I was pouty that the space shuttle Discovery's final flight would happen
too far east and south for me to see since my office campus is directly
north of Dulles International Airport. As it turned out, we got a
fly-by when Discovery reached Dulles airspace and flew over the airport
before continuing to DC proper. After Discovery flew around DC, it did a
final fly-by of Dulles and flew RIGHT OVER my building. Goosebumps.
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| If you squint, you can see Discovery's nose and tail. |
And here I thought that the most exciting thing I'd see today was the tortoise that crossed the W&OD as I rode to work. The shuttle was cool, but I'm still pretty jazzed about the tortoise. It startled and hissed after I snapped the photo and I backed of quickly as it retreated into its shell. Didn't mean to disturb you, little guy.
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| It wasn't much bigger than my foot. |
Must admit that I find nature a bit cooler much of the time. The tortoise's shell is an amazing feat of nature. They are determined little creatures and in that sense pretty inspiring.
ReplyDeleteI think the last turtle/tortoise I saw in the wild were snapping turtles in the ditches and bayous near the farm where I grew up. This little guy's speed was pretty amazing to me. He was on the asphalt of the trail when I first saw him and was then fairly deep into the grass by the time I'd turned around and ridden back to where I'd spotted him. I loved watching his gait.
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