he now knows why I think all other malls are small.
In the evening, we went out to dinner with Mom and Dad to Pannekoeken Huis. This was a chain that had almost completely gone under. All the corporately-owned stores were raided by the IRS several years ago. Most of the restaurants closed, though Dad said there were a couple franchises that stayed open. However, none were terribly convenient to my parents’ house. Then a couple years ago, and Embers/Pannekoeken opened in Bloomington, and it seemed that we could again get our Pannekoeken fix satesfied locally. However, they tore that building down over the past year and put in a “high class” Dairy Queen. Then Dad said he found new Huises opening up around the Twin Cities.
Yay!
Since Andrew hasn’t really done the museum, we thought we’d drag him not only to the IMAX movie, but to the cheesy 3D theater. The last time I went to the 3D theater, they were doing laser shows — I saw a show about the body — but now it’s more like a regular movie, though in 3D. Certainly less cheesy than the show I saw last time, but still cheesy.
The IMAX movie was about Lewis & Clark. Quite good. I was surprised to find out that they only lost one member of the exploration team. Other than that, I mostly enjoyed the scenery.
The traveling exhibit was CSI: Crime Scene Insects. This one was quite interesting — it showed how the insects present at a crime scene can give clues about the time of the crime and whether the crime occurred at a different site. In one bizarre case, a grasshopper was found with a leg missing on the victim. When the suspect was arrested, the leg of a grasshopper was found in the cuff of his pants. The grasshopper leg was shown to belong to the grasshopper found on the victim, thus placing the suspect at the scene during the murder.
Most of the cases were more grizzly — the time of the crime can be determined by the kinds of insects devouring or incubating on the body. In fact, they had part of the exhibit blocked off with warnings that those who are faint of heart should not go in. Of course I went in. They had a couple cases layed out, complete with floor mats made from photos of the scene.
We also got to see the quack medicine display. It’s kind of disappointing to see them behind a railing with no one giving demonstrations. Our trip to The Museum of Questionable Medical Devices, where the collection came from, was much more interactive. Of course, it’s better that the collection stayed together, rather than going to the highest bidders, but I can’t help but feel that Minneapolis lost something important when Bob McCoy retired.
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