Traveling: Whidbey Island, WA

6:22 a.m. Departure : BWI

I've been lagging behind in responding to comments in last week's blog entries. My apologies for that, but my thanks to everyone who continues to stop by and read. My excuse? I was traveling and didn't have internet access for nearly four days! Last week, I spent five days in Washington State. My visit took me to Whidbey Island, Mukilteo, Seattle, and Ocean Shores. In all, I booked nearly 600 miles in ground and water travel, 6,000 air miles, and saw a beautiful part of the country. For the next few days, I'll be posting pictures from my trip.

Flying over the Golden Gate : San Francisco, CA
(Click image to enlarge)

Today's photos feature shots from the airplane, in airports, and on Whidbey Island. I'll stick to the captions on the first two, but note that my outbound flight commenced at Baltimore-Washington Thurgood Marshall International Airport (BWI) and included a layover at San Francisco International Airport (SFO), hence the first two pictures. My final destination was Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA), known as SEA-TAC.

Airport Art : SEA-TAC

The third photo is a piece of art in SEA-TAC in the United Airlines baggage claim area. The entire piece is constructed of reflector circles! SEA-TAC airport is full of some really fun art. Unfortunately, I didn't get the name of the artist on this one.

Towering firs : Langley, WA

My purpose for being in the Seattle area was to check out a business opportunity on Whidbey Island. One of the beauties of the Pacific Northwest are the abundance of coniferous trees. These ones are on the property of a friend who owns a home in Langley, WA.

Sunset : Freeland, WA

Finally, the first night I was on Whidbey Island, I drove up to Freeland. I had to pull off the road to take this picture of a lovely sunset. (Note to Virginia and Maya: No, I did not shoot while driving! Too dangerous on windy, twisty coast/island roads.)

Tomorrow: More about Whidbey Island, a bald eagle, and a lighthouse.

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 12/08

Etiquette

Red Line train to Glenmont arrives at the Farragut North Station.
Getting to the platform level on Metro can be tricky for out-of-towners and requires
a working knowledge of escalator etiquette.

If you've ever visited Washington, D.C., you've likely ridden the Metro at least once during your trip. One of the constant complaints from locals--i.e. those of us who live and work here at least 50 of the 52 weeks out of every year--who use Metro is the lack of common sense exhibited by business travelers and tourists, particularly when it comes to escalator etiquette.

Yes, you read that correctly. Escalator etiquette. So, to ensure you don't get yelled at--and believe me, you will if you commit this infraction--let me give you a crucial pointer on how to use escalators on Metro. To access most stations and/or their platforms, you have to use escalators. When boarding an escalator, if you're too tired to walk or escalators scare you and you want to stand, that's okay. If you're going to do that, though, please stand to the right.

Stand to the right, walk on the left. Easy peasy.
Or so you'd think. But alas, no.

Too often tourons, as we call them (tourist + moron = touron), think the escalator constitutes an amusement ride and they stand on the left, on the right, in the middle, wherever. If you do this, I promise you will get yelled at. Most of us will yell something polite like "Stand to the right, please!", but it's also possible you'll get yelled at in ways that could leave you thinking D.C. is a mean, nasty town full of mean, nasty people. It certainly can be mean and nasty in its own uniquely political, partisan way, but in the case of Metro most of the people who want to get past you have somewhere to be and they're in a hurry.

So, let's review. When using Metro in Washington, D.C., stand to the right, walk on the left? Just like the picture above.

Everyone got it? Good. Now, no excuses! If I find any of you City Daily Photo bloggers violating escalator etiquette, I'm gonna bean you with my tripod--permit or no! :-)

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 10/08

Portrait of a Train by a Middle-Aged Photographer

Portrait of a Train
(Click image to enlarge.)

Whenever I have to meet with clients downtown, I usually take advantage of Metro rather than driving. It's cheap, I don't have to find and pay for parking, and someone else gets to do the driving. The other day while I was on the train, I noticed this mirror at the Brookland-CUA station. On the return trip home, I disembarked at this station just to be able to take pictures of Metro trains reflected in this convex mirror. Unfortunately, it was nearly impossible to get a picture of the train without factoring myself in the scene.

This isn't a flattering picture of me, obviously--no one looks good convex--but it's a good picture of the Metro train and the direction it's heading, which is downtown and then into the Maryland suburbs to Shady Grove.

As an aside, I'm wearing my pink windowpane Brooks' Brothers shirt and my pair of typewriter key cufflinks!

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 10/08

Studious

Studious reader on the Red Line

Yesterday, I had to go downtown for a haircut and to the office of a client to edit a document for them. Rather than fight traffic and pay through the nose for parking, I took the red line from Takoma to Chinatown. One of the stops is Brookland/CUA. This young man got on at that stop, sat down, and started reading a copy of Newsweek magazine he had in his hand. He was so intent on his article, I don't think he noticed when I rested my camera on my knee and snuck this picture. (Or maybe he did and he was too gracious to say anything.) I didn't get his name or story, but in my imagination I decided he's a poli-sci major at Catholic University and his goal is to one day run for Congress... Or something like that...

One of these days, I'll muster up the courage to actually ask the strangers I photograph if I can photograph them and what their stories are. Until then, here is Studious on the Red Line.

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 09/08

Certified

Certified, metered taxi cab: a new feature in the city

Until recently, D.C. cabbies operated in the last city in the U.S. not using a meter system. For decades, cab fares were determined by a confusing series of zones that resulted in fares as low as $6.00 in one zone and jumping to $9.00 or $13.00 or more by merely crossing an intersection. For tourists, it was an unfamiliar and odd experience and many--visitors, residents, and workers alike--complained that, being unable to decipher the odd system, they were often taken advantage of by dishonest cab drivers. After much controversy, cabbie strikes, and demonstrations, D.C. cabs are now required by law to use meters. Cabs that are in compliance carry a sticker that reads: "Certified : Metered Taxi Cab" and bear the seal of the D.C. Taxi Commission.

If you visit D.C., figuring out cab fare is no longer one more mystery of this politick, partisan, bureaucratic town!

On a separate note, I may be posting tomorrow's entry after 9:00 p.m. At 7:00 tomorrow evening, the first memorial to the September 11th attacks opens at the Pentagon. I'm planning on going over to see the new memorial and take photographs. Please come back tomorrow night to see Washington's newest memorial to those brave men and women who died on that fateful day seven years ago.

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 09/08

Sticking the Landing

Sticking the Landing : Washington National Airport

August has been uncharacteristically pleasant this year--moderate temperatures most days, low humidity, blue skies. It's almost weird. But I'm not complaining. Normally at this time of the year, we're all melting into the pavement with temperatures in the 90s and humidity at 90% or more. Hazy, hot, and humid is usually the standard descriptor, but not this year!

Landing in blue

In recognition of the great weather, I went out for a few hours yesterday evening and again tonight. I decided to head over to Gravelly Point north of Washington National Airport and try my hand at timed exposures of planes landing. These are a couple of the 35 landings I captured.

Summer sunset : Gravelly Point : Arlington, Virginia

The evening also featured a beautiful sunset. Note that beautiful blue sky and pink-tinged clouds. Normally, sunsets in August are sort of a yellowish color because of the humidity. I think I like this better!

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 08/08

Dinner

Solitary diner

I promise I don't have a culinary theme going on here, but yesterday evening I was out taking pictures near Union Station in preparation for September's City Daily Photo Monthly Theme. I decided to pop into the station itself to snap a few pictures and, when I looked down into the food court, this guy totally jumped out at me and seemed to yell, "Photograph me!" The best part was, he'd chosen a table right under the lights and there was no one else around him.

Happy Friday everyone!

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 08/08

Smart Start

D.C. newest step toward becoming a green city:
a self-service public bike program!

In an effort to become a greener city, Washington, D.C., is launching a program that will hopefully allow it to join the ranks of Paris, Lyon, Montreal, Cheltenham,* Seville, Barcelona, and Amsterdam as a bike-friendly and green city. Yesterday, the city--in partnership with Clear Channel Communications--officially kicked off Smart Bike DC. Billed as America's first self-service public bike program, it allows subscribers to buy a membership for $39.99/year. Users can take a bike for three hours at a time from a variety of locations in and around the downtown area. Eventually, it is hoped, the program will expand citywide and will encourage people to get out of their cars and get on a bike.

Grab a Smart Bike at the corner of 7th and F Streets NW!
It's quick, easy, reliable, and environmentally cool!

There are currently nine locations throughout downtown and most are within walking distant of a Metro station. Here's to Smart Bike! May it be successful and fun and may it radically change the commuting habits not only of Washingtonians, but also of those who commute to our city from the suburbs of Maryland and Virginia.

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 08/08

* Thanks to Marley at Cheltenham Daily Photo who reminded me his city has been participating in a similar program for a while. Check it out here.

Overhead

Metro Train on a bridge over the Potomac River

Just a random picture of the Yellow Line Metro train on a bridge over the Potomac. Its last stop before the bridge: L'Enfant Plaza station in the District. It's next stop: the Pentagon in Virginia. The Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority (WMATA) is the second-largest rail and fifth-largest bus system in the nation. One-third of the federal workforce relies on Metro as transportation to and from work. Nearly 42 percent of all commuters utilize Metrorail and Metrobus.

Construction of the system began in 1969. It covers a 1,500 square mile area and serves more than 3.5 million people in the metropolitan area. There are 86 stations and over 105 miles of track in the Metrorail grid. Metrobus covers considerably more area than rail. To see a map of the Metrorail system, go here.

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 07/08

Take Off Sequence

My apologies: I'm pulling from the archives again today as I didn't make it outside yesterday and I'm not posting another picture of the cat. I may be desperate, but I'm not that desperate! This is a sequence of photos I took a few week's ago at Gravelly Point just north of Washington National Airport (DCA). I managed to get off five shots of the same plane taking off.





Happy Tuesday, everyone. Thanks for stopping by!

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 07/08

Totally Tubular

Platform : Navy Memorial/Archives/Penn Quarter : Metro-Green/Yellow Line

Green Line Train in the Direction of Branch Avenue

My brother works downtown as a contractor at a government agency (he and 3.8 bajillion other Metro Washingtonians) and every once in a while, I go down and meet him for lunch. We usually go for fries at Five Guys and then spend an hour or so wandering the corridors and exhibit halls of the National Portrait Gallery and the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Want to see a slice of D.C. diversity? Ride Metro. You'll see lobbyists,
interns, Congressional aides, construction workers, students, tourists, government
employees, military personnel, white people, black people, Hispanics/Latinos,
Asians, Indian Indians and Native American Indians, veterans, protesters,
Republicans, Democrats, Independents, singers, poets, people of faith, and atheists.
You name the demographic and you're likely to find it on Metro.

To get from Point A to Point B, I usually take some form of Metro transportation, because it's cheap and easy. Today's post features pictures from my latest Metro ride between the Navy Memorial/Archives station and the Columbia Heights/Park Road station. The latter is the stop for Target, which is where I went after our lunch. From there, I walked home, which was a good 3.5 miles. Nothing like combining a few great activities: seeing my brother, eating, culture, shopping, photography, and exercise!

Escalator : Columbia Heights/Park Road : Metro-Green/Yellow Line

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential

DCA

Washington National Airport: The departure level.
(Click on image to enlarge.)

Washington, D.C., is accessible via air from three airports: Washington-Dulles International Airport (IAD) in Loundon County, Virginia; Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) in Arlington, Virginia; and Baltimore-Washington Thurgood Marshall International Airport (BWI) near Baltimore, Maryland. The closest of the three is National Airport, just across the Potomac River and about six miles from downtown. The other two are each nearly 30 miles from Washington. Today's photos are from DCA.

L: View of DCA's air traffic control tower from the arrivals deck. R: Heading into the clouds.
(Click on images to enlarge.)

Opened in June 1941, DCA is home to 12 carriers providing service to 74 domestic destinations and connections to several international airports within the U.S. There are no direct international flights from DCA. In 2007, 18.7 million passengers traveled through DCA. It is the third busiest airport in the D.C. Metropolitan area.

View of Runway 19 looking south from Gravelly Point.

After Sept. 11, DCA was the last airport in the nation to reopen and for a time there was some discussion that it might never reopen given its proximity to the capital city. Fortunately, reason prevailed in the former of senators and congressional representatives who use the airport for its convenience and easy access. Located at the north end of the airport is a park called Gravelly Point. It is here that you can find people parking their cars or unloading a picnic basket and enjoying the sights and sounds of planes taking off and landing.

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 6/08

Two Things Challenge: Noisy / Peaceful

Looking west/southwest along I-395. Traffic on the right is coming off
of I-295 and headed into Virginia. Traffic on the left is coming off the
14th Street Bridge and heading east into Washington.

This week's Two Things Challenge was Noisy / Peaceful. My interpretation of Noisy: Traffic. Washington, D.C., ranks second in the nation for worst commute. Commuters from all over the region spend an average of 29.3 minutes per day traveling to and from work. We rank fifth for road rage and general discourteousness.

Looking east along 1-295. Traffic on the right is heading into southeast Washington,
traffic on the left is westbound headed toward Virginia.

These two photos show I-395, an artery that feeds into Virginia and I-295, an artery that feeds into southeast D.C. and Maryland. They meet at the point where I took these pictures--the top of L'Enfant Plaza. I should have taken these photos at the height of the commute hours to emphasize my statistics, but that would have put me in crappy traffic and might have made me angry and who needs that, right?!

The Sonoma Coast in springtime, Sonoma, California

My interpretation for Peaceful comes from my archives. These pictures are actually four or five years old, but they represent this second part of the challenge perfectly for me. One of the biggest things I miss about living in the East is the beach.

Patrick's Point State Park, Humboldt County, California

I moved back to D.C. from northern California and, for me, the beach was the place I went to re-energize and center myself. There's nothing more bracing than a good, stiff coastal wind to blow the cobwebs out of your cluttered mind and soothe your soul. D.C. sucks you dry and spits you out and offers few spaces and places to regroup. At least, that's the case for me. When I think of peaceful, I think of the coast.

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential

High Flying

Dulles International Airport (IAD):
One of D.C.'s three airports and the busiest of them all.
Taken at sunrise.

A longer exposure and slightly enhanced shot of IAD at sunrise.

Washington Dulles International Aiport (IAD) is one of three airports serving the Washington-Baltimore Metropolitan corridor. In addition to Dulles, there is Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport (BWI) near Baltimore and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) on the Potomac River. The only advantage to picking up a friend from the airport who has flown a red-eye is the opportunity it afforded me to take pictures of one of D.C.'s most picturesque and architecturally stunning airports.

IAD is named after John Foster Dulles, Secretary of State under President Dwight D. Eisenhower. (His grandfather and an uncle also served as Secretaries of State under Presidents Benjamin Harrison and Woodrow Wilson, respectively.) Dulles is credited with strengthening NATO, instigating the ANZUS treaty with Australia and New Zealand, and working closely with the CIA (under the directorship of his brother, Allen Welsh Dulles) to overthrow the democratically-elected governments of Iran and Guatemala. (In hindsight and in light of recent unrest in the world, probably not the best idea, eh?) He was also a pioneer of "mutually assured destruction"--a Cold War phrase for nuking the hell out of the enemy. In many respects, Dulles' diplomacy contributed to the heightened tensions of the Cold War. At one point, he told an interviewer, "The United States doesn't have friends, it has interests." Chilling, no?

But, this is about IAD. Located on land selected by President Eisenhower, the airport is 26 miles from Washington in now-suburban Virginia. It straddles the Loudoun and Fairfax County lines, but has a Washington, D.C., address. The building was designed by Finnish architect Eero Saarinen and gives the suggestion of flight with its swooping roof, expansive glass exteriors, and halogen lighting. The airport was dedicated in November 1962 by President John F. Kennedy. United Airlines is the airport's busiest carrier shuttling 61% of all travelers through its gates. In 2006 alone, more than 23 million passengers* traveled through IAD.

*Compared to BWI: 20.7 million and DCA: 18.5 million.

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 3/08

Piney Branch

Westbound on Piney Branch to Beach Drive and Rock Creek Park

I've mentioned before that one of the quickest ways to get out of northwest Washington and into Virginia is via Beach Drive and Rock Creek Parkway. There are various roads that feed into both Beach and Rock Creek. One of them is Piney Branch Road. If you live below (south of) Missouri Avenue and above (north of) Massachusetts Avenue, Piney Branch is the best way to get to Beach Drive and, subsequently, to Rock Creek. It's also a good way to cut across the city on an east-west axis. Piney Branch jogs over to Porter Street, which leads to Connecticut Avenue on the western side of Beach Drive and Rock Creek.

Ironically, the name Piney Branch belies the reality of the tree varietals on this stretch. There are few coniferous (needle-bearing) trees. The majority of the trees are deciduous (leafy) trees. The contrast between summer and winter is pronounced. In a few months, this stretch and others like it will be a veritable jungle of green!

This photo was shoot through the balustrades on the 16th Street bridge over Piney Branch leading to Beach Drive.

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 2/08

Blue Skies

Winter blue with clouds under the Calvert Street Bridge on Beach Drive

One of the best ways to get from the northern end of D.C. to the downtown/National Mall area is via Beach Drive to Rock Creek Parkway. This was the view from my car the other day. As you reach the point where Beach meet Rock Creek, you pass under the Calvert Street and Connecticut Avenue Bridges. They form graceful arches over the roadway and provide a beautiful, manmade frame for nature.

By the way--on a different topic completely, it's 11:30 a.m. here in Washington and we're having a heat wave. The temperature right now: 71 degrees Fahrenheit/22 degrees Celcius. I wouldn't mind the heat so much if it wasn't humid, too. That's the part I can't stand: the humidity. Thankfully, by tomorrow we'll be back down in the 50s/10s and by Sunday it's suppose to be in the 30s/-1s!

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 2/08

Happy Mistake

Evening clouds overhead, Foxhall Road

Getting out of the city and into Virginia on a Friday after 4:00 p.m. is always a problem. Unless you have two or more people in your car, you can't use I-66 until after 6:00 p.m. because of HOV restrictions. Rock Creek Parkway is one-way northbound from Connecticut Avenue southward until almost 7:00 p.m. This leaves you with traveling through the city to I-395, or taking Virginia's Route 50 or Route 29, or heading up to the Beltway and going around the long way. None of these are desirable, especially if you want to keep your sanity and be a pleasant person by the time you arrive at your parents for dinner.

I took Military Road to Nebraska Avenue to Foxhall Road to Canal Road to Chain Bridge Road to Route 123 to I-495 to I-66. It took about twice as long as it normally takes to get to my parents, but the important point is, I kept moving and wasn't doing the lurching stop-and-go, stop-and-go that I'd have encountered otherwise.

How does this relate to today's picture, you ask? I was on Foxhall Road and looked out my window to see a beautiful bank of clouds in the waning sunlight. I grabbed my camera and snapped this picture, which I then only slightly enhanced in Apple iPhoto. I forgot that I had my camera set on ISO 80, but the result is, for me, a happy mistake. (And I have five more happy mistakes I'll post over the next while.)

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 1/08

Railways

Holiday wreath at Union Station

Went on a photo safari yesterday afternoon/evening with my brother. Our meeting point was Washington's Union Station.

Built in 1907 at a cost of $125 million, Union Station became the city’s leading portal and transportation hub for more than 50 years. It was through Union Station that many of America's troops embarked to New York City and the ships that would carry them across the Atlantic for deployment to the European Theater during World War II. In the 1960s and 70s, Union Station fell into disrepair—the effect of the emergence of air travel as the preferred form of transportation. In 1981, restoration began on the station after much debate about what to do with the space. Three years later, the station reopened to its former glory. Today, Union Station shuttles more than 32 million people and passengers through its doors, once again making it a major transit hub in the Eastern Corridor.

Zip: 20002

Metro

Chinatown/Gallery Place Station

Washington, D.C., is home to the Washington Metropolitan Area Transportation Authority (WMATA), or Metro. A system of five subway lines, numerous bus routes, and transfer stations, Metro is the most loved and reviled transit system in the area. Known as often for its accidents, breakdowns, overcrowding, and stupid riders (read: clueless tourists) as it is for its ability to transport hundreds of thousands of commuters every day, Metro is also under utilized as evidenced by gridlocks on the highways, freeways, and byways in the larger Washington metropolitan area.

This photo is inside the Chinatown/Gallery Place station on the Red, Green, and Yellow lines.

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 11/07

5th and Upshur

The intersection of Fifth and Upshur Streets NW

Sunday, I went out late in the afternoon to snap some pictures of Howard University. This is how to get to Howard and avoid the traffic insanity that is Georgia Avenue. Taking Fifth Street brings you onto the back side of the historic campus. This intersection is about a mile from my final destination and offered a quiet, Sunday afternoon scene calling out to be photographed. Nothing spectacular, but picture worthy nonetheless.

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential, 11/07