Because of a bit of a serendipity trifecta (boss out this week, only one meeting to reschedule, one of the last nice days of the season), I took an unscheduled vacation day.

Aside from other mundane things, one job was to go thru the change I had in my change basket, and take some of it to a nearby Coinstar machine.

Okay, I know I’ve been saving the change for a while, but my rough tally was that it was nearly $200 worth of change!

I say rough tally as I only take the small change to the Coinstar. Since they charge a 9% fee for counting, I figure I’ll roll the quarters myself, and use the machine for the piddly stuff. But even that wound up being over $40.

(A side note: I don’t know if it’s a temporary promotion, but if you turn your change into an Amazon.com e-certificate, they don’t charge the 9%.)

After all the work was done, I took off for a little neighborhood photography excursion.

I’ve lived practically spitting distance from the Iwo Jima Memorial (above right, more properly known as the Marine Corps War Memorial) for six or so years. And until today, I’ve never stopped.

My loss!

I thought I was going to just make a quick buzz thru, catch a couple of cliche shots, and head out. But an hour later, I was still enjoying the park.

The pic at right is taken from in front of the Netherlands Carillon, the bell tower given to the US by the people of the Netherlands.

What a view!!

Apparently you can actually climb to the top of the tower to get an even better shot. It appeared closed today, though I wasn’t about to climb the 8 or so stories for that shot :).

Anyways, there’s just something sweet about a day off when everyone else is at work. It really was a bonus day!