TIME SQUARE

"HEY, F--KFACE!  YA YOU!  YA'INAH HURRY F--KFACE?"

The sidewalks were swarming with tourists and business locals, so this New Yorker took to briskly walking along the gutter.  For reasons unknown, a taxi driver honked at him and what followed was the above exchange of pleasantries.
Welcome to New York City's
TIME SQUARE!

"MOMMA TOW'D ME NOT TO GO!"

(Sorry! Yes, I added the smiley faces, but not the butterfly)

I said to a grinning businessman sitting at a table to my immediate right, "You don't see this in Iowa!"  He laughed.

       BREASTS TO BEASTS      

Crapping Pennies.

Why do people throw money

into the imprints of a long dead sauropod?

TO EARTH IT FELL

This is a massive meteorite was held sacred by the Clackama Indians of Oregon's Willamette Valley, they named it Tomanowos after a "revered spiritual being that has healed and empowered the people of the valley since the beginning of time."

The rainwater that pooled in its pocked surface was believed to have healing, purifying, and cleansing powers.  But then came the 1850's, and the various tribes of the western Oregon and northern California were relocated, and this object of great religious significance was packed off to the American Museum of Natural History.

T-REX

According to Dr. Jack Horner, Curator of the Museum of the Rockies Department of Paleontology, this flesh ripping, chunk gobbling, Jeep chasing beast of nearly every boy's dream, was more suited for the consumption of carrion than for the ferocious fights choreographed in cinema.  Morevoer, Dr. Horner has pointed out that its dainty forearms were not adequately designed to capture large prey; and I might add to that, or even holding a tea cup.

However, its enlarged olfactory (its sniffer) was enlarged and at best designed for hunting down static, and pungent prey already dead.

THE PEOPLE ON THE STREET

D'OOPS! I already used this picture!

Woody says, "Howdy stranger!"

Hot dog vendor

BRYANT PARK

Carousel

.

A few decades ago this beautiful little park, in midtown New York, was the haunt of drug attics, pushers, and other frequenters of society's substrata.  It was successfully taken back by area citizens, and is now a place families can enjoy.

Bryant's Parks exceedingly clean and welcoming public restrooms.

    The EMPIRE STATE BUILDING    

Click on picture to enlarge

THE CHRYSLER BUILDING 

People and Places

Male Boothrooms?

A Subtle Difference 

"HONK IF YOU LOVE JESUS!"

Our journey ends where it began, in the dank, musty smelling subways of The Big Apple.

Copyright © 2010 Jonathan Aspensen All rights reserved. No part of this website, nor any of its contents, may be reproduced in any form without the express written permission of 

Jonathan Aspensen. 

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All in a year--

One Saturday morning we packed up the dog, stuffed some clothes in a suitcase, grabbed the camera, squeezed in the PT Cruiser, and we headed northwest for New York State.
A day later we were looking over Niagara's American Falls.

I made an inquiry concerning barrel rides over the falls, and was told that this concession was no longer in business. "Hit bottom when the economy hit the rocks?" I did quoth.
Although the Niagara River is only about 3 feet deep as the swift moving water approaches the falls, the volume of water is tremendous, and the falls make a thunderous noise!

CLICK ON PICTURES TO ENLARGE IMAGE

"A picture is worth a thousand words."

With that threadbare adage said, my blog will henceforth be more of a visual nature so as to assuage the TV generation.

Buddhist Monks hamming it up for the camera.


SUNRISE AT WASHINGTON'S MONUMENT

Recent repairs to monument's edge.

The Elevator

The ride up is fast and crowded, especially on weekends and Holidays.
They allow only as many people up as can fit into the confines of the elevator.
Inhaling, and holding our breath the whole way, so as to make us feel as much like sardines in a can as possible.

NOTE:
If you want to visit this monument you will have to arrive at the ticket kiosk before sunrise. The Park Service only hands out a limited number of timed-entry tickets (though they are free).

The Lincoln Memorial

Once at the top you immediately realize that this monolith sways in the wind.
Unnerving? Yawh, sure, ya'betcha!
It gave me the Starbucks, quad-espresso, screaming jitters.

Your activities are always monitored, and you can no longer walk the stairs up or down.
This view is looking up into the interior of the very top.

One of the four window portals.

Monument as sundial.

At ground level.

Cherry trees lining the Tidal Basin, and the Jefferson Memorial, the river is the Potomac.
When sponsored activities take place on the Potomac River the water is tested for pollutants. If the water is too contaminated, the event is postponed.

CHERRY BLOSSOMS
March 2010

Cherry trees at peak bloom with Arlington National Cemetery and Arlington House, the Custiss-Lee Mansion (Robert E. Lee's pre-Civil War home) in the background.

CHERRY BLOSSOMS
TOURIST of the DAY CONTEST
>Vote for your favorite<

1.) Adorable Japanese girl in cherry blossom dress;

2.) Woman steadies camera on limb;

3.) Peak bloom;

4.) Grannies "Walk Like an Egyptian" foot race;

5.) Homeless man having a yard sale on the National Mall;

6.) Woman with bad posture;

7.) Woman admiring her latest cherry blossom photo with smirk of satisfaction;

8.) Woman with white gloves;

9.) Waiting for the bus;

10.) Boyfriend explains to passerby that his girlfriend snorted an olive, and he was administering mouth to nostril extrication (MNE).

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

11.) Jane Fonda is still thought of by Vietnam Vets (note the yellow, inverted patch on the man's vest to the left).

12.) Diminutive woman peers out from behind a larger woman with baby stroller;

13.) Hot day, cool dress;

13.) Sparrow on the prowl for crumbs;

AND THE WINNER IS?
This is your cue to vote by e-mail.

Our Nation's Capitol

Inside the Rotunda

Ceiling of Rotunda
(George Washington is painted in amongst this heavenly host. It was proposed that he be entombed -- re-entombed -- in a chamber below the Rotunda floor. However, upon the re-reading his will, Washington desired that his remains remain at Mount Vernon).

The massive dome's superstructure is constructed out of steel with painted cast iron ornamentation so as to appear to be made of marble.

The Capitol's Statuary Hall

Each State in these United States was asked to send at least two statues (bronze or white marble) of someone within their borders who made a notable contribution.

UTAH'S CHOICE
Brigham Young and Philo T. Farnsworth

When I first arrived at the Capitol my first question was: "Where's
Philo T. Farnsworth?"
Who is Farnsworth you ask?
He invented the way in which we watched analog television.

"Before Philo, it was just radio."

Statue atop of the Capitol.

Plaster cast of Capitol's final with aging model standing at stage right.

A PARTING OBSERVATION...

All Hell broke loose when a myopic employee of the city's road crew, attempted to place this monk in the middle of the street. He apparently mistook him for a traffic cone.

Copyright © 2010 Jonathan Aspensen All rights reserved. No part of this website, nor any of its contents, may be reproduced in any form without the express written permission of
Jonathan Aspensen.