ANGELA B. PAN

You wouldn’t have to have followed my blog for long to know that flowers make me so happy. Every time I look at them, I just want to smile. So it made me so sad to hear that we were going to have a cold front and all these saucer magnolias were going to go away. They were barely around for a week. I’m grateful that I was able to enjoy them at least once this year. I love the mood the pedals all over the park bench and grass is providing. Sort of sad but still amazingly beautiful that I had to photograph it.

The cherry blossoms are a different story though. They may not even get the chance to bloom! Thanks to winter storm Stella we’re expecting 5+ inches and the cherry blossoms are not happy about it. I really really look forward to the blooms at the tidal basin each year so I guess it’s not happening this time around. I feel bad for anyone who has made special travel plans just to see them.

I’m trying to look on the bright side though. This whole winter I was asking for at least one good snow storm and we’re finally getting it. I don’t know if I’ll be able to make it to the city since the metro will be closed but I still plan on going out and shooting tomorrow morning. I’ll probably walk around my neighborhood with my camera and see if i can capture some flowers with snow. I want to go out early so I can capture some of that fresh, untouched snow. And of course, snow is always better when you have Frankenstein around 🙂

And yes, my dog has an instagram account. If you want to follow him it’s instagram.com/frankensteinwoopan. Hes the cutest.

I thought it we were going to have an early spring? Like starting now. The weather in the DC area was so beautiful and warm last week. I was so ready to start pulling out my cute summer dresses and light jackets. Then it all turned over the weekend. I try my best not to complain in my personal life, but this is not good for many reasons. First of all, you’re messin’ with the flowers! The beautiful saucer magnolias blooms that I photographed last week, waiting for the peak, are all gone now. I’m pretty sure this cold weather will have a bad effect on the cherry blossoms as well but I hope not. Secondly, I think my body is confused. First it’s hot, then it’s cold then its hot again. I’m starting to feel the effects of the temperature change in my throat and head. Not fun.

So instead of going outside, I decided to sit in front of the computer and find an image that depicts how I feel. This one from Iceland describes it perfectly. It was along the main (and only) road from our drive in Reykjavík to Höfn. Along one of our million and one stops for horses, I came across this scene. The horses were the things that first attracted me to this image but then my favorite part is the huge cloud behind them. The road signs adds to my confusion of the weather but either way, I’m not liking the snow. Something so clean and neat perfectly shows what it’s really like on a road trip in Iceland.

I’m not sure if you can tell, but I’m not a big fan of being cold. Being in Iceland is different because it’s what’s expected, but not this see-saw rollercoaster of temperatures. End complaint. For now, mother nature.

A couple of blog posts ago, I talked about my favorite place in Iceland, Höfn. (If you haven’t checked it out yet, click here) It’s located about 5 to 6 hours away from Reykjavik so there were a lot of stops along the way. One of the best “road side attractions” was Jökulsálón lagoon. The only reason why I called it a “road side attraction” was because it’s right off the main road and you can’t miss it! It’s this humungous lake at the edge of Vatnajökul National park where pieces of Vatnajökul glacier break off. If you look at a world map and see Iceland, you’ll see how theres one huge glacier on the south east side of the island. That’s Vatnajökul glacier.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen something so cool. Literally. As soon as we parked the car, I hopped out with my camera ready. I was so mesmerized by these glaciers that I didn’t want to waste a second. Just the whole experience made it seem like you were on a different planet. I mean you can see the top of the icebergs, but I can’t even imagine whats underneath. How big these icebergs really are and how long they’ve been in this water. And if the icebergs were so big, how freakin’ big is that glacier? Man, I can’t even imagine.

Right across the street you go to Diamond beach and a lot of these icebergs have washed up to land and they are gigantic. So many of them were taller than me. I had a lot of fun climbing on them, running my hands (with gloves on) on them, and just taking note of all the beautiful blues I was seeing. It was so tempting to say “Icebergs right ahead”. I tried my best not to say it but I think it slipped out once.

If you guessed Iceland yesterday than you are correct! This was shot last time I was there. I was with a group of people who weren’t photographers. This time I hope to spend more time photographing this beautiful country. I can’t wait to explore!

Studying the Lincoln Memorial architecture in the snow, I was just in time to catch the airplane flying over. The first time it flew over, I was lucky. Then I knew I could expect them to come every 10-ish minutes because the flights weren’t delayed due to snow. YAY!

I drive a coupe and those tires are horrible in the snow. I’m slippin’ and sliding all through my neighborhood so getting to DC would be terrible. So on snow days like this, I take the metro. It’s super convient because I live walking distance to a stop. But I never ride it more than when it’s absolutely necessary. I don’t know it’s just so much easier to hop in my car and drive myself. No waiting, no worrying about metro delays (cuz theres a lot!). This is the view you get when you get off of Foggy Bottom and walk towards the Lincoln Memorial.