The Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., in 2006. I should have posted more of my pictures from DC before. The ceiling in the vestibule of the LoC is one of the most stunning I have ever seen. Here’s a great tip: beat the crowds and go early, early in the morning. You won’t regret it, the tranquility and beauty of the place is fantastic.

The Capitol building in Washington, D.C., in 2006.

Shot of the Chicago River (is that its name?) from a bridge, facing upriver (west-ish).

The steps up to the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago offers this stunning panorama of the city skyline. I took this without a tripod (actually, I’ve done all my panoramas so far without a tripod :S), so it’s not perfect, but the view more than compensates for that. The Shedd Aquarium itself was pretty cool too.

Don’t you want to go there? It was a lovely day. The boat in the picture is one of the Maid of the Mist boats that take tourists right up under the falls. After four years living only 20 minutes away from the NF, this was the first time I did this. Tip: if you go, take the Maid from the American side. Cheaper fare, and smaller boats means better view and quicker embarkation/disembarkation.

I’ve been to Chicago again, this time with my parents and siblings. And no tourist can go to the Windy City without visiting either the Sears Tower or the Hancock Building. This is the second time I’ve been in the Hancock Building  – last year I had a $54 brunch on the 95th floor (mmmmmmm). The observation deck on the 94th floor is just as cool, but it doesn’t have the food.

When my entire family came to visit me, as they announced they would the moment I said I was going to study in Canada four years ago, where was it more natural to take them than to Niagara Falls? Here they stand right under the American Falls.

On some country back-roads in upper New York state, not far from Rochester but in the middle of nowhere nonetheless, you will find this row of trees in an intersection — with hundreds of pairs of shoes in them! And apparently, this tradition goes back more than thirty years.

Cool close-up of a band of sea shells that lie just were the waves meet the beach.

…and about 11 hours after seeing the sun set, I was up to see it rise again on the opposite horizon. I climbed up on the causeway between Clearwater and Clearwater Beach. Hence you can see Clearwater outlined against the sun. It was very dry (amazingly, considering that this Florida), so the sunrise wasn’t quite as spectacular as it could have been I think.