East Coast: Washington, D.C. by iPhone

Washington D.C. started off very bumpy. I missed my train and had to take a longer one to get there — 26 hours versus the original 18 hours.

I enjoyed a bed for the first time in days and woke up to a pretty view of the country side. Amtrak first class was quite a change to what I had gotten used to the nights before. Although it was nice on the train, I never felt like I belonged. I was easily half the age of everyone onboard and probably the only one who hadn't been married for 20 years. But I did enjoy a couple of good meals and took plenty of naps.

When I arrived in D.C. at 11pm I headed into the terminal. It was already late and I had no idea where I was going to for sleep the night. I started to exit the terminal when I noticed the statues and pretty, high ceiling.

I headed out and checked out a neighborhood near the station. I don't think I will ever get sick of those rows of houses. I went around a corner and saw the tip of the Capitol Building sticking out of the trees.

Then, I made my way over to the Capitol Building. When I arrived I couldn't stop staring. The building I had seen so many times in movies and history books was right in front of me. I could talk all night about the feeling but without being there it's really hard to explain. I ended up standing and staring at the Capitol till almost 3 am. I chatted with the police a few times because they were curious why I was just staring. I eventually started freezing my ass off and headed toward the Washington Monument.

The walk from the Capitol in the cold felt like a lifetime as the monument crept closer and closer. The closer I got the more shocked I was by the size of it. I arrived and circled the monument in awe. The thought of sleeping on a bench nearby crossed my mind but I decided that this night I would not sleep, at least not intentionally.

I crossed a street nearing the pool and I woke up about 30 minutes later crashed against something. I looked around and it was quite a bit brighter now. By the time I stumbled halfway down the pool, the sun was beginning to rise. With a good amount of distance to go I decided to set down my house bag and run to the far end of the pool to catch the sunrise in time. I underestimated the size of the pool and needed a longer lens. I shot a round of images but then ran back to retrieve my bag. I got back to my spot after a newfound burst of energy just in time and captured some beautiful images at sunrise.

Behind me stood the Lincoln Memorial. Behind was another one of those buildings like the Capitol building. I saw the building from far out so I knew which direction the pool was. At this point I had seen Lincoln, but I hadn't looked him in the face; I was oddly afraid to.

By the time I was done photographing the memorial building from the outside, and was ready to face Lincoln, the sun was just about up.

I shot a few series of images walking up the steps. I reached Lincoln and he was just as big as I would have guessed, but I was still in awe at how big of a piece of history this place was. I sat on the top step and fell asleep for a good 30 minutes under the single stream of sunlight available. I moved after waking to the base of the memorial and fell asleep for another hour or so. I woke up to someone throwing some change at me and moved on to the next destination, the Arlington National Cemetery.

The cemetery was probably the only thing I saw which did not surprise me. I knew about the sheer number of graves at this cemetery and it's history. I walked through and then onto the US Marine Corps War Memorial.

There was so much to this memorial. The images I have seen before of it were always silhouettes; I had never seen the expressions on the men's faces. They made me feel honored and proud to live in the United States. I sat once again and stared for a bit before moving on.

I walked straight from there to the Vietnam Memorial, photographed, awed and took the scene in once again. Afterward, I headed directly to the White House.

The White House was nothing like I expected. It was hidden and the tourists were kept caged far away like animals. It also wasn't close to the Capitol building in any way. It didn't have that "Oh my god, that's the White House" effect on me. More like, "Eh, oh hey Obama."

I checked out the Smithsonian Natural History Museum and enjoyed the large stuffed animals. I know I fell asleep during one of the informational movies for a bit. Tired and sleep deprived, I made it back to the train station to escape the night to Philadelphia.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nne_udYxOtw&feature=youtube_gdata

East Coast: Chicago w/ iPhone Pictures

Chicago. Oh Chicago. I stepped off the plane and was expecting it to feel freezing since everyone told me how cold it was going to be. I was wearing jeans / tshirt and it felt like home.

I spent some time at the airport charging my phone and plotting the first location. I took the orange line to state / lake. The whole time up and on the train I felt a little sketchy because the area was new to me. I eyed everyone and protected my bags. Everyone sermed nice and answered my questions.

I got off the train and I had no idea what to expect. I was looking out of the window the whole time looking for the place I wanted to go to first. It wasn't until I got off when I saw these massive skyscrapers surrounding me.

The feeling this place gave me right out of the box can't be explained with words. It was so massive, the reflections on the water were breathtaking and the fact that it seemed like I had it all to myself. See at this time it was really late in Chi Town and when it's late there is NO ONE in downtown.

I didn't rush to set up for pictures. I just walked around for a bit getting a feel for the place. Every night in Chicago I easily walked 5 or so miles. By the time I am ready to leave I will know downtown well and I do now.

The first night I happened to stumble upon one of the beaches. From here I shot so really pretty shots of the shoreline. I walked and walked, snapped photos here and there. I came with a crazy idea around 3am to sneak into the trump tower.

Remember I wasn't just walking with a camera... I am walking with about 50lbs of gear and clothes around my neck. I walked of the very steep parking structure ramp (was about 4 stories of ramp) and then hiked up the the 27th floor using the stairs. I would escape the stairs every few stories to check stuff out. I know I caused quite a bit of mischief but no one seemed to care or notice me. The search of a great view failed I would now have to find a place to sleep.

I stumbled out of the trump tower and out onto the street once again. I was so tired that I remember peering into an open dirt hole, stood there and really considered sleeping there. I moved on to only find the first small corner without wind. I chose one and layed down for the night.

I woke up an hour later and was litteraly in shock. I wasn't as cold as night two but I don't think all the exercise and lack of sleep mixed well. I am actually not sure what was wring with me. I stumbled into a starbucks and tried to order. All that seemed to come out of my mouth was mumbles, I couldn't speak. I then pointed at the food and started stuttering what I wanted. The guy who helped me must be an expert with kids w/ special needs because he translated what I said to English. I sat down and rested. That night I injured my hip, probably not only from the street but how I layed to protect my bags. It hurt for the next 24 hours.

I moved through the day seeing things that I saw at night but this time under the sun. I visited the John Hancock tower and gazed at the city through the observatory. No tripods were allowed but they didn't say anything about my gorilla pod. I was able to get all the HDR images I wanted.

I ate at a pizza place and had some deep dish pizza. It was good and had a good time with the people there. I showed the guy who served about a funny review on yelp.

Before I knew it, it was dark again. It was starting to get cold and I looked for a place to sleep. I climbed onto a wooden deck of a diner and layed down. Night one I forgot / too tired to remember about my blanket. I pulled it out and layed it over me. I watched an episode or two of it's always sunny. I layed down on one of my bags and clutched the other. Once again I woke up in about an hour. I was once again in shock and move around trying to warm up. What was really bad about this night was the fact that I went to bed 4 hours earlier than the night before, therefore I couldn't just run into a local starbucks. If you know the game the sims when on of the people don't get enough food / social / fun they wave their arms and freak out? Yea, that was me. I was walking in circles trying to warm up. I looked at the weather and it was 35 degrees. I ended up walking to a 7 eleven first and purchased some hot choclate. I proceeded to walk somewhere where I could step in for a few minutes to defrost. A couple of hotels let me stay for a few and then gave me the boot. I eneded up getting another hours sleep inside of a hotel that seemed close until they woke me up. I walked out and right back into the starbucks I stayed in the first morning. The same guy was there and I ordered in English. I explained myself and that I just woke up off of the streets when I first met him. He called me and my trip crazy like everyone else. I stayed for quite some time there unitil I was ready.

I had no plans set in stone for the day except have more pizza and shoot off the hancock tower at night. I ended up taking a cruise and learned a bit about Chicagos history. When I was done with the things I wanted to do I headed for the Amtrak station.

I was late because it was my first time there and I was so confused. After a long plea with the service desk it was either same train but tomorrow or longer route that leaves tonight.

I got on the train a few hours later where I am writing this from. I will write and blog about each destinations after I leave it.

How I may present new images.

I have though quite a bit about how I am going to update everyone on my trip. Of course there is twitter which is the majority of the news.

I plan on not sharing any previews of any images before I release them. I will release a small collection of images taken with the iphone and a single video summing up each city as I leave.

I just don't think uploading all the images once they are edited give them proper credit. I am going to take my time editing the images and then release one every other day with a story that goes a long with it.

Thank you Chi Town Apple Store for lending me this iMac :)

-Sleepy and Sore Peter

Im Back.

I am going to try to write more posts here. I am going to keep it photography related since this is what I do. (Pretty much all I know how to do)

Raise a Glass (of water) to the Future of us all.

-Peter

New Blog Template :)

I hope you like it. -Peter