It was a nice year for me. I was able to get in a few trips this year, and have plenty of pictures to show for it. This is kind of a preview of threads to come, although I am throwing in some random pictures with it.
This is broken into two part, since there is apparently a 300-picture limit in a post, and I have 381 pictures here.
I started, back in 2012 I think, a "Dozen states in a dozen threads" theme. I made it a baker's dozen with an impromptu skirt into one extra state. Here's the threads, by state. I think I covered a wide assortment of types of cities and communities.
Pennsylvania
Maryland
California
Massachusetts
New Jersey
Ohio
Delaware
New York
Virginia
Connecticut
Florida
Rhode Island
North Carolina
My year started off in the Buffalo area, where I spent the holiday with my extended family. I had to stop by Niagara Falls to start the new year!
As winter ended, I was in West Chester, Pennsylvania, defending my thesis, and took some pictures as I said goodbye to West Chester University.
I did a phototour of the
Parkside and Centennial District neighborhoods in Philadelphia in early May.
I made a last-minute decision to see the Phillies play in Boston on Memorial Day, and spent the weekend in Brooklyn, Cape Cod, and Boston.
I took some pictures along the way, such as the borders, and Stamford.
I stopped at the scenic vista overlooking Mystic, Connecticut.
I stopped in
Newport, Rhode Island, to take some pictures to complete a phototour for later on.
I also had a pint in the oldest tavern in America, built in 1652 and opened as an inn in 1673.
I came across this highrise in the middle of nowhere in Portsmouth, Rhode Island.
I stopped in
BRISTOL, RHODE ISLAND
I passed this old neon sign near New Bedford, Massachusetts.
I spent a day and a half on Cape Cod.
I took some pictures to finish off a phototour of
Orleans, Massachusetts.
I stopped by the cove where my uncle keeps his lobster boat.
I did a phototour of
Wellfleet, which is a couple towns up from Orleans.
I also did a quick phototour of
Eastham, the town just north of Orleans.
I finished the first day in New England with a view across Cape Cod Bay of the power plants and whatnot near Sandwich, at the "shoulder" of Cape Cod, from First Encounter Beach in Eastham.
My second day in New England was sunny, and I took more pictures of the inland coves where my uncle keeps his boat.
I left for Boston, with heavy traffic leaving the Cape.
I did a phototour of
Quincy, home to two Presidents.
I made it to Boston several hours later than I wanted, thanks to a parking payment fiasco online, and numerous fruitless phonecalls to MLB's customer service help in Russia and/or India, so I wasn't able to to any neighborhood tours or visit some pubs like I had planned.
I did, however, take a few pictures as I walked from the parking garage that I found to the subway station.
I passed the makeshift Boston Marathon Bombing memorial.
I walked around the stadium area for a little bit, and also explored inside too.
I got a walk-up seat, but ended up finding an empty row of seats behind home plate and got a nice view of the game.
I took some pictures around the stadium and in the Copley Square area after the game.
I left the game and began the brutal drive straight from Boston to Delaware overnight to work the next morning. I planned on sleeping in the parking lot at work, but was so exhausted that I took a 20 minute nap at a rest stop west of New Haven at 2:30 and ended up waking up 2 hours later.
I got some pictures of White Plains, and Manhattan, as I drove past.
In July, I had to go to
Pittsburgh. I did a phototour of the
Oakland neighborhood, where I spent most of my time.
I took enough pictures for a "Pittsburgh at night" thread at some point.
I also took plenty of random pictures.
I had a couple days off after being in Pittsburgh, so I drove up to visit family in Buffalo.
I did phototours of
Kittaning...
And
Butler...
And
Mercer.
I spent as much time in Port Colborne, Ontario, as I did in the Buffalo area. I took plenty of pictures on the beach.
I was especially excited to try out my mega-zoom on the shoreline back on the American side. With my 12x optical zoom, and 43x ditigal zoom, all from a point-and-click camera, I was able to see the gray cliffs of Derby, where Frank Lloyd Wright built a summer house. These views are of the area north and south of Sturgeon Point, and are about 13 miles away from the big sand dune at Sherkston Shores that I took the pictures from.
Before driving home, I did a phototour of
Buffalo's Kaisertown neighborhood.
A couple weeks later, I had to go to Richmond.
On the drive down, I did a phototour of
Spotsylvania.
I reached Richmond.
I did a phototour of
Downtown Richmond.
I also did a photothread of
Chesterfield.
I also did a photothread of
Powhatan.
I also did a phototour of
Hopewell.
Finally, I did a phototour of
Emporia.
Throughout my drive and stay, I came across a couple churches that were historically notable.
I haven't driven through or even been in North Carolina in almost 15 years, so since I had some time on two days to drive from Richmond to North Carolina, I went for it. I took pictures of the countryside, since I'm not sure if I'll have a chance to explore that area again.
I did a phototour of
Halifax.
On a second drive down, I did a phototour of
JACKSON, NORTH CAROLINA
There's some interesting things to see while driving through Virginia. One thing I noticed the most when driving south of Richmond, having explored the Northeast so much, is how road signs reflect being in the South.
Part 2 is
HERE