The launch of Michael's Blog!

This blog is a platform to share ideas on various subjects - architectural design, the environment, energy conservation and the construction industry.
I'll also document projects I've been involved in and discussions on interesting aspects of some of these projects.
With time, the scope of the Blog is likely to broaden and hopefully, the blog shall continue to generate interest and debate on various subject matters.
Another aspect of this Blog shall be to share photographs taken on trips I make - from foreign travel to local visits, places of interest - cities, nature reserves, national parks and bike trails.....

Great Falls Park, McLean, Virginia

Finally got the chance to see Great Falls - a series of impressive rapids / waterfalls on the Potomac River - literally minutes away from Falls Church. I've known about this geographic feature for quite a while, but have lived here almost 6 years and hadn't visited ... until now! Went there late on Sunday (July 19, '09) with my traveling / adventure companions Kobby and Aba (along with our mountain bikes).

I was quite surprised at how many people were visiting Great Falls that afternoon. The weather was perfect - clear, warm and sunny. Quite a few families were out on picnics, and there was a Mexican Group playing live music to one particularly interesting picnic group. Lots of folk walking dogs, biking or just sight seeing and spending time outdoors with the family. There was even one brave soul with his kayak slung over his shoulder! I couldn't imagine anyone actually 'white water rafting' in these rapids!?! Hmm....

The gorge and rapids are impressive - larger than I'd expected, and the viewing decks are beautifully done, with lots of information boards educating visitors about the area. Photographs on the information boards also showed how high the water level has risen in the past.

The bike trails unfortunately are not well marked and a bit difficult to figure out for the first-time visitor. Though a map is handed to you upon arrival, the actual signs on the trail seem to contradict where you may or may not ride. The trails are marked on the map to show different trails for biking, horse riding and walking. Eventually, we did find ourselves on a dirt trail for mountain bikes that took us through beautiful wooded areas near the falls. We actually came across a few deer along the trail which was pretty cool!

I plan to visit again to explore parts of the park we didn't have time to get to on our first visit. Would be nice to climb down the rocks to get down closer to the river this time. All in all, it was a good trip and I'd recommend it to all 'out-door' types that like trekking and exploring amazing nature parks!

New York, New York!!!

Visited NY earlier this month with the family. I've visited NY 3 or 4 times previously, but this was the first time with the family, so that made this trip special. Went with Amtrak (good choice for NY!) Also bought NY City Passes along with the train tickets. This gave us access to a bunch of popular sites in the Big Apple.

Had a great trip! There's soooo much to see in New York and we did a fair bit of the 'usual suspects'! Empire State Building, Times Square, Central Park, Natural History Museum and the Sight-seeing boat cruise around the island of Manhattan! The cruise gives you a unique perspective of Manhattan and I do strongly recommend it. Our Tour Guide was excellent and he laced his narrative with humor at the right moments. Really liked his contribution. Wish i knew his name...

We chose to do the viewing deck of the Empire State Bldg at midnight to see the city lights. Spectacular views, but our time on the deck was cut short due to lightening ;-(

Central Park was nice. We only saw a tiny bit of it 'cos we'd spent the most of that morning at the Natural History museum and planetarium.

Other highlights were Times Square (which is now partially pedestrianized) and sampling various restaurants in the city. We stayed the night at the Grand Hyatt on 42nd and Park Ave! Nice hotel (though rather busy) Had a couple of rooms on the 23rd floor with a direct view of the Chrsyler building right next door!!!

All in all, New York was fun - a bit too crowded (not surprisingly) and infrastructure that seems to be groaning under the pressure of overuse! An exciting city I plan to visit more often in the future (but best served up in 'small doses').

I do love New York, but like i said to the family, 'the peace and tranquility of Falls Church is priceless'!

The Mount Vernon Trail

Went biking on the Mount Vernon Trail yesterday (July 18, 2009)! The weather was perfect - warm and low humidity early in the day - started around 7am. Really beautiful scenery and an interesting trail. Started off at Belle Haven just south of Old Town Alexandria and went along the trail almost to Mount Vernon. The trail has these interesting wooden bridges to take you across low areas, streams and marsh. Also offers you nice glimpses of the Potomac River. The trees and vegetation are beautiful and the trail is mostly level, with a few, minor climbs every now and then. Was a bit busy with dog walkers, joggers and lots of bikers of course. Can't blame them, like me they're all enjoying the beauty of the trail. I covered a distance of about 15 miles in all and enjoyed every stage of the trip. Looking forward to doing this again!