Attractions

A Saturday Stroll through Mt. Pleasant

Admin — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 10:32:35 -0500

Mt.P. Keep your eyes out for this little white bumper sticker on the backs of cars and motor bikes because you are soon going to want to follow it home. You have to really love a place to put a neighborhood bumper sticker on the back of your car and few areas in D.C. can match the devotion and pride felt by its residents as Mt. Pleasant. Veering left off 16th and onto Mt. Pleasant Street, there is an immediate sense that one has shifted environments, arrived at a street which is more a destination than a means of getting somewhere. Park your car and start your walk north up this bustling main street. A Saturday morning stroll is the perfect way to take in one of D.C.’s most diverse, vibrant and overlooked neighborhoods. Read more »

Spending the Evening at Hains Point

Admin — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 11:45:34 -0500

Having just walked down the procession at commencement, my family and I celebrated with dinner at China Chef in Wheaton and afterwards, walked through the botanical gardens at Brookside Nature Center. While some of the family members wanted to go home after a tour through the garden, my sister and I wanted to go down Southwest DC to Hains Point. Along with us on the mini trip were our cousins and nephew. Read more »

Meridian Hill Park

Admin — Wed, 30 May 2007 14:14:57 -0500

From the sidewalk, I wasn't sure what to make of it. With its high stone walls and towering staircases, it looked so far out of place in downtown D.C. I knew it had to be worth exploring.

Meridian Hill Park is tucked into a long, meandering hill that slowly tops out in D.C.'s Columbia Heights neighborhood. Its 12 acres of northwest real estate stretch north to south from Euclid to W Sts and east to west from 15th to 16th Sts. The product of early twentieth century landscape architects George Burnap and Horace Peaslee, the nearly 100-year-old park was named after its location along the exact longitude of D.C.'s original prime meridian, which runs directly through the center of the White House. Read more »

Memorial Day Tribute to Arlington National Cemetery

Admin — Mon, 28 May 2007 12:46:01 -0500

Mount Vernon

Admin — Fri, 25 May 2007 11:06:18 -0500

For about the cost of two martini drinks at the Town & Country Bar and Lounge located at the Mayflower Hotel downtown, you can hop on a boat and cruise away to the historic Mount Vernon estate of George and Martha Washington. I took the Spirit of Mount Vernon boat bright and early at 8:30am (operated by Spirit Cruises) from the docks by the Waterfront area earlier this week. Day trips to Mount Vernon are offered by Spirit Cruises from March until late October, timing it just so to catch great boating weather. Read more »

Franciscan Monastery: An ideal urban retreat

Admin — Sun, 13 May 2007 12:55:10 -0500

With my eyes closed, I almost felt like I was in heaven. Birds chirping, a light breeze blowing, the fragrant scent of early summer blooms playing across my nose – not your traditional May outing in the District, but pretty much par for the course at the Franciscan Monastery. Read more »

Florida Avenue Market: Not your average bazaar

Admin — Wed, 09 May 2007 12:44:35 -0500

This past Sunday I took my mother to Florida Avenue Market, located on Florida Avenue and close to New York Avenue Metro stop. Though I’ve lived a mere two blocks from the market for almost a year now, this was my first time visiting. Florida Avenue Market is mostly a wholesale market with cheap cuts of meat displayed on wooden blocks for your viewing. I must confess that you have to have a strong stomach to handle the assault of smells that hit your nose the second you wander downstairs to the food court. Perhaps it was because I hadn’t had any real breakfast before heading out to the market, but wandering through the narrow aisles of the food court, the smells became a bit much for me to handle. Read more »

Places of Repose: The cemeteries of Washington, DC

Admin — Mon, 07 May 2007 12:44:30 -0500

First a short explanation of the authors’ predilection for loitering in places that few visit voluntarily:

Cemeteries have always had a strange sort of allure in human imagination. There is the schlock Hollywood version of Cemeteries, the version that heightens our fears and exploits our confusion about the nature of death. There are the deeply personal places of eternal rest that have a better basis in reality, both inferred and emotional, to those of us still existent. Read more »

“Modernism: Designing a New World 1914-1939” at the Corcoran Gallery of Art

Admin — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 18:32:02 -0500

Modernism is certainly a controversial word. In the history of Art and in literature, the time frame of Modernism is debatable however it is usually deemed to denote the very specific time period between the first and second world wars. However, traces of Modernism are found in the every day lives of people across the globe. In theory, a museum exhibition of Modernism would be an almost impossible endeavor if one wanted to truly show the far reaching reign of the ideals of Modernism, how they affected nearly every single aspect of life during that time, and how consequently, our “modern”, as in, the present, world has been wholly influenced by this brief period of time nearly 100 years ago. Read more »

Baby Meerkats at the National Zoo

Admin — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 10:11:33 -0500

These little guys are learning to dig at the National Zoo.

DC in the Pink

Admin — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 14:18:27 -0500

Every year cherry trees bloom and draw millions of visitors to the nation’s capital to absorb the views of pink and white. Some years it is so cold the buds barely want to peek out, and others it is so hot that they burst out, bloom and snow a pink storm of petals before anyone realizes that the event has happened. The fickle seasons of DC makes guessing when the trees will bloom almost as exciting as gambling in Las Vegas, and as predicable with the results. Read more »

Monkeys Sniffing Eachother at the National Zoo

Admin — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 23:35:35 -0500

Another good National Zoo video. This time it's monkeys!

Educational Talk on Mexican Wolves at the National Zoo

Admin — Sat, 07 Apr 2007 10:49:13 -0500

This Washington, DC National Zoo speaker gives an interesting talk on Mexican wolves and the zoo's attempt at breeding them for reintroduction into the wild. This presentation is geared towards children, but is interesting for adults, too.