Day 39 of 365

Late night ticket counter

I went to pick up Casey at Newark Airport late Sunday night, when the normally hectic airport was eerily quiet. That's not a new revelation, but I'd forgotten just how much things slow down in the late-night hours, when the only flights are those coming in -- either scheduled to arrive late, or delayed in their departures en route to New Jersey.

As I walked in from the parking garage, she called to tell me they had landed and were on their way to the gate. Yet when I checked the monitors inside to find out exactly which gate, they still listed the flight as "landing." As I wandered the airport trying to guess which of the two checkpoints she'd emerge from, I ended up on the deserted check-in level, where the long banks of kiosks stood alone, awaiting the early-morning hours when departures would resume and passengers would arrive, ready to travel once again.

Day 30 of 365

Crosby on ice

Today's photo is from where I sat -- section 109, row 7, seat 14 at Newark's Prudential Center for a Penguins-Devils matchup. The Pens took a quick 2-0 lead on goals 20 seconds apart in the first period. Sidney Crosby scored the second with a nifty top-shelf wrist shot. The Devils cut it to 2-1before the end of the first 20 minutes, and the teams played a scoreless second period.

Pittsburgh got it to 3-1 in the third before the Devils got another back on a power play goal. Then, with about a minute remaining and trailing by a goal, the Devils pulled their goalie to get an extra skater during a faceoff in the Penguins' zone. With 30.1 seconds left on the clock, Jamie Langenbrunner skated around the net and stuffed one through Marc-Andre Fleury's pads. Then in overtime, Langenbrunner received a perfect pass from Zach Parise and had a clear shot into an open net with 1:00 remaining for the winner, his second OT clincher in as many nights.

"Cherry blossom day, Newark," April 2005

Cherry blossom day, Newark, originally uploaded by DC Products.

Every spring, everyone talks about the cherry blossoms in Washington, D.C., but Newark's Branch Brook Park actually has more of them. Or so I'm told. They're gorgeous enough, but we didn't actually get to all of them on this day, so maybe there was a nicer setting. But I don't know if any location can compare to Washington's Tidal Basin. Still, Newark's park is pretty nice, and on the trees that didn't hold their white blossoms, they carpeted the ground like an early spring snowfall.