We had our first Freshman of the City small group last night. I shared some of the random things I’ve learned and love about DC. Here’s a sampling.
1. I love the Lincoln Memorial at Night.
2. Theodore Roosevelt Island is my favorite escape. I also love the National Arboretum, but I’ve learned that you can’t sled there, film there, shoot potato cannons there or capture living things there.
3. I love writing, studying, and dreaming at the National Gallery of Art
4. Get a club! Our minivan has been stolen three times. And my 95 Honda Accord was stolen and used in a bank robbery. I drive a getaway car!
5. If you live in DC you are a part-time tour guide by default. For what it’s worth, my favorite “offbeat” memorial that no one seems to know about is the Einstein.
6. Parallel parking is a sport in DC. Our bumper is scarred beyond repair.
7. It takes, on average, 22 minutes, to get from our house on Capitol Hill to the parking garage at DCA, thru security, and to my gate. I did it in much less time two weeks ago. I was crossing the 14th street bridge at 9:12 AM for a 9:44 flight. There was not one person in the security line.
8. We might not have “backyards” by suburban standards, but we picnic at the Capitol and play softball on the National Mall. That’s the trade off.
9. If you know numbers, letters, states, and presidents you should be able to get anywhere you want to go in DC. The key is quadrant. There are four of them: NE, SE, SW, and NW. We once had someone show up to church right at the end of service who had been to our address in all four quadrants!
10. I have a personal collection of old DC postcards. I also love old pictures of DC. We have a few of them hung at our Barracks Row campus.
