Zoo

The zoo in Norfolk had a Pokemon Catch-a-thon. They have a ton of Pokestops, and they put lures on almost all of them for 2.5 hours. For $5 (it was a fundraiser) we could walk around the zoo after-hours and catch a ton of Pokemon! They said the animal exhibits would all be closed, but some of them don't really go inside at night, so we got to see some anyway! The photos aren't the best, since most of the animals were done for the day, but it was still exciting, since I didn't think we'd see any animals except Pokemon! Also, I cosplayed as Nurse Joy.

Snacktime for the adolescent giraffe

Look closely... there are two kangaroo back there! There's also an emu but he moved
out of sight and I didn't realize it until much later that he wasn't in the photo.

Stella stood in for Chansey for this Nurse Joy!

Ostriches hanging out in the back of their pen.
The sign is asking me not to feed them.

Norfolk

We spotted a mermaid in Norfolk! Unsurprising, since it's on campus and we were on our way to a meeting... but fun nonetheless. Actually, if you sit right in front of this particular mermaid, you can reach 3 Pokestops at once... so we sat there for a little while.

Beach Day

My friend Cassy is visiting Virginia Beach for the weekend. She loves the beach, whereas I go maybe once a year (usually because she's here and wants to go) even though I live a few minutes from it. So today, we visited the beach! (First we went to the DMV but that was not fun.)

This was supposed to have dolphins in the water behind Stella, but I think I missed them.

Stella says: "Don't forget your sunscreen!"

Ah, right at home for a wee little octopus! Sun, sand, and surf.

In the shade under the umbrella!

Cassy needed to submit a photo to her book of the month club
using this silly straw and their book of the month! (I actually was
reading the book, because I forgot to bring one with me,
and it's really good so far!)

Cassy shared the book with me, so I shared with Stella!

Making new friends with Cassy!

They're so silly.

We had a great time at the beach! We planned to leave around 2-2:30, and we heard the first rumbles of thunder at 2:20, so that was perfect timing!

Mt. Trashmore

Sounds like a joke, right? But Mt. Trashmore is the highest point in Virginia Beach. It used to be a landfill, and they sealed it up tight and covered it with grass and slapped a park on top of it, with Kids' Cover (a playground area) and a skate park, and several walk/run/bike paths.

Today, there was a 5K there (which I did not know when I chose to go there) and I think everyone else in Virginia Beach was there too! There was some cloud cover when we got there so it wasn't horribly oppressive (oh, the humidity!).

Our primary objective was to catch some Pokemon.
My coworker, who runs, told me he got a Dratini at
Mt Trashmore, but I didn't run across any today.

The stairs to the top

The view toward "downtown" from the top

Ahh, relaxing on the grass after climbing all those steps.
(I don't know what Stella needs to relax for; I carried her!)

There's also a Lake Trashmore. It, however, is not full of trash. It's actually quite lovely.

Independence Day

Stella and I had a fairly quiet Independence Day (in the sense that not being busy is "quiet"... we heard a lot of fireworks so it was not that kind of quiet). It was a mix of being home after driving across the US, wanting to get some home organizing/cleaning done, and preparing for my husband to start clerkships today (the unpaid intern part of med school). Plus, it was rainy off and on all weekend.

This was the rain we were faced with, leaving work on Friday!

We made a mad dash for it (Stella had the benefit of hiding in

my purse, with a plastic bag around the whole thing, while I got

more drenched than I would have if I had just stepped into the

shower in my clothes!) and of course, the rain cleared up after

we got in the car and made it about a mile up the road!

It was fun though. I'm a firm believer in running through a good

downpour about once a year.

Not knowing what would be open for lunch on the 4th, we decided a safe bet
was our favorite sushi place, since they're open pretty much all the time.

Fireworks! (I promise Stella is in the photo,
it was just really dark.) We go to my in-laws' house
for fireworks, since there's a country club across
the water that does them every year, and that means
we don't have to worry about parking or crowds.

Cross-Country Drive Part 4 (KY, WV, VA)

And our last three states: Kentucky, West Virginia, and back to home sweet home Virginia.

The library in Lexington KY is only a few years old, and beautiful!
Stella wanted to hide in the letters of this sign... can you find her?

Behind the rest area in West Virginia. We had to do this really quickly,
because the sky was about to open up. We didn't know until later
how serious the weather was really going to be.

Welcome to West Virginia!
Where we're having flash flood warnings, tornadoes, and severe rainfall
and thunderstorms all across your path through the state!
It was genuinely terrifying, so I let Stella hide while my husband
expertly drove us safely through the state. No photos!

I've never been so happy to see this sign.

Stella the navigator! We had a weather radar map up on my phone,
and compared it to the road atlas to see just how much of the storm
we were going to have to plow through to get home.
(Luckily, this was in Virginia and we were already through the worst of it.)

Food Truck Rodeo at Farmer's Market

I think it is just so neat that there is a Farmer's Market just up the road from where I work! Unfortunately, it's a bit difficult to get into the driveway from our direction, so I don't go as often as I should. But yesterday they had a food truck rodeo, and my favorite local food truck was there. Plus, we were staying after work for book club anyway, so it was a nice little break to head over for dinner first. (Also, the rain finally stopped, so it was bright and sunny!)

Stella relaxes on the grass with our food: "Blue Ribbon Fries" (a spiralized, fried
blue potato with queso fresco, a salsa-type sauce, and cheese sauce drizzled on it)
and, the reason they're my favorite food truck, two beef empanadas!

Live music playing on the stage in the middle of the
traffic circle where all the food trucks parked

Stella on the little table next to the truck (Sofrito) while we wait for our food

Stella in Radford (and Wasserhund)

I'm pretty sure The Innovative Library Classroom at Radford University is the last library conference I'll be taking Stella to! But it was fun, and very informative, and Radford is beautiful!

This was actually at the end of our trip, but we stopped at the same scenic view
on the side of I-64 to see the Blue Ridge Mountains. (We did this on the way back
from Roanoke, as you may recall... What can I say? I don't see a lot of mountains
around Virginia Beach.)

Mountain selfie!

Pretty lawns at Radford University... Trying to get a bunch of photos
before it starts to rain! We barely made it.

Their library is so gorgeous! And big! Can you see Stella on the stairs?

We found the Alumni Gardens next to the library

Walking around the Alumni Gardens

Radford U has quite a few outdoor sculptures on campus

This sculpture and the next one were in the same
area of lawn, with a sign designating it a sculpture garden

Opening remarks at the conference

Stella got her own bed in the hotel

Getting a nice steam from the shower in the hotel

Stella, what are you doing? You aren't coffee; get out of there.

You may remember our Wasserhund Brewery growler... Right after we got home
from Radford, we took a friend to Wasserhund for Friday the 13th lunch.
She got a few flight tastes, and the glasses are just Stella's size!

Peer Group Conference

Stella is learning so much about being a librarian! This weekend was the peer group conference for the librarians at all the community colleges in Virginia (plus faculty who use OER; we shared conferences with them because our interests overlap).

We actually took a little side trip first, by leaving a day early and going to Fairfax to visit my best friend, who had a baby four months ago and I had not yet met him! I didn't take any photos of Stella with him, because (1) he has a little octopus toy that looks A LOT like Stella and I didn't want to confuse the little dude or get Stella all slobbery (he's in that "explore the world by putting my mouth on all parts of it") and (2) I didn't want to take photos of him while he was sleeping in case I woke him up. Rest assured, though... he is SUPER cute.

Anyway, then we headed to Richmond for the conference!

Trying to get a photo of the George Mason University
sign as we sat at the red light, leaving Fairfax.

Peekaboo! We got a little silly exploring the
hotel room in Richmond.

So many towels!

This was as we were going up to Fairfax.
I rarely have both traffic on the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel
AND an LV with me (and the wherewithal to get a photo)
so this is pretty unusual.

The building at John Tyler Community College
where half the conference presentations were
(mostly the librarian ones, including mine!)

Bust of John Tyler himself in the middle of their
beautiful campus.

Looks familiar! Same sign as our last trip, but at a different rest area.

Dolphin - TCC

I think I've mentioned these with all my LVs, but Stella is new to Virginia Beach. In Norfolk, there are mermaid statues all over the place, decorated in different ways by different local artists. They tend to mark major landmarks (the new library, the art museum, the hockey team's arena, the small music venue, the college I work for, the medical school, etc.). In Virginia Beach, we have dolphins. There are way less dolphins... I only know where three of them are, but I'm trying to find more of them.

This one is in front of the admin building at the campus of the community college I work at! That's our logo on its side. It's covered in those little flat-sided glass marbles. And there's Stella, balancing on its nose!