Sunday, September 12, 2010

End of Summer Adventures - Part 2

Our next adventure took us to Manassas Battlefield, where I was determined to begin fostering an interest in all things military history in my children.  Some of my favorite memories as a child were of visiting Fort Macon and Fort Fisher with my grandfather.  (I'm pretty sure that those trips and our long talks about history and the causes of war were some of the major reasons why I joined the military.)  With those memories in mind, I wrangled the kids into the car and we headed off to Manassas.

Henry Hill, Manassas Battlefield - 55mm, f/5.6, 1/500s, ISO 200
The weather wasn't terribly fabulous that day, as we had the remnants of a tropical storm moving through.  The up-side was the improved lighting conditions that helped me avoid overexposed images (which had been a problem the day before in Great Falls).  So while the kids were having fun running all over the expansive open fields...



Manassas Battlefield - 34mm, f/5.6, 1/500s, ISO 200

...I was trying to use the cloudy skies as a dramatic backdrop while explaining to the children why anyone would build a giant statue of a guy named "Stonewall" Jackson.

Stonewall Jackson statue - 18mm, f/5.6, 1/800s, ISO 200

I discovered Taylor and Cameron's penchant for tracing the writing on monuments...

Manassas Battlefield - 18mm, f/5.6, 1/400s, ISO 200

...climbing in trees...

Manassas Battlefield - 55mm, f/5.6, 1/80s, ISO 200

...and capturing every random insect they could find.

Manassas Battlefield - 55mm, f/5.6, 1/800s, ISO 200

While exploring Henry Hill, a very nice gentleman saw that I was taking pictures of pretty much everything in sight and offered to capture a shot of me and the kids.  This is probably the only time you'll ever see me in a picture.  Just sayin'.

Henry Hill Monument - 28mm, f/5.6, 1/800s, ISO 200

We had neglected to pick up Junior Ranger badges at Great Falls, so I made sure we had a chance to pick them up at the Visitor Center.  Taylor was less than thrilled about the idea of "doing homework" on summer vacation (which explains her eagerness to avoid me and my camera), but Cameron really enjoyed identifying landmarks to cross off his list!

Manassas Battlefield - 35mm, f/5.6, 1/800s, ISO 200

After some final exploring of the cannons...

Manassas Battlefield - 22mm, f/5.6, 1/400s, ISO 200

We headed off to Stone Bridge.

Stone Bridge - 55mm, f/5.6, 1/100s, ISO 200

Taylor did a terrific job of reading the site marker to answer her own question about why "some old bridge" was so important to the soldiers...

Stone Bridge - 36mm, f/5.6, 1/160s, ISO 200

...but I'm pretty sure that she wasn't listening to my simplified explanation.

Stone Bridge - 34mm, f/5.6, 1/320s, ISO 200

It was at about this time that I received a phone call (stupid cell phone!) that my 4-yr-old had a fever and needed to be picked up from day care.  While I was pretty bummed at having to leave so soon, I figured that I would be able to come back soon since we live nearby.

Looks like I won't be the only one returning to Manassas Battlefield.

Stone Bridge - 24mm, f/5.6, 1/400s, ISO 200

*All images copyright Shauna Hunt, 2010*

2 comments:

Linda said...

A new battlefield for me. Thanks for the tour.

Shauna said...

I'll be posting an entry soon about my trip to Gettysburg National Military Park - stay tuned!