New Territory and Shifting Plans

Today, there was a robotics competition held at a local community college, and that led to an opportunity to explore some relatively new territory on my morning hike.  I've poked around this particular area in the past during sporting tournaments, but this is the first opportunity that I took to really explore the perimeter of the campus with some degree of rigor. Given the time of year, the time of the week, and the general layout of the place, this was perhaps not the most scenic of walks, but I did discover some new places that may bear further engagement in the future.

Anne Arundel Community College Campus from the south hilltop

I do not have a great deal of experience with community colleges, but this particular campus strikes me as a relatively large well funded facility.  The first picture was taken from a hilltop on south perimeter of the campus.  This is the area of the astronomy building, and I was actually surprised to learn that the school had an entire building dedicated to astronomy.  I'm not sure if there was a telescope in the building and it was a little small, but it's heartening to see a dedicated facility to look outward from earth and dream. I harbor hopes that the next generation takes up the mantle of human spaceflight with a renewed interest that seems to have withered to a degree. I believe that it's time to shake off the low earth orbit blues that we've been singing for the better part of four decades and reach farther into our solar system than we have to date.

A Hill that Begs to be Revisited

"Sled at your own risk."  I was surprised to find this sigh at the peak of the best sledding run that I've seen in the county.  It begs to be revisited at the first real snow of the season.  There is ample parking in the area both at the top of the hill and the bottom.  Clearly, there is some hope of speed given the permanent nature of the sigh. The valley to the left of the photo also appears to be a serviceable archery range with some neatly stacked hay bales also begging to be riddled with arrows. This archery problem that I'm looking to solve may manifest itself in the coming weeks and at the very least, a fall back plan has been revealed. More to follow on that little "problem," but there is a potential solution in the offing.

West Campus Courtyard

The robotics competition was held in the building shown to the right of this courtyard, and the building to the left is an arts facility. At the top of the stairs and to the right of the flagpole there is a Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial as well.  This was a great area to bask in the warmth of the sixty degree weather we had today, and my male roommates enjoyed tossing a football on the stairs.

Parade of Lights Boats bottled up in the Harbor

This evenings plans shifted a bit because the boats in this photo were supposed to be out on the water participating in the parade of lights. Unfortunately, this event was cancelled by the city because one of the yacht clubs that participates in this event had its primary clubhouse burn pretty extensively in what ended up being a three alarm fire that took a little over three hours to contain.  There was a thin pall of smoke downtown, but the festive mood had not been dampened appreciably, and it looked to me like the boaters were making the best of things by shifting the festivities to the dock rather than out on the water.

Once again, my walking took me to places I would not have likely seen had I not been putting miles under my feet, and another great day has passed into the books.