This summer, I’ve had the pleasure of interning at The Aerospace Corporation in Chantilly, Virginia. This is my first time on the east coast (minus Florida), and I’ve had a wonderful time exploring. Here are some of my travels.

After the long drive from College Station, TX to Fairfax County, VA, I spent my first free weekend exploring the U.S. capitol.

Entering Virginia on my drive from Texas (Left), Selfie in front of the Washington Mall (Center), The Apotheosis of Washington under the rotunda (right).
A selfie in front of the US Capitol Building

One of my bestfriends, Samantha, visited me and we explored the area further.

Samantha and I at a brewery, on the national mall, and at the Jefferson Memorial.

I hiked Great Falls Park on the edge of the Potomac River with some fellow interns.

Fellow interns and I after our hike (left/top), Me on top of a large rock (right/bottom)

I saw fireworks on the national mall for the Fourth of July with my girlfriend, Leah.

Leah and I before the fireworks (left/top), Fireworks with Washington Monument (right/bottom)

Then, Leah and I took a weekend trip to hike Harpers Ferry and see my brother, Matthew, play bass in his band in Harrisburg, PA.

View of Harper's Ferry from overlook (left/top), Leah and I at overlook (middle), View of Harper's Ferry from bridge (right/bottom)
Matthew and I after the show (left/top and right/bottom), Matthew solo (middle)

Leah and I channeled our inner cowboy/girl and went trail riding.

Me in the saddle (left/top), Leah and I riding on the trail (right/bottom)

And went to plenty of wineries this summer.

Leah and I at Bull Run Winery (left/top), Me at Old Farm Winery (middle), Leah at Flying Ace Distillery & Brewery (right/bottom)

My work, The Aerospace Corporation, sent the interns to our headquarters in El Segundo, California (right next to the LA Air Force Base) to perform a Concept Design Center study. It was an amazing experience exploring the campus, swimming in the ocean after work each night, and going out into the Mojave Desert to launch the rockets we made.

Met up with the college roomies in Newport (left/top), George and I at Manhattan Beach after work (middle), Sunset at Manhattan Beach (right/bottom)
Me with my rocket before launch, during setup, and after landing.
My rocket launching in the Mojave Desert (left/top), Slo-mo of experimental rocket (middle), Views of the desert (right/bottom)
The interns post-rocket launch at the Voyager Restaurant, named after the Rutan Voyager

After the Cali trip, we had National Intern Day, where The Aerospace Corporation took us on a Capitol Tour and a House Gallery pass.

All of the aerospace interns (left), some of my intern besties (right).

Leah and I then hiked Old Rag Mountain in the Blue Ridge mountain range.

An assortment of pictures of me hiking Old Rag.
I saw a bear - a Leah Bear

And then Leah and I got to see Matthew play again! This time in Leesburg, Virginia

Matthew with the Roots of Creation playing Grateful Dub at the TallyHo Theatre in Leesburg, VA

We also checked out a cool little distillery and brewery called Flying Ace.

And I also finally deadlifted 5 plates (495 lbs), increasing my one-rep max by fifty pounds since the new year.

495 lb deadlift

I went to the Smithsonian Udvar-Hazy Air and Space Museum with a fellow intern, Gurkirt, and had a big aerospace nerd-out.

The Concorde (top/left), the Bell X-1 "Glamorous Glennis," in which Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier (middle), me with the SR-71 (right/bottom)
The SR-71 Blackbird (left/top), the Space Shuttle Discovery (right/bottom)