What 2C in DC

I was able to visit the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum on the night of my arrival in DC, it was very interesting but not as "big" as I expected. I think given the fact that all the convention attendees were invited and there was an open bar and free food - the otherwise expansive museum shrunk.











I was especially interested in the space exploration exhibit and checked to see if the Command Module and Lunar Module from the Apollo 11 craft looked anything like those lawnchairs in my carport as a kid.



The event came at the close of a day in which I had been herded about numerous times in the airport - so being herded onto the shuttle buses with the rest of the "cattle" was tiring.


A lot of my spare time on the first day here was spent trying to figure out how to best (translation: "most cheap")to navigate the areas I wanted to visit.


The guy who held up the sign at the airport and made sure I had a ride to the hotel, suggested renting a bicycle or a Seg-way to move more quickly from site to site. So I thought the bicycle was a great idea.

This was compounded by the discovery that the riverwalk just outside my hotel at National Harbor led directly to bike paths that went everywhere!

I took a walk on my first day and explored this path, signs indicated that it was a little less than 10 miles to the National Mall where I could tour the Historic sites I wanted to see.

I also discovered that a bodacious rain was coming in about the time that I was approximately 1/2 mile from any shelter. I headed back to and eventually found refuge in this tunnel...


Now, I am -at best- a weekend Warrior on the bicycle - actually I am a 5-or-6-weekends-a-year- weekend- warrior... and until the past year or so, at least one member of my crew was always on training wheels and thus moved at a slow pace.

As a family, we were proud of a five-mile day. Last year, Ab and AA and I took off on a somewhat longer trek and made 11 miles on the Silver Comet Trail. Once this year we went almost that far. So to take on a ten miles down and ten miles back trip was a little daunting.

However, I was pretty sure the sheer adrenaline of discovery would fuel me.

When you are stuck without transportation it is hard to learn about things like bike rentals - I tried the internet and the phone book trying to figure out if anything was nearby (translated: "close enough for me to walk so I would not have to pay for a cab"). There was, I discovered, a rental outlet adjacent to my hotel, but I was unable to get information about the cost or the terms they offered until around ten o'clock Saturday morning.

Thus began my DC Ride adventure which I hope to post soon.