We heard on the local TV news about this amazing Christmas light display at the residential home at 1601 Collingwood Drive in Alexandria, VA. The computerized light show was set to music with a broadcast synchronized to FM 88.1. Dave and I decided to drive to this property to enjoy the Christmas display with 320,000 lights.
There are so many places to visit for a spectacle of lights at local parks or along the water in Washington, DC, Maryland or Virginia. On Christmas Eve, Dave and I chose the Meadowlark botanical gardens in Vienna, VA to uplift our Holiday spirit. For the 2013 holiday season, Meadowlark Gardens is hosting a new Christmas light display called a “Winter Walk of Lights.”
We finally found the time to see Thor: The Dark World 3D. I have to admit, we only go to a movie theater a few times a year. I enjoy the IMAX experience at Hoffman, usually try and get there for a matinee, because it is not as much of a hassle at that time. We visit this theater the most and we really like it. The theater is modern, spacious (22 movie theaters inside) and comfortable. Especially, I love IMAX movies.
This weekend, the last weekend of the Shocktober event, Dave and I visited the renowned Paxton Campus to experience a paranormal recreation of what has been deemed to be truly haunted by spirits. The event offers four chilling attractions across the property’s 17 acres: The Paxton Manor, The Haunted Well of Souls, The Funhouse and The Last Ride, each with its own frightening twist.
A tour of the caverns was part of the package we got from the Natural Bridge Hotel, so Dave and I drove the short distance from the hotel to see them. While sculpting the Natural Bridge 3 million years ago, nature also worked on the Natural Bridge Caverns, and is still at it in the East coast’s deepest “live” caverns.
Open seasonally March through November, visitors enjoy the Natural Bridge Caverns tour. Guests descend more than 34 stories deep within the Earth to get to the magnificent natural display. The caverns highlights are the Colossal Dome Room, Mirror Lake, Wishing Well Room and the Canyon Room.
Surprisingly, there are many attractions at The Natural Bridge. Dave and I visited the Butterflies at the Bridge attraction while we were walking down to The Natural Bridge. This is fairly small, but very cute indoor garden of beautiful butterflies from around the world and our own backyard.
Visitors have an opportunity to see hundreds of these amazing creatures in flight, as well as in multiple developmental stages, all set among tropical plants in this unique indoor garden. There is no comparison with the Butterfly Pavilion at Xcaret here, but this is a neat place to visit.
Dave and I had some unplanned time off, so we decided to visit The Virginia Safari park. The park is near Natural Bridge, VA and it is only a 3-hour drive from our home. While driving around looking for local attractions, we noticed the sign “Foamhenge” on the side of the road. Thankfully, it doesn’t take long to look it up via smartphone. How would we survive without all this technology? 🙂 Smartphone displayed the following information.
Stonehenge has inspired awe and mystery from visitors for over 5000 years. These megalithic ruins have withstood the tests of time and captivated our imagination. Artist and native Virginian, Mark Cline of Enchanted Castle Studios, has unveiled a full size replica of Stonehenge on the property of the Natural Bridge of Virginia made entirely of foam. “Foamhenge at Natural Bridge” is painted to resemble the real Stonehenge. Located on the west side of Rt. 11 near the Natural Bridge Zoo, 1 mile north of Natural Bridge.
We decided to stop and take a look at Foamhenge, especially since we visited Stonehenge in 2010. Here are 2 pictures for comparison: Foamhenge is depicted in the top picture and Stonehenge is in the 2nd picture.
Foamhenge.
Stonehenge.
One of the fun evenings spent with our friends was at Arcadia Beach. The famous Arcadia is the most popular resort district of Odessa, with a beach and park of the same name. Situated about a 15 minute drive from Odessa city center, Arcadia offers relaxing beaches, fine dining, entertainment and more.
While walking to the Langerone beach through the Shevchenko park during the day, we thought that it would be nice to visit the park at night. The park is pretty during the day, but it is beautiful at night.
T.G.Shevchenko central culture and recreation park was originally called Alexander’s park in honor of emperor Alexander II. Famous writers such as Zhukovskiy, Gogol, Ostrovskiy, Dostoyevskiy, Chekhov, Akhmatova strolled around this park in their day.
The park is not far from the city center and it is adjacent to the Odessa Port Terminal. It is a good place to relax, to take a nice walk, or to watch the ships crossing the Black Sea at the Port Terminal. Here is the park entrance at night.
We had a chance to go to a Ke$ha concert during her country wide Warrior Tour with special guests Mike Posner and Semi Precious Weapons on August 12th. Her performance was at the Filene Center at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts.
Hailing from Los Angeles, California, Ke$ha is a popular Pop artist. This musician has released a variety of albums and made a number of popular tunes like Tik Tok, Your Love Is My Drug and Take It Off. Music fans around the country gathered once again to spend a night listening to their most loved Ke$ha tunes.
