On the way to Kauai (Hawaii), we made a quick stop in Los Angeles to spend some time in the city and on the beach.

Our first stop took us to Manhattan Beach for some time on the pier and dinner. If you have kids, the aquatic center on the pier is really worth a visit.

Manhattan Beach Pier during Sunset, Los Angeles

Considering the warm weather, I was surprised how much into Christmas Californians are. While everything was still bleak in DC, the houses and streets in Los Angeles were all ready for Christmas...

Christmas Time in Manhattan Beach, Los Angeles

The next day greeted us with an awesome sunrise and a trip to East Los Angeles...

Sunrise over Los Angeles as seen from the Sheraton Gateway LAX

And of course I never go to LA without driving on the PCH (Pacific-Cost Highway) and ending up at Matador Beach...

The pictures from Hawaii are coming soon. Stay tuned...

Last weekend, the photo sharing site Flickr and the United States Military invited a few photographers to come see the sun rise over Washington DC. Arlington National Cemetery opened early for us and we had a military escort accompany us to Arlington House to take pictures. Unfortunately, someone had forgotten to open the gates, so there wasn't much time left when we got to the location and everyone was scrambling to set up in time. (A big shout out to Flickr for providing coffee and donuts that early in the morning)

Tele-Zoom of the Sunrise with the Washington Monument as a Silhouette

Wide-Angle of the Sunrise with the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument in View

After catching a few sunrise shots, I was trying to catch some of the early morning mood over the graves, but unfortunately we were restricted as to where we could venture off and how long we could stay, so my friend Qiwu and I decided to head to Capitol Hill instead to catch some early morning views of the monuments. While waiting to get into our cars, Qiwu caught this picture of me:

Looking a bit tired from getting up at 4am, but this is easily one of my favorite pictures of myself. All the credit goes to Qiwu Liu for making me look good. — Looking a bit tired from getting up at 4am, but this is easily one of my favorite pictures of myself. All the credit goes to **Qiwu Liu** for making me look good.

We first headed to the Jefferson Memorial, which was completely abandoned except for the odd runner of late night partier passing by. I have been trying to get some no-people shots of the memorial for a while. Now I know the trick: Be there on a Sunday morning before 7am.

Thomas Jefferson Memorial in Washington D.C.

Next we headed over to the Lincoln Memorial, where street parking was plentiful. It's nice to be in DC and not having to scramble for a parking spot or park several blocks away. By the time we arrived at the Lincoln, the first buses had started shipping in tourists, but I was glad to catch a good shot with only a few people that were easy to take out in Photoshop. Seems like 7.30am is already too late to get an undisturbed view.

Abraham Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C.

About two minutes after I got some fairly undisturbed shots of the interior, the first busloads of people started making their way up the stairs to the memorial. Less than a minute passed between my last undisturbed shot and this one, so timing is everything.

At this point, taking pictures without people in them had become a futile endeavor, so Qiwu and I decided to just sit on the steps by the Reflecting Pool and enjoy the weather while watching more or less attractive people pass us by at different velocities ranging from slow strolls to military runs, with most of them stopping to take their obligatory travel pictures and selfies - "Lauren checked in at the Reflecting Pool at 7.43am".

And here comes the interesting part. Someone invented the zoom-out selfie device, so your friends at home don't just see a frame-filling face of you, but also what's around you:

As odd as it may look, it keeps you from asking strangers to take your picture just to find out that they were able to bend the laws of physics by having everything in front of you and behind you in focus, while you look like an out-of-focus blob

While we were enjoying ourselves, we were lucky that some marines walked by:

On the way back to our cars, we passed by the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. What we witnessed was an emotional scene of a man remembering his fallen comrades, saying each of their names while stroking over the engraving in the stone:

Los Angeles Stopover

Sunrise in Washington D.C.

Rainy Evening on Capitol Hill