The Nationals

The Washington Nationals vs. The Los Angeles Dodgers,
Wednesday, May 30, 2007 at RFK Stadium.

Presidential Races during a break in innings at the Nats v. Dodgers game,
RFK Stadium. Jefferson beat out Washington by a length and Lincoln by yards.
It was the next inning before Teddy Roosevelt finally showed up!

Moon over RFK.
A beautiful, albeit muggy, evening for a ball game.

The Washington Nationals are in their third season in Washington, D.C., and continue to play at RFK Stadium while a new stadium is being built on the Southeast Waterfront. When their new digs are ready in 2008, it will have cost the taxpayers of Washington more than $611 million--a controversial expenditure if ever there was one. That's the downside. The upside is, the new stadium, like many of its predecessors in cities like Baltimore and San Francisco, will revitalize sections of the city that have been plagued by urban blight for years, if not decades. If you want cheap, fix-it-up property that will yield a mint in a couple of years, buy houses near the new stadium. You'll more than double your money, I guarantee it.

Tonight's game was a bust for the Nationals. The Dodgers beat the Nats, 5-0.


Photo copyrights: D.C. Confidential (Janet M. Kincaid, 05/07)

Today's Potatoes Are From Rigby, Idaho

Little cheeseburger with bacon, lettuce, tomato, pickle, ketchup, and mayo,
a side of fries, and a Cherry Coke, Five Guys, Silver Spring, MD.

Having lived in California and eaten at In-n-Out Burger, it's a thrill to find a fair equivalent to the aforementioned. Welcome to Five Guys Famous Burgers and Fries! These guys make a fabulous burger and rockin' fries. What would make this joint 100% perfect would be if they'd add milk shakes to the menu, but hey, you can't have everything. This burger, which soon found its way to my stomach, was cooked at Five Guys' newest franchise in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Five Guys was started in 1986 by--well, five guys--who wanted to make good, quality burgers and fries. The Washington Post calls Five Guys' "the Willy Wonkas of burgercraft" and they consistently receive high marks in Washingtonian Magazine and Zagat Survey. For a long time, the only Five Guys' restaurants were the original burger stand in Alexandria, Virginia, and one or two other locations in the D.C. area. Several years ago, they decided to franchise and now, you can find Five Guys as far north as New York and all the way down in Florida to the south. They're slowly moving westward, as well, with locations in Tennessee and Ohio. The next time you're in D.C., stop at Five Guys and have a burger. Oh, and the wipe board always says, "Today's Potatoes Are From Rigby, Idaho."

Be sure to check out this anecdote from my trip to Five Guys in Rehoboth Beach and play along!

Zip: 20904

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential (Janet M. Kincaid, 05/07)

On Memorial Day

Funeral of TSgt. Eldon L. Bangerter, Kaysville, Utah, May 12, 2006

In memory of my grandfather, who passed away a year ago and was buried in Kaysville, Utah, in May 2006. He was a veteran of World War II, having served in the U.S. Army in Europe under Gen. George S. Patton.

To my grandfather and all the other men and women in uniform who serve our country, thank you. And to the mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends who have lost loved ones in recent conflicts, our hearts are with you.

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential (Janet M. Kincaid, 05/07; originally taken May 2006.)

Dancing In the Streets

Dancing Jogger Guy, Chinatown

Yesterday, while wondering through Chinatown, I came across this guy again. I've seen him before. I call him "Dancing Jogger Guy." He literally dances in circles across the crosswalks in an intersection. He'll make the rounds in an intersection for several light revolutions. He's a character and one of these days, when I see him again, I'm going to ask him why he exercises in such a unique manner.

While trying to take this picture, a young woman approached me. She was wearing a t-shirt that said, "Stop Bitching! Start a Revolution!" She was rather insistent that I buy a shirt from her and asked me if I bitch a lot. I said, "Yeah, a bit." To which she said, "Well, then stop bitching and start a revolution!"

"Okay, fine," I said. "Move out of my way! I'm trying to take a damn picture! There! Is that revolutionary enough for you?"

She moved on to the next person.

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential (Janet M. Kincaid, 05/07)

Rock Creek Cemetery

Crypts and headstones, Rock Creek Cemetery, Washington, D.C.

Cemetery Chapel to the Montreal Iverson Icon of the Mother of God,
Rock Creek Cemetery, Washington, D.C.

Nestled on 86 acres in northwest D.C. on land donated to St. Paul's Episcopal Church in 1719 sits Rock Creek Cemetery--the oldest cemetary in Washington. The original glebe--or land donation--of 100 acres was made to the church that year by John Bradford, a Maryland farmer and member of the parish's vestry. In the early 1900s, the church sold 14 acres to the city as part of a municipal road project. A portion of the cemetary has been set aside for St. John's Russian Orthodox Church and St. Nicholas Latvian Church, otherwise Rock Creek Cemetery is considered a public cemetery and anyone may be buried there, regardless of religious persuasion.

Among the notables buried here are Alice Warfield Allen (mother of the Duchess of Windsor), Melville Bell (father of Alexander Graham Bell), Charles Corby (the inventor of the baking technology that produced "Wonder Bread"), Julius Garfinkel (founder of Garfinckel's Department Store), Gilbert H. Grosvenor (Chairman, National Geographic Society), Alice Roosevelt Longworth (daughter of President Theodore and First Lady Alice Hathaway Lee Roosevelt), Upton Sinclair (author and Pulitzer Prize winner), and Sumner Welles (Undersecretary of State for FDR), among others.

Zip: 20011

The Greatest Generation

The National World War II Memorial
with the Lincoln Memorial in the background,
17th Street between Constitution and Independence Avenues NW

Had it not been for a little Hollywood blockbuster called Saving Private Ryan and an anything-but-ordinary actor named Tom Hanks, there still might not be a memorial on the National Mall to the men and women who fought in World War II. Hanks, along with director Steven Spielberg, started the public, grassroots campaign to build a memorial they said was "long overdue."

The National World War II Memorial was authorized by President Bill Clinton and the bulk of the funding came from private donations and pledges that totaled more than $181 million. The federal government contributed a mere $16 million. Construction began in September 2001 and the memorial opened to the public in April 2004. It is situated on the National Mall between the Lincoln Memorial to the west and the Washington Monument to the east.

On any given day, you can see veterans of the greatest generation--those men and women who fought in Europe and the Pacific and who kept the war industry humming on the homefront--totter around this magnificient memorial. They are in their 80s and 90s now. Few are in excellent health, but all are proud to have served their nation and to have aided in truly and justly freeing the world from despotism and tyranny.

Zip: 20006

Tranquility

Approach to Widewater from the east, C&O Canal Towpath,
Angler's Inn, Carderock, MD.

Bonsai-like outcropping with trees, blue heron, and reflection,
Widewater, C&O Canal Towpath, Angler's Inn, Carderock, MD.

When I can't get to the beach and I want somewhere quiet to sit and reflect, I get up early in the morning and go to the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal Towpath near Angler's Inn on the Maryland side of Great Falls on the Potomac.

The C&O Canal originally was built and served as America's first interstate commerce throughway for goods in our country. Today, in the D.C. Metropolitan Area, you can hike, bike, and kayak on more than 180 miles of trails and water. If you wanted to take on a bike trip, you could start in Georgetown, D.C.'s toniest neighborhood, and end in Pittsburgh, PA, Steel Capital of the World.

Here are some facts about the C&O Canal:

• Construction was started on July 4, 1828 and completed 22 years later on October 10, 1850.
• The canal cost $14 million to build and, at the height of construction, comprised a labor force of 4,000 men--most of them immigrants from Ireland and western Europe. In all, 35,000 laborers dug the canal, as well as aqueducts, culverts, locks, and lock houses.
  
• In the C&O Canal National Park, which was established in 1971, the canal is 184.5 miles in length, six feet deep, 60-80 feet wide depending on the section, and has an elevation of 605 feet. The towpaths, along which the product-laden barges were pulled, was originally 12 feet wide.
• There are 74 lift locks on the canal. They are 100 feet long, 14 feet wide, and 16 feet deep.
• The canal operated from 1850 to 1924.
• An average trip down the canal took seven days, working 18 hours per day.

The pictures above are of the approach to Widewater, about 1/4 of a mile west of Angler's Inn. The scene is idyllic and features a couple of tiny islands in the middle of this resevoir that have an almost Oriental quality about them. They look like large-scale bonsai. On this particular morning, the blue heron were especially active and, if you look closely, you can see several on the rocky outcroppings.

Zip: 20854 (Angler's Inn)
Zip: 20854 (Great Falls Nat'l Historic Park)

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential (Janet M. Kincaid, 05/07)

Facts About the Canal courtesy of the National Park Service, C&O Canal FAQs.

F.B.I. Flags

Flags Throughout History, The Federal Bureau of Investigation,
National Headquarters, 1001 Pennsylvania Avenue NW

First, a confession: I didn't take this picture today. I took it several days ago, when the weather was sunny and moderate. Unlike today, which was cold and overcast--odd for May, but not unwelcome. The picture I took for today didn't turn out as I would have liked, so I'm scrapping it for another day.

This is the outside of the F.B.I. Headquarters. Located just six blocks from the White House, the Bureau is home to America's federalized, domestic investigative agency. The F.B.I. was started in 1908 as a result of a conversation between Teddy Roosevelt and General Charles Bonaparte in 1892. Roosevelt became president in 1901 and, four years later, at the beginning of his second term in office, he nominated Bonaparte to be U.S. Attorney General. Bonaparte created a special corps of agents, drawing from the ranks of the Secret Service and police detectives.

Today, the F.B.I. has field offices in every major city in the U.S., as well as offices overseas. Among other domestic spy duties, they are charged with countering terrorism, though their competence at such endeavors has at times been overshadowed by spy scandals (Robert Hanssen) and technological glitches and misspending. They list Osama bin Laden as their Number 1 Most Wanted Man, offering a $25 million dollar reward for his capture--dead or alive. If you've seen that wily terrorist anywhere, called your local F.B.I. field office.


Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential (Janet M. Kincaid, 05/07)

Rabbit a la Rodin

Thinker on a Rock, Barry Flanagan, 1997,
National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden.

All right! All right! I know... Enough art already, you're saying. I promise, this will be the last piece for a while.

Just another example of the kind of sculpture you'll find in the National Sculpture Garden. In this particular piece, the artist, Barry Flanagan of Great Britain, uses the image of a hare--an oft used image in many of his pieces--in a "witty and irreverent reference" to a famous sculpture from the 1880s.

This particular piece, Thinker on a Rock, is Flanagan's homage to one of the world's best known sculptures, The Thinker by Rodin.


Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential (Janet M. Kincaid, 05/07)

Whimsical

Typewriter Eraser, Scale X, Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, 1999,
National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden.

Located on the west side of the National Gallery of Art is the gallery's Sculpture Garden. Set on six acres on the National Mall, the garden includes a central fountain and 17 sculptures, as well as an impressive collection of perennials, shrubs, trees, and other green, leafy things.

This sculpture, by artists Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen, depicts a typewriter eraser. The sculpture stands more than 20 feet high and captures "a giant falling eraser that has just alighted, the bristles of the brush turned upward in a graceful, dynamic gesture." Claes Oldenburg is known for his "monuments based on common objects...challenging the notion that public monuments must commemorate historical figures or events." (Oldenburg and van Bruggen are also the artists who created the sculpture, Cupid's Span, on the Embarcadero in San Francisco.)

The National Sculpture Garden is located across the street from the National Archives and provides a tranquil space in an urban setting for enjoying ones lunch break.

Zip: 20005

Photo copyright: D.C. Confidential (Janet M. Kincaid, 05/07)