Sunday, March 13, 2011

DC: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

We are finally in our new location: Alexandria, VA!!  We have been here for just over two weeks, but a first impression is a lasting impression, so here's what I think.


The Good

Let me paint a picture of why this place is amazing.

I got into my car last Saturday at 11:15am and the local NPR station was playing my favorite show: Wait! Wait! Don't Tell Me.  I drove five minutes to pick-up my very first Community-Supported Agriculture (CSA) box which included all kinds of yummy, organic produce from local farms.  Outside the restaurant that organizes the CSA (called Food Matters - I have yet to try it out, but it looks great), a troop of girl scouts sold me my first six boxes of cookies for the year.  Later that day, we all got in the car, picked up Nathan's brother, Justin, and visited the National Zoo - for free.

My first CSA bag - complete with wildflower honey!

Flamingos at the National Zoo

There are literally one thousand adventures to be had waiting for me at my doorstep every day.  I don't need to go very far - heck, I don't even have to drive to get anywhere if I don't want to.  The possibilities are endless.  I feel like I could go anywhere and do anything here, using DC as my launching pad. 

 View of the National Mall from the Mt. Vernon Trail

In Rochester, I had to join a special group to practice speaking Spanish.  Here, I've had to use my Spanish just to get around and talk to my neighbors.

In Kansas, we lived in a construction zone and I feared that Alison might kill herself if she started moving on her own through that house.  Now, there is crown molding in our apartment and everything was updated as of a couple years ago.

People are very open-minded here because they come from all corners of the country.  The DC Badgers alumni group sends me almost daily event emails, whereas in Kansas, the only other Badger in the area had an asterisk by his name claiming he had died in 1994.

The Bad

Could there BE any more people here?  Every single nook and cranny of this area is overflowing with people.  People on the roads, people in the stores, people in the restaurants.  Big people, small people, people of every background.  If there were a nuclear holocaust and we were all forced to find our own food, there would be around a 1000 to 1 human-to-squirrel ratio and we would surely all die of starvation.

I miss my view of the bluffs from my front door in Theodore Roosevelt National Park.  Yes, we have an amazing top floor view from our new place, but nature trumps urbania.  That is just a fact of life.

Stainless Steel Tree in the National Sculpture Garden
Please don't let this be the future of our natural world! (Although it IS really neat!)

The Ugly

Picture the largest freeway you've ever seen.  Then picture it full of cars during rush hour.  Now double the amount of cars on the road.  Add people who learned how to drive in places like Rochester, MN where they do not know how to drive. Then add a few tourists.  Now have someone tell you the traffic is only really bad during rush hour. Now picture yourself maming that person because they are completely, horribly wrong.

Traffic is awful here.  The infrastructure just can't handle the people and drivers have to pull crazy stuff just to get where they need to be.  Stop lights last for days.  It's best to just stay out of your car.  Period.

Friday, March 11, 2011

On The Road Again

For as much grief as I've given Kansas, arriving back to it, with all of its familiar sites, was nice.  I guess a small piece of me was fond of it afterall, or maybe the spring weather just brings you a sense of endless possibilities, no matter where you are.  However, we had a job to do there and here's what we were up against:


Our storage unit - 1/4th excavated

Mom and Dad came down and helped us sift through this junk and get it moved onto a U-Haul.  We will forever be grateful for their help with this move as we have no idea what we would have done without them!  Spending a week in the car and trying to sleep in the same room as a six-month-old is not considered traveling in the lap of luxury.

2-19-11 - Early-morning wake-up call for Grandpa

Kevin and George, coworkers from Fort Larned, also win the  "best surprise help" award as they helped us haul off a bunch of the things we couldn't take and made sure everything was packed into the truck a day early.  Wow!

On Saturday, we drove to Independence, MO, home of the Harry S Truman National Historic Site.  Nathan and I were almost late for the 9am Sunday tour of Truman's Mother-In-Law's house (coincidentally, he lived much of his life there and never purchased his own home), but Nathan mentioned where he worked and they made sure we got a spot on the tour!  Ah, the benefits of knowing a Park Ranger.


President Truman's House

Later Sunday, we also stopped in St. Louis and I made everyone tour the Old Courthouse and see the Arch (a.k.a. Jefferson National Expansion Memorial).  We didn't go up to the top, but I was OK with that when I heard that it sways in the slightest of breezes!

The Arch

On our third day we ended up driving just below a giant snow and ice storm, escaping horrible weather, but getting drenched the entire drive.  The fourth day, we made it to my sister, Samantha's, new house and got to meet her boa constrictor and street cats.  We did eventually make it down to our new place in Alexandria, VA.  I haven't seen any snow since because the weather has been in the 50's (at least) and the streets are made of cheese.  Just kidding, I will have the full report on our first impressions (good and bad) soon.