(to the tune of "Let It Snow") Oh, the weather at KSC is frightful, But White Sands is so delightful, And since we have to land, Land White Sands. Land White Sands. Land White Sands.
"[The title] may raise more questions than it answers."
Well, duh! That's the point, isn't it? It's called marketing, people! Get the buzz going, get people speculating. Grab people's attention without giving too much away. I mean, if you call it "Harry Potter Saves the World" or "Harry Potter Dies", it kind of immediately squelches "I wonder what will happen?"
So, anyway, just how many characters is J.K. going to kill off in this one? I mean, if you put "deathly" in the title, that can't bode well.
My apologies ahead of time to those with low-speed internet access.
I went into D.C. to see the Christmas trees in front of the Capitol building and the White House last night with my cousins. Last year, they turned off the White House tree before we got a close look, so this year we hit it first. Here it is:
I hadn't realized it, but there's a model train setup at the base of the tree. I think there were three trains and four "villages". The video turned out okay-ish, so you can watch a few seconds of barely visible trains below. I managed to record while someone was explaining some of the story behind the trains by the tree, so you should be able to hear that, too.
Here's a picture that was taken from about the same angle as the video. You can actual see the little model buildings because the flash went off for the photo, but doesn't go off for video. (Hmm, it looks like one of the trains got derailed there...)
And here's a closeup of the decorations on the tree.
We walked by the White House, too (the tree is actually on the Ellipse rather than on the White House lawn). It was kind of scary weird because we were the only people walking that close to the White House. I kept expecting to be escorted away or something, but we weren't.
Then we headed to the Capitol building. Look! I can see the tree! I think!
Oh! I see it now!
This one was from Washington state, so there were no UFOs or alien heads this year. Just fish, whales, pictures of mountains, a ornaments in the shape of the state. Phooey.
In other news, my bladder wishes that I would stop going to D.C. so late at night that there are no bathrooms available anywhere. Also, it would like to petition the government to put more bathrooms near the national Mall and to, you know, put them on the freaking MAP, so that desperate tourists can have some hope that they are at least headed in the right direction. This is especially important now that getting into a building (even when it is open) involves going through security and possibly even standing in line. This situation is not conducive to potty emergencies.
