Welcome to the photo gallery that accompanies our Christmas letter. We
hope you enjoy the pictures of what we've been up to during 2006.
Below are some photo highlights from the year. Click on the links to see more images in the same vein or from the same trip.
In February, we had a big snowstorm with very wet snow. All the trees were bowed over
and we lost a few, including a pine tree that was completely topped (snapped off about 20 feet up).
Here's Alan under an arcade of trees. Miraculously, all these trees survived.
In March, we took a trip to Turkey to see a total solar eclipse. Neither of us had
seen one before. We went
with a small group (7, mostly from Goddard) and had a
guide for the trip, who was wonderful. We spent 3 days
in Istanbul visiting mosques, palaces, and museums; then 4 days in southern Turkey along the
Mediterranean coast (including eclipse day) visiting wonderful archaeological
sites; and then drove through the beautiful central plateau
on our way to the Aegean coast. It's an amazingly beautiful and friendly country and
the whole group keeps meeting for dinner and talking about going back to see the bits we missed. Oh, the
eclipse? Yes, it was gorgeous and amazing and everything I'd read about it didn't even come close to
preparing me for the experience (did you know the temperature drops and the wind picks up? no one mentioned
that!) I know now why the ancients were so in awe of them!
This photo shows Karen and Alan in front of Hagia Sophia, an amazing building built in the middle of the 6th Century. We took our rain coats off for this picture. It was an amazingly cold, rainy and windy day in Istanbul. We were so thankful for the sun when we traveled to the south!
In May and June, Alan's parents visited us. We took a week-long trip down to
the Carolinas, visiting
Kitty Hawk and the Outer Banks, and then continuing down to Charleston.
Karen runs away from the rogue wave! :-)
Here are some young Williamsburgers and the Tiger at the National Zoo.
In September, we took a long weekend in western Maryland for our wedding anniversary. We spent our 10th
in Maine, our 15th in Spain, and our 16th in rain. But the weather cleared and we got in plenty of hiking,
canoeing, kayaking, and horseback riding at Rocky Gap. It's a picturesque and
pleasant place for all types of outdoor sports. We didn't get to the biking (and skipped the golf entirely).
Alan's on his high horse again!
In October, we both had meetings in San Francisco. We extended the trip to
include a couple days in wine country. In SF, we spent a day playing hookey and saw the Blue Angels
rehearsing most of the afternoon over the Bay. We visited Golden Gate Park on Saturday, and then drove up
to Sonoma on Sunday for a day and a half of wine tasting and living the good life.
This is the pagoda at the Japanese Garden in Golden Gate Park.
In late October and early November, we went to two Halloween parties.
We made a bit of an odd couple, I think.
During the year, the Chromatics performed just 14 times. We spent some time in the recording studio
trying to finish our next CD. It's slow going when we all have day jobs and travel and families. This
is technically a photo from 2005, but only about 5 and a half minutes before the fireworks welcomed
2006 at the Alexandria First Night Celebration.
Selected
Chromatics images