Weekly Washington: Craziest Weekend Ever!

photo uploaded to flickr by marabuchiThat's right folks. This may be the craziest weekend I can remember here in DC. Halloween is already my favorite time of year in Washington, and then we have the Rally for Fear/Sanity thrown in. It's going to be a busy one.

I thought about writing up a Rally Guide, but what's the point? Nine gagillion already exist and I have little to add. And if the mobs are too much, check out our Fear and Sanity sights throughout the rest of DC. (TBD)

Click to read more ...

Fall Festival Season is Upon Us!

I was all set up to write just about the same post, when I stumbled across this one by Jon Penndorf at The Hill is Home. So, without further ado, here's Jon's excellent write up of things to do this Fall in DC, courtesy of, and shamelesssly stolen from, The Hill is Home.

photo uploaded to flickr by ohad*The promise of cooler autumn temperatures and slightly less humidity means the good people of DC want to be outside meeting their neighbors and sampling deep-fried foods that may or may not be served on a stick.  That’s right — it’s street festival season in Washington DC!  There are lots of special neighborhood and cultural events scheduled for the coming weeks.  Here’s a smattering of places you can stretch your legs on streets closed to cars, sample unusual and delightful foods, hear live music, and maybe even find a few live animals to admire.

This weekend the grand opening of the Yards Park is sure to entertain.  The park is located at 3rd and Water Streets SE, not far from Nationals Park.  Events are planned for the entire weekend, including performances by the Trapeze School of New York.  More information can be found at http://www.capitolriverfront.org/.

Also this weekend the annual Black Family Reunion Celebration will be held on the National Mall from noon to 8:00 pm both Saturday and Sunday.  Education pavilions, artisans, food, and music are all scheduled.  Find out more at http://www.ncnw.org/.

Click to read more ...

Keep Your Senators, Give Me Deep Fried Twinkies!

photo uploaded to flickr by Mr. T in DCThose of us who live in DC are always sensitive to slights from you people who have full Representation in Congress. It's often difficult to describe the sense of injustice that our second class status gets us, little things too many to list here.

But one of the greatest is about to be remedied. That's right, Washington, DC is about to get it's first ever State Fair!

This year, the good folks at the 4th Annual Columbia Heights Day have included a DC State Fair in their festivities this Saturday, August 28th. That's right folks, we've hit the big time.

Click to read more ...

Booze, Fireworks, What Could Go Wrong?

photo uploaded to flickr by jGregor

Ahh, the Fourth of July. One of the great American holidays, when we celebrate overthrowing our British overlords, who had kept us in a state of perennial submission, what with their onerous tax on tea and refusing to let us riot. My latent sarcasm aside, it's a great holiday and appeals to my sense of rebelliousness and wanton hunger to watch things explode.

Unfortunately, my idea of a great Fourth is to blow a couple hundred bucks in South Carolina for enough fireworks to make the defenders of Ft. McHenry think twice about holding out next time, ideally accompanied with beer and small kids. Naturally, I follow strict safety rules, like "no firing bottle rockets at your sister" and "hold my beer while I light the finale". After all, I'm a responsible parent now.

Now if you find yourself in Washington, DC for the Fourth, and especially if you find yourself in a neighborhood that is, shall we say, less touristy, you'll find yourself enjoying an experience much like I described above, although perhaps with less of a strict regard for safety. Be forewarned, and rest secure that you're still in a country that if King George tries to quarter his troops in our homes, he'll find a warm welcome. However, if re-enacting Beirut circa 1984 isn't your cup of tea let me offer a few suggestions:

1. A Capitol Fourth: The annual concert on the West Front of the Capitol will be hosted this year by Jimmy Smits. It's a great free concert, this year featuring Reba McEntire, Gladys Knight, Darius Rucker, and the National Symphony Orchestra. It kicks off at 8:00 pm, but if you think you're showing up at 7:45 and finding a spot on the lawn you're woefully optimistic. The security gates open at 3:00 pm, and I'd say you might want to be there at around 5 if you're looking for a spot to have a picnic. For a truly local take on this, come the night before and watch the free rehearsal. Most of the headliners won't be there, but they'll be a lot less crowds.

2. Fireworks!: If your taste runs towards the "professional" displays, and away from burnt fingers, the annual DC Fireworks display is pretty impressive. They are set off near the World War II memorial, just to the west of the Washington Monument right around 9:15 pm. Popular vistas often go quickly, but a good rule of thumb is that if you can see the Monument clearly, you'll be able to see the fireworks. Folks will start camping out on the Mall fairly early in the day, and this year, the Smithsonian Folklife Festival will run on the Fourth for your viewing pleasure. Also, if you need to kill time, the White House Visitor's Center and the National Archives will be hosting special events that day. Be ready though: getting nearly a million people out of the city at one time can be a bit tricky. Plan on the Metro being packed and a bit of a wait. If you drove AND found a parking space, you're going to be there till dawn.

3. Parades: Everyone loves a good parade, and the National Independence Day Parade fits the bill. It runs along Constitution Avenue from 7th to 17th ST NW starting at 11:45. Filled with all the pomp and circumstance the US government can round up, it's a stirring site with marching bands, military honor guards, floats, and all that good stuff. But if you want a less monumental and more authentic experience, swing on down to Barracks Row (8th ST SE, just feet away from the Eastern Market Metro Station) for the Capitol Hill Parade. Kicking off at 10:00 (give or take) by the historic Marine Barracks at 8th and I SE, the parade features and eclectic mix of neighborhood schools, organizations, and just a bunch of people out to have a good time, like the local moms who find a creative use for bridesmaid dresses "you can wear again" as the Fairy Princess Patrol. If you are like so many of my visitors who are lost in a maze of marbled columns and ask "does anyone live in Washington", come here for your answer. And while I've never been to it, I hear good things about the Takoma Park Parade as well.

4. For the Fireworks Haters: If you're looking to branch out in a new direction for your Fourth celebration, consider swinging by the National Cathedral. They will be hosting a recital of their incomparable 10,000 pipe organ at 2 pm this Sunday. Sure, it's a bit non-traditional, but you won't have to jockey for position in the sun, either. And if you stick around, the Cathedral grounds aren't a bad place to catch the fireworks (I recommend finding a spot near the Peace Cross on the grounds of St. Alban's school).

Whatever your plans for the Fourth of July in DC are, be sure to approach them with good humor and patience. Crowds and hot weather are part of the game here, so come ready to cope with both, but DC is one of the best places in the country to experience the Fourth. Enjoy, I'm off to South Carolina.

Will no one think of the tourists! - What to do if stranded in DC

photo by Mike ShowalterI know, I know, I'm supposed to finish up my discussion of African Americans at Arlington. I'll get to it, but for those of you who may not be paying attention, those of us in DC have been a little busy recently. As I write this, the snow has started again here in the Nation's Capital, and supplies of milk and humor are running low. Fortunately, we're still have some reserve stocks of beer, or things could be looking desperate.

I spent the first few days of this white nightmare holed up in my friend's place in Maryland; after staging an impromptu reenactment of the fall of Saigon with my two kids, getting out of here as the storm hit. Thanks to them, I still can make at least a tenuous claim to sanity, but I couldn't avoid heading home forever. After a few days of hanging out with three dogs and five children under five, and passing the time shoveling four hundred feet of driveway; we took advantage of the brief window between blizzards to bust our way back into DC yesterday.

So what's this got to do with visiting DC? I mean, who would be trying to visit us right now? And even if you wanted to, it would be virtually impossible to get here, as my wife has been finding out this last week. But what if you're weekend trip to DC was this week, and you're spending some more time here than planned? This doesn't happen often, but what do you do in DC when all the stuff you came to DC for is canceled?

So, in the off chance some of our visitors are trying to make lemonade out of yellow snow, let me give them a hand.

1. Transportation - You brought it with you! That's right, those two appendages sticking down from your pelvis. Just about everything else is going to be shut down or unreliable. Buses go fairly early, outside some main routes. Metro rail will stay open until we get about eight inches, then the above-ground stations will shut down. Even on the underground lines, be prepared for some serious headways (time between trains). And you have very little business driving in DC in the best of times, much less now. Cabs will still run in most weather, but will be scarce. Watch the meter, they're not allowed to charge more than 25% in a snow emergency. So focus on exploring the area around where you're staying and/or near open Metro stops.

2. What's open? Right now, precious little. In most cases, once the above ground lines shut down, the museums will follow suit, as it's hard to get staff in and out. One exception I've noticed: the Newseum has been persistently open these last few days, and Air and Space and Natural History were open today. Everything else has been more or less shut down since Friday (feel free to let me know if I'm wrong in the comments). The monuments shut down during the heavy winds, but if you're up for a good winter hike, I strongly recommend a stroll down to see them. The Korean Memorial is particularly striking in the snow.

3. So, if all the touristy stuff is shut down, then what? Despite some well publicized problems, I strongly recommend a good snowball fight. If you can't get a pick-up one going, blogs and twitter feeds are a good way to find out where folks are meeting up. This time around, good ones got going at Dupont Circle, the Mall, and Lincoln Park on Capitol Hill. You can also grab a piece of cardboard and go sledding. I personally like Capitol Hill, a traditional favorite. The only trick is avoiding the Capitol Police. Some are cool, some are, well, not.

4. And finally, you'll need a place to warm up. I find that locally operated places tend to do a better job of staying open than chains and such. For example, my personal favorite, Peregrine Coffee near Eastern Market is routinely fueling my habit while the Starbucks a block over might as well board up. So rather than head downtown, try Eastern Market,Dupont Circle, or some other Metro accessible neighborhood where the most of both the clientele and the staff normally walks there (and will to get out of the house!).

Ideally, you're reading this back home in some relatively less snowy place like Buffalo, but if you are stuck in DC, I hope this helps.