Cherry Blossoms at the Tidal Basin
March 31st, 2008
So obviously we had to post a cherry blossom picture to show off the same thing that every other DC blog, article, website, news report, or person on the street is currently mentioning. (That last link has some really great images.)
We made it down around the Tidal Basin this past Saturday to see the trees and other festival events, and yes, it is worth it — despite the slow moving crowds. The best part is actually the people watching: the women taking photos with blossoms shoved in their faces, the parents stuffing their little toddlers in the branches for a photo-op, etc etc. And of course the paddle-boaters above, making circles in the Tidal Basin, with the Jefferson Memorial in the distance.
While we were not able to score tickets for tonights opener against the Braves we did take a stroll down to the new stadium to see what could be seen. The stadium looks great, especially considering the break-neck construction schedule that they had to adhere to. My hats off to HOK, Clark, and all the other designers and contractors that pulled it off. A few things (namely the glut of above grade parking, very short sited) leaves something to be desired but the over all design is cohesive, indigenous, and impressive. The neighborhood is coming up nicely as well. The Half Street and Yards developments look particularly encouraging.
Zimmerman coming off with the nail-biting bottom of the 9th win tonight should be good for the team. Hopefully this is a team that the city can continue to get behind and support.
…and oh my god the massive scoreboard looks amazing
Lots of wind today = perfect conditions for the Smithsonian Kite Festival on the National Mall. It was funny to see all the little kids racing around with their Barbie, Spongebob, and Spiderman kites flying behind them, not knowing exactly what their doing. “MOM! Take this thing from me!”
Surprising we didn’t see too many tangle-ups other than the one time Matt was attacked by some sort of dragon-bird kite. Things we did see: a stupid human trick when this man tried to fly/float in his kite after a running take-off from the Washington Monument. Amount of air: 3 feet, time in air = < 2 seconds. The rest of the photos are here.
It pretty much sucks to be anyone who registered for the 2008 National Marathon, because it starts tomorrow at 7am… and I get tired just thinking about ever running 26.2 miles again. Here’s a photo from last year’s race, which Matt ran, so I only had to spectate. (Still too early for my Saturday morning tastes though.) Here’s a handful of runners coming out of the 9th Street Tunnel, which means they still had about 6 miles left to go, if I remember correctly.
It’s not technically in the District, but a 10-mile drive northeast of the city will get you to our alma mater, the University of Maryland in College Park. We ventured over there on Easter night, where Matt took some dusk shots of the campus. The above photo is looking due west on the Mall, towards the fountain and McKeldin Library. In my four years there, I miraculously managed to never step foot inside there… maybe thanks to the internet, or possibly because the smaller library in the school of Architecture did me just fine.
It is my opinion that random street (or metro) musicians make the world a better place. You’re coming out of the train, up the escalator, wondering where that melody is coming from, and then you see him!! — the guy playing his trumpet for the joy of the daily commuter. Or sometimes it’s a saxophone, an acoustic guitar, or just some plastic tubs turned upside-down for drums. I’ve even heard shopping carts, tree branches, and spare change in a McDonald’s cup used as percussion instruments. Anything goes. Of course, the random street musician hopes you will toss him a few quarters or a dollar bill for his performance.
On a casual jaunt around Adams Morgan after work last Friday I came across a performance by The People’s Party. This was not a reincarnation of the debunked political party prominent in the American south in the 1890’s, nor a showing by the Spanish “liberal-conservative” party. Oh no! It was a seemingly spontaneous concert by the self described “hippy-hop” group from Venice Beach, CA: The People’s Party. The stage (I use this term loosely, it was a converted van/trailer configuration) was set in front of Asylum with a solid crowd of thirty or so people. These guys rocked, but with a guy playing rock and roll violin and an entourage on the roof, how can you not?
This was my first opportunity to get some use out of my “new” (I think it’s older than me) Olympus XA-2. It is a very fast/discrete little 35mm shooter and should be good for getting some candids.
Another shot from the top of the Old Post Office Pavilion (previous one is here), but this time it’s a view of the United States Capitol Building. I wish the sky had been bluer
Here’s a little birdhouse in Adams Morgan. That is definitely where I would go if I was a bird. Sparkles all over my house and I could stare at the pink and red bricks all day.
Do yourself a huuuuge favor: if you haven’t seen the video Peeps in the Park then click on over to YouTube to check it out. It features my favorite Easter-time treat, yes that’s right: PEEPS!! You get to watch the *delicious little sugary marshmellow treats* battle their way to the baseball park. It was created for the DC Metro to encourage people to ride metro to the new Nationals Park. Brilliant!
…other than your value…as a person.
March 19th, 2008
I found my favorite new piece of graffiti (a scribbley tag, really) this morning: “YOUR SALARY MEANS NOTHING”. This is on the top of a building in Woodley Park on Connecticut Ave. I can’t imagine that it will last very long up on the face of this building but it made it through the day so that made me happy. I enjoy “public service messages” aimed at making people think a little bit. They snap you out of your daily zone for just a moment.
I’ve come across a few similar messages scrawled around DC that I thought were worth snapping a photo. On an overpass near the Kennedy Center we found “THE BUBBLE WILL BURST”. I found “Save Our City” with a nice rendition of the DC flag. This freshly painted white wall that used to display a fun and colorful mural off of 18th St. in Adams Morgan asks “Where’s the ART?”. These messages don’t have a “style” per se so it is tough to tell if they are from the same hand but they help to add some interesting character to the daily urban fabric. Of course I’d never support the destruction of O.P.P (Property, that is).
I made it over to the Old Post Office Pavilion after the parade on Sunday, and it’s a pretty cool place to spend a few hours. You can take the elevator tour to the tower top, which is well worth the 15 minute wait — and it’s free, too. There is a little history exhibit at the top, as well as the Bells of Congress on display. But most important is the beautiful view of the city from the open-air tower top. It provides interesting angles of the Capitol Building, Washington Monument as seen above, and much of the urban fabric around the National Mall.
Here are my pictures from the parade, where I stood at 10th St. and Constitution Avenue. The best part by far was watching the little kids battle each other for the candy that was thrown from the floats. They would scramble around on the ground and knock each other out of the way for mints, lollipops, and taffy — while the police officers would try to shield them back to the curbs. Happy St. Patty’s Day!
A little show from DC’s St. Patty’s Day parade down Constitution Avenue yesterday. And the cop that got in the way. Please enjoy the kilts and bagpipes (I know I did).. and I’ll get the rest of the photos up later today.
A large group of protesters have been stationed outside the Chinese Embassy in D.C. this weekend, campaigning for a free Tibet with posters, flags, megaphones, and signs encouraging people to honk their car horns in support. They are no doubt part of the larger group of worldwide demonstrators demanding freedom for their imprisoned monks, and an end to Chinese rule and religious restriction in Tibetan providences.
At one point yesterday, the group made their way down Connecticut Avenue, chanting with their banners and signs. But they have been back in front of the embassy today, where several police officers and cruisers are stationed as well.
Someone has this shiny silver elephant in their front yard, and I *love* it!! He has his trunk raised, which symbolizes good luck. It also looks like he is smiling, despite all the acupuncture pins in his back. I guess these are to keep the birds off, but why aren’t there any on his head? Either way, I smile every time I walk by him.
Yesterday’s fire left only the burnt out shell of an apartment building on Mount Pleasant Street in NW. We walked over there in the evening, almost 24 hours since the blaze began, to find the street still closed with fire trucks and the rubble still smoking and smoldering. According to Mayor Fenty, the apartments are to be rebuilt as affordable housing.
This statue is crying Sharpie marker. I thought it was a funny discovery, despite the fact that it is vandalism and you probably shouldn’t permanently draw on statues. But apparently someone thought that this stone lady (or is it a man??) should be sad and shed tears…
A product of the Holga camera, this shot was taken on what we like to call the “people-mover” (moving walkways as seen in airports) between the West Wing and the new East Wing of the National Gallery of Art.
And now, a little experiment in playing with photoshop colors! This voluptuous redhead is one of the more iconic murals on 18th St. in Adams Morgan, on the side wall of a blues bar appropriately (dyslexically?) named Madam’s Organ.
I spent the weekend with the lil’ sis’ in the Big Apple. We checked out the Guggenheim and the MoMA, and then strolled across the Brooklyn Bridge when the monsoon rainstorm cleared up. Because of our apparent “niceness,” we were mistaken for mid-westerners by our waiter at an Italian restaurant on Broadway. On four occasions we were asked for subway directions, so maybe we looked the part of a New Yorker?? Then there was Greenwich Village in search of the infamous Magnolia’s, where we stood in a line around the block to buy a $3 red-velvet special cupcake. DEEElish!
1,000’s of good uses for shopping carts
March 9th, 2008
Smashed Events (Society of Mature Adults Seeking to Help, Entertain and Donate) held the 2008 running of the DC Idiotarod. This years event started at Frontpage in Dupont and ran down towards Union Station. The Idiotarod is a lot like the storied Iditarod with a few key differences:
1) it is not in Alaska, nor is there any snow
2) no sleds are involved (see point 1 - no snow) instead participants used decorated, moderated, and otherwise pimped out shopping carts
3) no dogs are used for pulling. The Idiotarod is run by having 5 drunk, costumed 20 and 30 somethings tied or otherwise connected to the shopping cart and 1 person riding on or in the the cart.
This was probably the most interesting charity event that I have ever witnessed. All of the money raised goes towards Miriam’s Kitchen, a charity that provides meals, case management, mental health and addiction services, therapeutic groups, and transitional and permanent housing support to DC’s chronically homeless men and women.
The real excitement picked up at 3 o’clock when the race kicked off. In about the time of 30 seconds some 50+ teams (my estimate) all headed off in about every direction possible. It was a truly chaotic and entertaining scene. The faces of the innocent bystanders coming up out of the metro were priceless. Other highlights from the event include a Super Mario Brothers team, various iterations of Tom Cruise, honkey tonks, a mobile stripper pole (complete with dancers), and naughty nurses.
Quite an event, I will certainly try to check it out next year….don’t know about entering a team though. Not really my style.
I blew the opportunity to use this shot of Lori doing “star jumps” on request at the National Zoo for the 2/29/08 post. However, the picture from my Oktomat makes me laugh and I didn’t feel like waiting 4 years to properly embrace the Leap Day opportunity.
Here is Mr. Lincoln’s hand, a closeup shot from the Lincoln Memorial located at the western-most part of the National Mall. The words inscribed above his head: “In this temple, as in the hearts of the people for whom he saved the Union, the memory of Abraham Lincoln is enshrined forever.” Here’s the full guy.
In honor of the upper 60-degree days we’ve had this week, I’m posting a photo from one of the best warm-weather places to visit in DC : Dumbarton Oaks. For $8 bucks, (or its free over the winter months) you get to walk around the 10 acres of gardens and the museum, which was formerly owned by Robert and Mildred Bliss. They bought the property in the 20s, and turned it from a crappy, hilly cow pasture into a series of small formal gardens, a Roman-inspired ampitheater, a pebble garden and swimming pool, the rose garden, and the tree ellipse — which is where the photo was taken. It’s the best to just stumble along into the different garden areas while pretending that you are really loaded and this is your house. And you are having a big huge garden party later that night.
As an added incentive to visit, just down the street you can go to the exceedingly creepy Oak Hill Cemetery. If you don’t believe that it is creepy, then just look at the main picture on their webpage. When we were there an old black crow flew right by me from headstone to headstone screeching while it was in flight. ok, now i just got carried away. (back to work.)
…and I thought getting to play softball at the base of the Washington Monument, or playing kickball in the shadow of the Smithsonian Castle was pretty sweet. Street hockey in front of the White House/Old Exec Office Building has to take the cake for bad @ss recreational DC sports.
On a related note, A.O. put a whooping on the Bruins tonight by scoring 5 of the Caps 10 goals (against a measly 2 points by the Bostonians). The 3rd of Ovechkin’s 5 goals but him in the esteemed 50 goals in a season club, again.
We rode our BIcycles! BIcycles! down towards the National Mall today to check out whatever we could check out. This involved a venture into The Art Museum of the Americas to see the Mexico: Festival of Toys exhibit. (see creepy picture above). It was a kinda quirky little museum with only a few rooms, but there were some fun and colorful toys there in addition the scary skeleton thing. The spaces themselves were probably more interesting: some brightly painted niches in the curving stairway, a sunny hallway off the courtyard tiled in blue mosaic, and the courtyard itself - with empty swimming pool - that we couldn’t get outside to. There also happens to be a tall, rusty, yellow metal sculpture outside the entrance that I like because it reminds me of ribbon candy.
From there we walked towards the Albert Einstein memorial which is easily my favorite sculpture in DC for its hidden location among a grove of trees… By this time Matt had worked himself into a self-described “hot-dog frenzy” so we stopped at one of the vendor carts to indulge in $10 worth of (2) hot dogs. YUM.
Onward! to visit Mr. Lincoln sitting on his throne overlooking the Reflecting Pool. And finally after that re-collected our bikes and rode home.
For awhile now, we had been meaning to try Zorba’s Cafe on 20th St. near Dupont Circle. The verdict: great choice for cheap and informal but very tasty Greek food. You place your order at the counter, and then sit and wait until your number is called. There is plenty of upstairs and downstairs seating, and all of the pretty photos of sunny Greece on the walls are for sale, which is fun. Combined with the Greek music that was playing, I will admit that it made me a little nostalgic of my trip there last summer.
Our Pizza Kerkyra and Combination Plate of souvlaki, kefte and rice, with hummus, pita bread, Greek salad, and two dolmathes (meat stuffed grape leaves) came out relatively quickly and were satisfyingly yummy. I wouldn’t say that the pizza was overly “Greek,” but I would still recommend it, and while anything stuffed with meat usually goes over well, the dolmathes were not our favorites. I think because the grape leaves scare me.
I’m looking forward to another visit during warmer weather, when we can take advantage of the outdoor cafe seating, and also try something from the not-overly-expensive wine list. OPA!
