Here’s a sign across from the metro station (seen on yesterday’s post), just in front of the hospital. This shot was taken on Brodway, for those who were wondering.
July, 2008
16
Jul 08
Baltimore Metro
I finally got a chance to ride the Baltimore metro. They will not permit you to take photos of its stations or trains, so this is all I have to offer right now. I seriously angered one of the station attendants when I had my camera out in a station.
Aside from that I had a good experience on the Metro. The best part about it was how fast the trains actually went. In comparison to every other form of public transportation in the state (I’m talking to you Light Rail and MARC) this is remarkable. Trains come around every 12 minutes. Both of mine were on time. There are relatively few stops so you actually get to your destination in good time. I wish I could take it to more places.
The stations were all very clean, and some of them were sort of interesting. The Hopkins Hospital station has a pretty cool mural about science. That, is also the station where this picture was taken.
15
Jul 08
Back to the Ponies
Ok last horse picture. Just thought I’d post something less somber after yesterday’s picture.
Actually I had plans for this day’s post, but when I took a trip to go photograph a pretty cool historic site I had heard about in Rockville, I got there and realized that I had left the memory card out of my camera. As such, we have horses again today. I promise there will be less horse pictures in the future. (that said, I think this is the best of the horse pictures)
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Jul 08
Memorial to the Sniper Victims
Inside Brookside Gardens (discussed last week) is a memorial to the victims of the “DC Sniper” attacks from 2003.
It is one of the more tastefully designed, if not the most tatstefully designed, modern day memorials that I’ve come across. The names of the victims are enscribed on a stone out of frame to the right, and below this stone is a hidden area of similar design that borders right on the edge of the pond seen here in the background.
11
Jul 08
Dunes?
That black strip in the middle of the picture is not some sort of volcanic rock, as some of us had hypothesized it to be. It is asphault. It turns out that, as a real suprise, some developer in the 50′s tried to develop Assateague and paved a road all the way down to the VA border. Soon thereafter, a storm came and washed much of the road away. It was then decided that the island might not be the best place for a development and from all of that, the national seashore was started.
10
Jul 08
Objects outside mirror are closer than they appear.
This guy doesn’t have the full fledged “jim from the office” haircut, like Tony from yesterday, that makes the Assategue horses so famous. However, we’ll still post him becasue he was comically unafraid of anyone in the parking lot. However, that’s not to say he shouldn’t be afraid. Some guy nearby had tried to feed him a watermelon, and when this pony refused, the guy threw the watermelon (slice) at him. Seems like a bit of a harsh response to an animal that decided not to take human food.
Anyway, here’s some more trivia: There are around 6 different types of snakes on the island. Sometimes when you see a snake, you think its a good idea to take a picture of it. When I saw a snake, I thought it was a good idea to run away like a 5 year old. So you get a picture of this horse instead of a picture of a snake. Sorry.
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Jul 08
What has four hooves and hides behind fences?
This Guy! Yup. This is one of the wild ponies of Assateague Island. This guy and his family are decendents of formerly domesticated horses who were raised on the island to avoid the need for pens and to avoid all sorts of other containment issues. These days, there’s noone domesticating them, but they are not very bothered by humans. They’ll graze right next to you and even come up to your car. You’re not allowed to feed them and you can’t touch them, but they are pretty cool to see. I was told at work today that they also bite, so if you’ve been bitten by a horse please share your story.
The problem is that assateague is a big place, so if they are all together, you might have to go looking for them. This guy (named Tony) was grazing by himself in the parking lot, so there wasn’t much looking around.
One more thing to note about the horses: there are two herds, one in Maryland and one in the commonwealth to the south. They are separated by a fence, which is clearly unnecessary since an MD Pony need not leave the land of pleasant living and becasue, even if those VA horses tried to come up to MD, the northbound VA horses would be undoubtedly turned around and led back to the place they came from by a slew of terrible signage.
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Jul 08
Another MDP Cliffhanger…What’s behind the fence?
Any guesses? This was a picture from Saturday. Kind of a hazy day after a rainy Fourth of July.
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Jul 08
Brookside Gardens
Next to Wheaton Regional Park (future post) in Montgomery County is Brookside Gardens. While its not the largest botanical garden around, the grounds are well landscaped and the collection is very well kept. The gardens feature many different plants, a butterfly conservatory, a tea pagoda, an even a memorial. Most importantly the gardens feature this guy: the Black Eyed Susan.
3
Jul 08
Flag
Well tomorrow is Independence Day so here is a flag to get you started. This flag sits in Federal Hill Park in Baltimore. It is the same scale as, and contains the same 15 stars (see the flag unfurled below) as the flag that flew over Ft. McHenry when FSK wrote the Star Spangled Banner.
I searched pretty hard yesterday to find a good flag picture, and it turns out that this one was right there the whole time.
Since we don’t post for major holidays on MDP, I’m going to wish you all an enjoyable independence day now.
