BUNCOMBE [buhng-kuhm]

The Cherry Blossom Festival. Or, Hooray for Flowered Trees.

stephenravas — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 13:59:57 +0000

I’m trying something new with this post. Instead of posting a few pictures and commenting on them, I am going to post a lot of pictures with some brief comments. This way you get to see a lot more photos and it takes me less time to post. Posting in this fashion allows me to add more posts to the blog. You can click on any of the picture thumbnails to view a larger version of the photo.

After a day of looking at cherry blossom…

stephenravas — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 13:46:54 +0000

We enjoyed lunch and a cold beverage.

A Tour of the Capitol Building. Or, Lesley and Katie take on D.C. And, oh, I was there too.

stephenravas — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 14:42:37 +0000

Lady Freedom is really, really, tall.

I am pretty late with posting this trip, but it is time to complete the post. Les, her friend Katie O and I took a trip to DC when Katie shot down to DC from Philly back in late October 2009 (yes, way back then). She was only in Philly for a few days, so we were lucky that she had a free weekend to visit!

Obviously we were really excited to visit the Capitol building

We started (and pretty much ended) our DC visit with a tour of the Capitol building. I had not been there since elementary school, so I thought it was a great idea.

Waiting in line to pick up our tickets

We even got nice commemorative sticker for going on the tour.

As you can imagine, there was a lot of talk about Dan Brown’s new book (at the time), The Lost Symbol. No, there was not an eternal flame in the basement. Yes, Dan Brown had the main character exiting one side of the Rotunda but then entering rooms on the other side of the Capitol building. Actually, the most important thing I learned is that there is a catwalk around the painting (below) at the top of the rotunda, which then climbs to the rotunda roof and looks out over DC. That is not a stop on the regular tour…but maybe if you ask your representative nicely you will get to see it.

Just an amazing painting

In the rotunda.

Posing in the rotunda.

Painted to look like marble statutes - we didn't have the money for the good stuff.

A view from the hallway in front of the house chamber.

Striking a pose...like Mr. Rogers.

Katie posing with Ronald.

Everyone was taking pictures of MLK!

Would you expect anything less from Lesley?

Amazingly it did not rain.

NFL Week 17

stephenravas — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 18:20:14 +0000

Hanging out at Glory Days (for the first time this year) to watch the last Browns game of the season.

A Somewhat Happy New Years Eve

stephenravas — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 20:04:33 +0000

New Years Eve and still no heat in our house. Luckily we had the gas guy on the way to check things out. Still, the house was mighty cold and I sought refuge by a portable heater.

We did get the gas up and running. Thank goodness. I was freezing.

Thanksgiving in Rehoboth Beach. Or, Fun Rehoboth Beach Videos.

stephenravas — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 12:58:07 +0000

I wanted to post a couple videos from Thanksgiving in Rehoboth. Although I’m just getting to this, I backdated the post so it makes sense chronologically.

We went to the town tree lighting, but we were one hour early. To keep us entertained, there was a band playing Christmas music. It was cold and we were tired, but we brought some energy juice. It turned out to be a good time and I took a few videos.

This is Lesley and her dad dancing, while we wait for the tree lighting.

Feliz Navidad. I don’t think I need to say more.

Kerry, taking a shot of…water. Sorry, this was shot in portrait view and is shown in landscape view. I could rotate it, but it is kind of a pain. I love her facial expressions at the end of the video.

J…M…U aint got no Duke Dog

stephenravas — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 18:37:47 +0000

Great 20-8 win over the #16 ranked Deleware Blue Hens. Les and I watched the game in the pouring, wind blown rain just to see JMU. Good thing they won!

What’s your malfunction, Private?

stephenravas — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:49:29 +0000

Sorry to anyone (Jen) who tried to view the blog entries and couldn’t do so. It should be up and running now!

Engagement Announcement Photo

stephenravas — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 15:05:28 +0000

In keeping with my plan of posting pictures of events going on in my life, I thought it would be good to post the picture of Lesley and I that ran with our engagement announcement in the Maryland Gazette. She looks much better than I do! A special thanks goes to T.J. for taking the photo.

Montreal – Day One. Or, Engagement Weekend.

stephenravas — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 01:32:54 +0000

Okay, I am back at blogging. And what better way to start than with pictures from the trip Les and I took to Montreal. It all started at Les’ 2008 work holiday party. At that party, Lesley won a gift certificate to stay at a Spinghill Suites in Montreal, Québec, Canada. Throughout 2009, we debated whether we should visit Montreal. Flights to Montreal were will above $500 and we did not have many free weekends. At the beginning of September, Les realized that she had a few extra days off to “use or lose,” so we started looking at flights. It turned out that we could fly to Burlington, VT and drive the 1.5 hours to Montreal for a third of the cost of a direct flight. We book a trip and prepared ourselves to enjoy three days and two nights in a Canadian city with an international feel.

I can see Canda from here!

This was our wait at the border crossing, roughly 40 minutes from Burlington, VT. It was a remarkably short wait. Ten minutes at most, and a much different experience than the border crossing at Detroit/Windsor. The border agents were pleasant and direct. Les enjoyed the “Bonjour, hello” greeting by the Canadian border agent. We didn’t want to get searched, so we opted not to take a picture of her.

You may be asking why we are so happy to be holding our passports. I have no idea.

We quickly left the border crossing and continued our journey to Montreal. It took roughly 90 minutes from car rental to hotel. The weather for the drive was not great – mostly rain. However, as we neared Montreal the weather cleared.

Hello to you too

Just in case you did not know, 55 miles per hour is roughly the same as 90 kilometer per hour. Don’t speed! But this sign begs the question, just how many kilometers over the speed limit can one drive without getting pulled over. Answer, at least 10 kilometers per hour!

The Beautiful Island of Montreal

Nice views approaching the island of Montreal, eh? As I mentioned above, the clouds cleared. The temperature was in the 50s.

After driving through the city and detouring due to construction (thanks Garmin), we arrived at the hotel.

A happy Lesley checking in

After checking in, we decided to take a walking tour of Old Montreal – perhaps the nicest part of the city.

Le Promenade

This fountain was spraying water on us (due to the wind) from a good distance away

A church. I took this picture for my mom.

In the background is a clocktower. Apparently, you can take a tour to the observation deck.

That’s the St. Lawrence River, for those of you that didn’t know.

We did manage to have a little fun during our self tour, as you’ll see below.

Closed for the season? WTF!!

Big Gun?

I really think these pictures say all that needs to be said. What you can’t see from these pictures was that we were steps away from a Molson brewery. Well, maybe not “steps” away, but we were pretty close. Alas, it wasn’t meant to be as we continued with our walking tour.

Canadian for

The Market

This used to be the parliament building. It does have that distinct look of a European parliament building. It is now a market. Prior to being a market, I think it was a concert hall. Pity, it is a great building.

That’s me. Apparently I was not happy being a subject of a photo while I was in the act of taking a photo. My face says it all. Darn you Lesley!

Another shot of Old Montreal, across the street from the river. To me, this was the finest of the architecture along the port of Old Montreal.

The tour took a lot out of us, so we thought stop and get something to eat. We found a place called Les 3 Brasseurs, “The Three Brewers.” (http://www.les3brasseurs.ca/) It is a bar chain that brews its own beer, like Gordon Bierch. We spent a long time talking to our bartender, Luiz, whom we called Lou. He offered suggestions regarding where we should go and what we should do. They were good suggestions, but I do not think we took part in any of them. We also had an amazing dish (another suggestion by Lou). It was call Flamm. It was like pizza, but better. Almost like a pizza on flatbread, but without the tomato sauce. Very good. Here are some shots of the bar.

A pretty cool and colorful logo!

I thought this was an interesting picture.

Mmmmm, beer.

Le Basilique Notre Dame:

Juggling stars? Awesome.

China Town:

The classic gate.

Fun with animals.

Who doesn't like Bubble Tea? Ah, no one.

No comment.

After all of that, we were tired and our feet hurt. But, Lesley wanted to see the shopping district. So we walked…

Strike a pose.

Super Sex. 'Nuff said.

I found my place. Good to know that it was in Montreal all this time.

The trip is continued at the MONTREAL – DAY TWO post!