May 11th, 2012 | by Sara | d.c.
May
11
I went on a cruise on the Potomac River with some friends a few weeks ago. We had purchased Groupons for it and scheduled our trip immediately. As it turned out, we had a beautiful day for the cruise and a mostly empty boat because the tour group that was supposed to be on our trip didn’t make it.
We got some nice views of the city as well as a look at parts of Navy Yard along the riverfront that I had never seen.
Sailboats in front of the Jefferson Memorial and Washington Monument.
May 4th, 2012 | by Sara | d.c.
May
04
Lincoln and I return home from a long day of work.
I had such a busy month of April that I am waaay behind on posting about the excitement. I just started going through a couple of hundred photos that I collected from my month, so I hope to get some things posted soon (since some happened a month ago at this point).
It was a bit dreary the day of our cottage tour.
In late March, I visited President Lincoln’s Cottage with some friends. It’s in D.C., but not very well-known. It’s also a newer attraction, as it didn’t open to the public until 2008. At the time of Lincoln’s presidency the cottage was a place to get away from downtown D.C. These days, the area is smack in the middle of a neighborhood. Now (as it was then), it’s located on the grounds of the Armed Forces Retirement Home. Lincoln and his family basically lived in the cottage during the summer months of his presidency during the Civil War, and he commuted by horseback to the White House.
January 29th, 2012 | by Sara | d.c.
Jan
29
My friend and I reach the finish line. (Note our snazzy race numbers.)
The 1K Beer Walk, that is. Last weekend I participated in the event, which was organized by the Washington Wine Academy‘s DC School of Beer.
It’s a clever concept, and I couldn’t resist. We were even given race numbers. Wondering what is really involved? It’s actually just a beer tasting, but it has 10 stations spaced out over the course of 1 kilometer. So, yes, I did walk a 1K (actually about 2K because I more or less walked the course backward to get to the starting line when I arrived). It was held in the Crystal City Shops, which I had never been to but is now on the list of things that are likely to appear in my suburban nightmare. From what I can tell, it’s about three blocks of shops all connected underground — a huge maze. And almost everything was closed on Sunday (when I was there), so it was rather creepy.
And this was one event where they didn’t skimp on the tasting tickets. COULD I have drunk more beer? Sure. I was feeling fine at the end, but I just didn’t feel I NEEDED more beer. And yet I had seven (of 20) tickets left, which I gave away to some lucky random stranger at the last stop. (By the way, if you read this and attend next year, you should know that the last station is by far the best. Not only does it have the largest selection of beers, it has a DJ and turns into a huge dance party.
I had beer from breweries including:
December 24th, 2011 | by Sara | d.c.
Dec
24
The Capitol Christmas Tree is from California this year.
While everyone in Congress dug in their heels for a standoff on the payroll tax cut extension bill earlier this week, I had an early finish to my workday. (This happens any night we aren’t publishing a print edition. In this case, it’s hard to publish a print edition when there isn’t much movement happening and there’s only one remaining topic of conversation for the year.)
My favorite ornament was the inexplicable rubber chicken.
So some work friends and I had a bit of a D.C.-themed holiday night. We started by strolling past the Capitol and taking some photos of the Capitol Christmas Tree. While I see the Capitol Dome from afar quite a bit, I don’t walk around the grounds all that often (especially in winter). The tree, from California, is decorated with ornaments made by children. There is quite an assortment, including a mini Lakers jersey, some recycled pie tins and some recycled soda bottles. There is also a rubber chicken. I have no clue.
Then we headed to the Sculpture Garden at the National Gallery of Art. It has a large fountain in the middle of the garden. In the summer, it sprays water, and the garden holds jazz concerts around it. In the winter, it’s converted into an ice skating rink. I believe this was my third time ice skating (ever). I was a little concerned, but it actually turned out quite well. I did fall a couple of times, but it seemed to be caused by my tendency to land the toepick in the ice, and I otherwise skated quite well (for me). Nothing fancy, of course. But I did lots of circles around the rink.
We finished off the night with a trip to Pi Pizzeria for some deep-dish and Schlafly beer.
The U.S. Botanic Garden by the Capitol also has some nice lights.
November 15th, 2011 | by Sara | uncategorized
Nov
15
I did a very small amount of leaf photography this past weekend. But this has been my favorite fall tree for weeks. I pass it most nights on my way home. It sits on the street across from my apartment with a streetlight reaching into the branches and illuminating its yellow leaves beautifully.
The weekend wind blew down a number of the leaves, so these phone pics are probably the best photos I’ll have for the season.
November 5th, 2011 | by Sara | uncategorized
Nov
05
I went to the Metropolitan Cooking and Entertaining Show today. I’ll admit, I bought my ticket through Groupon because I wasn’t sure it would be worth it, but it was pretty awesome. Tons of vendors had food samples, so I ate all day. (Salsa, wing sauce and barbecue sauce seemed to be the most popular foods for sale/tasting.)
My ticket included a chance to see a presentation by Paula Deen. I’m not in love with her, but I thought it would be cool nonetheless. She was pretty entertaining. However, the whole show was just her talking to the audience. She had a chef cooking in the background, and every once in a while, she would ask him how it was going. But I was hoping to see more cooking and pick up some tips. I did see some nice cooking demonstrations on the free stages, though.
I’d definitely go next year!
October 11th, 2011 | by Sara | uncategorized
Oct
11
I recently read a book about the history of U Street, the neighborhood where I now live in D.C. The history of the area is really interesting, as it went from predominately white residents to predominately black residents to a mix brought by recent “gentrification” of the area.
But while reading the book, I also learned more about the LeDroit Park neighborhood, which borders the U Street area. It began as an area full of wealthy white folks in large mansions, most built in the 1870s. When those people deserted the area, others moved into those homes and the area became predominately Africa-American by World War I. Many prominent African-Americans (famous in D.C. as well as famous nationwide) were associated with the area.
I finally had a chance to walk around the area this weekend and explore a bit. It has some gorgeous and HUGE houses. (Many appeared to be split into multiple units.)
The neighborhood is adorable, with many small, well-landscaped lawns (and a few larger lawns), a park and even a little circle park in the middle of the area. I failed to take a camera as I incorporated my walk through the neighborhood into my morning jog, but photos would definitely supplement my descriptions.
Definitely a place worth walking through if you’re ever looking for a little more of the neighborhood history in D.C.
September 26th, 2011 | by Sara | uncategorized
Sep
26
This weekend was the annual National Book Festival in D.C. I had a lot of errands to take care of, but I managed to make it for part of one day.
I heard Toni Morrison (“Beloved”), Jennifer Egan (“A Visit From the Goon Squad”), Gregory Maguire (“Wicked”), Sylvia Nasar (“A Beautiful Mind”), Candice Millard (“The Destiny of the Republic” – about James Garfield) and Justin Martin (“Genius of Place: The Life of Frederick Law Olmsted”) speak. I looked at all the states’ tables in the Pavilion of the States. I browsed the huge book sales tent (but didn’t buy anything).
Then I came home and ordered a few books from Amazon.com. Hey, it’s hard to listen to all these authors and not want to get a few books.
August 25th, 2011 | by Sara | uncategorized
Aug
25
Speaking of the earthquake, I’m obviously fine. Growing up near the New Madrid fault line, I’m not an experienced Californian but I’ve definitely been around some quakes.
I still remember that huge earthquake scare in grade school when they swore “the big one” was coming, and parents kept their children home from school for the two days they predicted the quake would hit. (I, of course, was in school. My mother the teacher thought there was no reason to ever miss school, unless you were bleeding profusely or vomiting.)
However, besides a quake I recall feeling during my childhood (I have no clue when it was, though my research shows there was a fairly large one in 1987, so perhaps it was that.), I haven’t really felt any lately. (The 2008 one in St. Louis was overnight. I recall my cats being particularly active and waking me up, but I didn’t realize that had been an earthquake until the next morning.) This one I definitely felt.
I was eating lunch on the rooftop patio of my office building with my co-worker. (BTW, it’s awesome. You can see the Capitol Dome, Library of Congress, National Cathedral, National Basilica, Washington Monument and more from up there.) We noticed some weird rumbling coming from beneath us. My first thought: What is under this roof? Then we realized the tops of nearby buildings were moving and shaking, too. Whoa! We and a couple other co-workers who were up there headed down the stairs. By the time we reached our floor, we were told we should evacuate the building.
So we get outside with thousands of other Washingtonians who were evacuated from their office buildings. And we’re all milling about on the sidewalk between these large, glass-filled office buildings. And I’m thinking, “This is NOT where you should be if an aftershock hits.” Obviously, Washingtonians don’t know earthquakes. And I saw that firsthand.
But what did make it a decent deal here is:
1. Earthquakes rarely happen on the East Coast.
2. Due to the types of plates or something geological, they actual do pack a bigger punch for farther out here. This Washington Post story does a good job of explaining it.
3. Many people’s first thought here is “terrorists.” Especially after 9/11. So many people didn’t realize it was an earthquake as they freaked out. Instead, they worried an explosion had caused the rumbling.
4. Because D.C. has lots of old buildings, they can be susceptible to earthquakes. Also, because D.C. isn’t used to having earthquakes, structures aren’t necessarily built by them specs to withstand them as they would be in California, for example.
At home, only a few (unbreakable) things were knocked over. The most noticeable result of the quake was that Griffin appeared to suffer from earthquake PTSD the rest of the night. He’s always jumpy, but he was definitely more so than usual Tuesday night. Loki, on the other hand, just wanted food (as usual).
August 25th, 2011 | by Sara | uncategorized
Aug
25
As Hurricane Irene hurtles its way up the coast, it’s all the rage in D.C. (After the earthquake was all the rage on Tuesday. Darned natural disasters!) So a journalism friend of mine posed the question on Twitter: Do we refer to hurricanes as “she” or “it”? Luckily, the AP Stylebook (style bible of journalists) had an answer: it. But the rest of the “hurricane” entry is the best part:
“And do not use the presence of a woman’s name as an excuse to attribute sexist images of women’s behavior to a storm. Avoid, for example, such sentences as: The fickle Hazel teased the Louisiana coast.”
Priceless. So glad I looked that up.
In the meantime, I really haven’t been too worried about this storm. A few days ago, I read something that said it would pretty much just mean lots of rain for D.C. But now some people are freaking out, so I’m wondering if I’m downplaying it. But really, I’m not overly concerned and don’t think I should be.