under the Whitehurst!
December 29th, 2009
…out of the SUUUN! under the Whitehurst… Whitehurst..
The Whitehurst Freeway rises above K Street in Georgetown, and it carries vehicles along the Potomac River between the Key Bridge at the west end and Rock Creek Parkway/K Street at the east end. Named after H.C. Whitehurst, the director of the District Highway Department at the time of its conception, the bridge was built in the 1940’s and was the District’s very first freeway. Steel shortages at the time delayed its construction and it opened a year behind schedule, in October 1949. The final cost: $3.3 million. Included in the demolition was the house of Francis Scott Key, writer of the Star-Spangled Banner.
Source: http://www.dcroads.net/roads/whitehurst
a rose is a rose is a rose
November 18th, 2009
Last weekend, on our way to dinner with his parents, Matt found this rose poked into the sidewalk grate, just the way it’s pictured. We passed by it, and then he insisted on borrowing my iPhone camera to go back and take a picture. So here it is.
It was American writer Gertrude Stein who said, “a rose is a rose is a rose.”
It appears that there has been an accident…
October 26th, 2009
…involving the painted bike lane guy. The wheels are all smooshed and his body has been “relocated” way too far away and upside down. Hopefully this is not the doing of a lazy driver not looking out for cyclists. I think he is supposed to look like this. (spotted around 5th and Q St).
Ooops..
November 13th, 2008
Ummm. Hopefully this makes you laugh as much as we did when we saw it. They could have at least used more paint on the cover-up job…
a grenade. awesome.
October 1st, 2008
My commute was rather long this morning, and I just found out why. There was a grenade found in Rock Creek Park, just off 16th Street. Obviously this picture has nothing to do with it, because I couldn’t get anywhere close to the scene… and also it’s not that autumn-y here yet. But anyways, where does a grenade in the park come from???
…and it sets in the west
August 11th, 2008
Great picnic spot = a grassy patch near the Potomac, just down past the Roosevelt Memorial Bridge. Good for: sunsets (see above) and boat watching. Pairs well with PB&J sandwiches, wine, a blanket. Bad for: gnats, seeing loch-ness monster things jump out of the Potomac.
*crash*
July 28th, 2008
Totally unrelated to this bizarre-o picture that Matt took, but I did set a new land-speed world record today in the category of my bike-to-work commute from Woodley Park to Silver Bling–first time on the new bike– at 33 minutes and 17 seconds. Usually takes me 38-42 minutes depending on how many cars/dump trucks/homeless people/squirrels get in my way up 16th Street. Thank you very much to my new bike!
Donuts
July 3rd, 2008
Someone made donuts in this parking lot. I bet it was fun.
the guy with the sign
June 2nd, 2008
I’ve seen this guy several times now on my bike route from home towards the Lincoln Memorial. Matt walked over and snapped this picture of him last weekend, and apparently he asked Matt if he’d ever served in the army. The guy told him he was lucky when he answered “no.”
I have to wonder exactly how much time he spends by the side of the road flipping his sign back and forth (the other side says
Bring our Troops Home) While I do appreciate activism and protesting for things you believe in, this just seems to me like an exercise in futility. I guess the sign gets lots of horn honks and it makes people think for a few minutes… but what else?
…or maybe he lost a son or daughter in Iraq, and this is therapeutic for him… who knows? If you are the sign guy and you happen to read my blog, please do share your motivation.
Goodbye taxi zones, Hello meters
May 1st, 2008
It’s May 1st, and taxis in the district are now required to have meters installed in them… and so the zone system is no more. I rarely ever use cabs in DC, so I am no authority on the subject, but to me the whole idea of zones seemed both archaic and confusing. Almost all other major cities rely on meters, and now it seems to make sense that DC is among them. If nothing else, I like being able to see the price of my ride on the little screen as it goes up. Much less of a chance of feeling confused by the cab drivers price quote at the end of the ride or arguments over zones, routes taken, and extra charges.
But as with any issue that involves change and money, there has been opposition from both riders and cabbies to either system. The drivers argue that they will be making much less $ with the new meters. The Washington Post even created a taxi fare estimator under the new and old systems, so you can calculate your routes to see if you will save money or have to fork over more. I guess in the next few weeks it will be interesting to see how many taxi cabs are complying with the new law. By June 1st, the city is supposed to start fining those cabs that are non-compliant — $1,000 bucks for no meter.
The main point here is that every taxi that passes will continue to HONK at me and every other pedestrian as they drive by, as if we are all simultaneously unaware of both their presence and our own needs for a taxi at that exact moment. uh- Hello! That’s why people put their hands up if they need to flag you down. One hand up and waving in your direction–I think that’s universal for “I need a taxi.” Walking down the sidewalk and not looking at you–well that’s just called being a live person with legs. The greatest comedian ever Mitch Hedberg said this best: “I think we should only get 3 honks a month on the car horn, because people honk the car horn too much… 3 honks, that’s the limit. And then someone cuts you off, you press your horn, nothing happens. You’re like, “crap, I wish I wouldn’t have seen Ricky on the sidewalk” “
And so the same would go for taxis, only 3 honks a months and the city would be a little quieter.
