Site Updates

New features or changes on Michael’s Piece of the Web

19
Jun
2016

Photos from Alexandria, Virginia

Christ Church, Alexandria VAWhile visiting my cousin in the Northern Virginia suburbs of DC, we made an excursion to Alexandria. Besides walking the historic streets of the city, we took a tour of Christ Church. The significance of this building is that George Washington was a member of it as was Robert E Lee. You can sit in President Washington’s seat which has also supported the butts of the last 20 US presidents (except President Obama as of yet) plus Winston Churchill. Talk about sitting on history!

Check out the photos right here!

Posted by Michael in Photography, Site Updates
08
Apr
2016

COLD Jim Thorpe Winterfest Photos

Jim ThorpeI just posted an album of photos from The Jim Thorpe Winterfest back in February. 3 years ago, we went to the annual festival. It’s a fun event that encompasses the entire downtown area of this quaint little mountain town. We decided to go back this year since we had a free long weekend. The big difference from last time was that this time the temperature throughout the weekend was 5 degrees below zero with a wind chill of -24!!! I like the cold, but this was painful cold unless you had the right gear on. I’m quite happy that I bought a new LL Bean parka last Fall.

There was an ice carver and a wood carver creating sculptures on the street. There’s a “mug walk” where you purchase a mug and them show it at a bunch of stores throughout the town and they give you some small item in return. It’s a fun way to get people into every little shop. Of course, our favorite shop is the Country Cottage where the “pickle lady” resides. She makes the best pickles you’ll ever try. This year, the Lehigh Gorge Scenic Railroad was also running. We took an excursion on that which made for a fun break from the bitter cold.

Check out the photos here. You may need to put a coat on to look at them.

Posted by Michael in Photography, Site Updates
06
Apr
2016

Scranton Photo Album

McDade ParkWhile in the Poconos for the Jim Thorpe Winterfest, we headed up to Scranton for the day to visit the Pennsylvania Anthracite Heritage Museum. I highly recommend stopping in if you ever get the chance. The history and heritage of the miners and their families is a fascinating tale. Living as close as we do to the PA coal mining region, I’m sorry I haven’t explored it more. I hope to head back up there one day and take the coal mine tour since it was closed for the winter. We also visited the Historic Scranton Iron Furnaces. It was here that we realized that we did not wear enough layers for the subzero temperatures and after exploring the furnaces we headed directly to the nearest Wal-Mart for additional hand warmers and thermal underwear!

On the way back down to the hotel in Lehighton, we made a stop at Mohegan Sun Pocono (formerly Pocono Downs) in Wilkes-Barre for dinner and a little gambling.

You can see the photos from our day in Scranton here.

Posted by Michael in Photography, Site Updates
23
Feb
2016

Shady Brook Farms Holiday Light Show Photos

Shady Brook Farms PhotosEvery year we look for fun “Christmas-y” places to visit during Christmas week. One new place we discovered this year was Shady Brook Farms in Bucks County, PA. Their Christmas light display consists of over 3 million lights and includes displays ranging from light tunnels to iconic structures from around to the world to almost anything else you can imagine.You can drive through or ride on a tractor pulled wagon. We opted for the open air wagon ride because who wants to take pictures from behind glass while driving. Of course, I took full advantage of the wagon ride to take a bunch of photos.

You can check out the photos right here.

Posted by Michael in Photography, Site Updates
21
Feb
2016

Bethlehem Steel Photos

Bethlehem Steel PhotosI usually go to Bethlehem a few times each year to visit the Sands casino for dinner and a little gambling. I also go to there every year for their Chriskindlmarkt. The striking thing about the city is the long idle Bethlehem Steel plant. The casino is built on part of its former site and the Chriskindlmarkt is now held on another part of the site. However, much of the plant still remains as a monument to what was once the most important business in the city, if not the entire region. This year while at the Chriskindlmarkt, we discovered the new Hoover-Mason trestle walkway. It allows an up close look at the trestle that was formerly used to bring coke, limestone & iron ore to the blast furnaces and serves as a small museum depicting the history of Bethlehem Steel.

You can take a look at the photos I took while walking along the trestle in this album.

Posted by Michael in Photography, Site Updates
20
Feb
2016

Delaware Covered Bridges and Fall Foliage Photos

Delaware Covered Bridges and FoliageEveryone knows I love covered bridges and that Fall is one of my favorite times of the year. So, what better way to spend a Fall day than visiting every covered bridge in the state of Delaware (SPOILER: there are only 3!) and then driving around looking for Fall colored foliage on the back roads of northern Delaware and southeastern Pennsylvania.

Now you can finally take look at some of what we found in this album.

Posted by Michael in Photography, Site Updates
17
Feb
2016

Watertown, New York Photos

Watertown PhotosThe last of my photos from our trip to the 1000 Islands are finally online. We took advantage of the cool Fall weather that had already arrived in northern New York and visited the Burrville Cider Mill in Watertown where we watched cider being pressed before stocking up on so many varieties of delicious apples to take home. We stopped in Watertown again on the way home from Alex Bay and visited the New York State Zoo at Thompson Park. The zoo is populated with animals that are native to New York.

You can check out this album right here. While you’re at it, check out the other photos from this trip from the 1000 Islands and Upper Canada Village.

Posted by Michael in Photography, Site Updates
15
Feb
2016

Upper Canada Village/Pumpkinferno Photos

Upper Canada Village photosI just posted another album from this past October. This one contains photos from side trip to Upper Canada Village in Morrisburg, Ontario that we took while we were visiting Alexandria Bay and the 1000 Islands region. During the day, we took a guided tour of the British Canadian colonial village. After having been to many American colonial museums/villages over the years, it was quite interesting to see the colonial era from the point of view of the British loyalists. After dinner at the McIntosh Inn, we went back to Upper Canada Village which was transformed into Pumpkinferno. A seasonal display of over 6,000 hand carved pumpkins. It was quite a sight.

You can check out the album right here. Take a look at my 1000 Islands photos here and watch for my Watertown NY photos coming soon too!

Posted by Michael in Photography, Site Updates
08
Feb
2016

1000 Islands & Alexandria Bay Photos

Alexandria Bay & 1000 Islands photosI finally posted then photos from last October’s trip to the 100 Islands region of New York. When we got up there, the area was quieting down since the summer high season was over and Fall weather was settling in, but there was still plenty to do while avoiding the massive crowds of summer. Our hotel in Alexandria Bay was right on the St. Lawrence River with a great view of Boldt Castle and the shipping traffic of the St. Lawrence Seaway. We visited and toured the castle while taking a boat tour of some of the over 1800 islands in the area. Besides exploring the village of Alex Bay (as the locals call it), the trip also included an Oktoberfest at a winery (yup, another vacation with a German festival!) and some side trips to Upper Canada Village and Watertown, NY which you can see in separate albums.

The photos can be viewed here. Two more albums from side trips we made during this vacation, Upper Canada Village and Watertown NY, will be forthcoming soon.

Posted by Michael in Photography, Site Updates
07
Feb
2016

Blizzard of Photo Albums Predicted

I’ve received some comments from people saying that I haven’t posted any photos lately. Well, it’s not because I haven’t taken any. It’s just because I haven’t taken had time to post them. That’s about to change. I have 6 sets of photos that I’ve been working on. They’re all just about ready to put up on the site. So, watch this space for announcements as I post each of them.

What are the photos of? Glad you asked! They’re from October’s trip to the 1000 Islands/Alexandria Bay, Upper Canada Village and Watertown, some fall foliage, the Bethlehem Steel plant and a Christmas light display on a farm in Bucks County.

Posted by Michael in Site Updates