Gone Antiquing in Leesburg, VA!

For those that know my wife Laura she has a keen interest for antiques. She can find some real diamonds in the rough and our house is nicely decorated with many interesting items. Over the years her interest has rubbed off on me. I love the idea of vintage furniture, especially when coupled with moving parts or machinery. It makes me sit in wonder of the story behind the unique piece. Where has it been? Who bought it? And in some cases, how did it make it all this way and still be in such great shape.

Which lead us to this little beauty. We enjoyed a weekend away in Leesburg, VA where antiques are abundant. We popped in on the local 4H club where the annual antique show was in full swing. This is where we met Gib and Carol Wood of Heritage Antiques in Gainesville VA. Gib's passion is restoring Victor-Victrola Phonographs or Victor "Talking Machines" and a variety of other furniture. This little guy was manufactured in 1917 and is in great shape. After receiving a full education on the machine, and a demonstration, we were sold. Its a nice looking piece and fits really well in our little music room (see pic below). What was extra special was watching and listening to my mother tell stories of gathering with her brothers and sisters around the old Victrola in her childhood home in Richmond. That alone was worth the investment.



The music room was once the nursery for our three boys. We have since removed one wall and converted it to this room above, all the while hoping to inspire our boys with music. Our eldest plays guitar, trombone, and sings. The younger two are very adept at....Rock Band on the Wii. Does that count?

Ybor City Street Machines

Click for larger view.

Enola Gay, National Air And Space Museum

Boeing 307 Clipper Flying Cloud

Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, National Air and Space Museum

My two youngest sons and I popped into the Udvar-Hazy Center today to catch the latest IMAX movie "Magnificent Desolation; Walking on the Moon." We never really get tired of tooling around this easy-to-get-to and easy-to-get-around museum. It should be a must stop on your tour through DC. And if you live here and haven't been......get out and go see it. Make sure you catch a movie and take a ride in a simulator, my boy's personal favorite.

(Click the pic for larger view)

Lift Off!

Magic Bus

Update: This photo below was selected into the HDRSpotting webpage. Glad I'm worthy. I thought it was a pretty cool shot.

(Click the Pic for a larger view)

Sometimes I see things on the side of the road I just have to jump out and photograph. Of course my wife likes this as I am now more likely to stop for an antique store than I used to be!

This cool camper bus was parked on the side of Route 12 just North of the Whalehead Club on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. I love the spiked front wheels. Modern day Ben Hurr.

Geek Speak: This is a 3 shot, hand held HDR image taken with a Canon 7D on a tripod, with a little Topaz Detail and Adjust thrown in while in Photoshop.

I have some great shots from my most recent trip to the OBX I'll be sharing in the days to come.

Snow Day!

Engine House

If you gently scratch and sniff your monitor where the picture is you can smell the coal, soot, and grease, as if you were there. ;^)