Weekend in Rockville, MD
A few weeks ago I took a trip to Rockville, MD to visit a friend. You can't properly explore a place with only a day or two, and this was a pretty much last minute trip so I couldn't do the usual type of research that I do when I'm going to visit a place. I found that there really wasn't a lot to do there, but I loved the food scene. Food is an important part of any trip that I take, and Rockville did not disappoint. Obviously I would have found more to do in Baltimore or Washington D.C. (which is only about a 30 minute drive away) but since I was really only going to visit a friend, Baltimore and D.C. will have to be for future trips. Let's start with the food.Summer House Santa Monica - North Bethesda
Okay, so this first one is sort of cheating since it's in Bethesda and not Rockville, but my friend suggested this place and I'm glad we went with his recommendation. I have never been a good food photographer, particularly hot foods. I'm just so anxious to eat the food while it's still hot that I don't care about getting twenty different pics from different angles, etc. I had the breakfast burrito with a side of fries. The burrito was pretty good but those fries were perfection. Crispy but mealy. Very tasty. While we were waiting for our table we saw all the delicious desserts at the front and I had my eye on an absolutely huge white chocolate cranberry cookie. I had to get one to bring back to the hotel with me. The picture doesn't even begin to capture how big this cookie was. I enjoyed every bit of it but it took my mom and me (she came with me to Rockville) a few days to finish it, but it was delicious to the end. It was so big we did have to throw a small piece out after a few days, but whatever. We enjoyed it.
You know you're getting old when you can't do a straight sight seeing trip the way you used to. When I was in my 20's and early 30's I could just go from morning until dinner and then walk around/explore a bit after that before heading back to the hotel. (Cambria Hotel Rockville - highly recommended). Now, at 41, I had lunch with my friend and then he dropped me off at the hotel and he went back to his place so we could rest until dinner. I chilled at the hotel for a little bit and then I headed back out to walk around and see if I could get any pictures. Pictures and food are usually my favorite part of most trips. Even though I enjoyed Abu Dhabi/Al Ain, there just seemed to be so many rules about what you could and couldn't take pictures of to the point where even just having my camera hanging from my shoulder made me uncomfortable. I wish I could have gotten pictures inside the hotel, particularly the lobby. A cozy hotel lobby is important to me because usually when I travel, I travel alone. I feel a bit anxious if I spend too much time inside the hotel room so I usually take my laptop to the lobby and chill for a bit. The Cambria Hotel had a really nice lobby area but whenever I went downstairs to try to snap some pics there were a few people sitting there and I didn't want to make them uncomfortable. You'll just have to take my word for it. lol. This pic was a short walk from my hotel. I just walked wherever I saw anything that seemed like it might be interesting. I got a lot of cool shots here. I put some in black and white and left some in color. I absolute love my Fujifilm x100v. Even the standard Provia setting gives it a nice film look. Because the sun was low in the sky the color pics had a nice orange tone to them.I know, I know. Taking a picture like this is a bit of a cliche, but I like it. For the first time in a really long time I was having fun taking pictures again. Al Ain was a bit of a downer as far as pictures (even though the scenery was amazing, particularly Jebel Hafit). The cold weather here doesn't help either. I used to hate summer. Now I can't wait for it to warm up so I can spend hours walking (or hiking) and taking pictures.I'm not a fan of pictures in portrait orientation, but sometimes the scene calls for it. I put this one in black and white and increased the shadows because I thought it gave it a bit of a dramatic look.I started off doing street photography waaaaay back in 2005, but if you check out the street pics on my website, you'll see a noticeable difference. This is about as close to people as I like to get. People have gotten so confrontational lately and quite honestly, people in general are exhausting. I like to have them be a part of the scene rather than the focus of the picture itself.This is one of my favorite shots of the day and it was just a case of being in the right place at the right time. This was a bus and train station. A train had just pulled into the station and I heard these running footsteps coming down the stairs (he was probably trying to catch one of the arriving buses outside) and when I turned I saw this guy running around the corner. I love the patch of light to his left, illuminating him as he ran by. I quickly snapped a pic and because the x100v is the perfect EDC, I was able to get this shot. Alright, now on to dinner.Thai Chef Rockville
My mom and I love Thai food and my friend was down with our choice, so we went to Thai Chef Rockville which was only a less than ten minute walk from our hotel and which I cannot recommend enough. It was absolutely delicious and not unreasonably priced. I can’t remember what my friend had (and the pic came out blurry since I didn’t want to keep him from eating). My mom and I split the crabmeat fried rice (although one day I want to try the pineapple fried rice but my mom isn’t the biggest fan of pineapple). We were all a bit full from lunch so nobody had an appetizer but the appetizers looked really good. There was a big ice skating rink outside and a lot of cute stores lining the street. We were lucky enough to be able to get a table on the second floor so we had a nice view of the downstairs area, and it was a bit quieter up there since it was a Saturday night and the place was pretty full anyway.After we went our separate ways at the end of the evening, mom and I headed back to the hotel as it was a bit chilly outside. I had been wanting to get this shot since we got to Rockville on Friday night so I asked my mom to keep on the lookout for any cars behind me (no shot is worth getting hit by a car or being a douche and holding up traffic) so I quickly framed and snapped this shot, which is right down the street from our hotel. It's funny because I hate the dark but I love night time photography.