Category Archives: The Great Outdoors

Talkin' Transit, The Daily Feed, The Great Outdoors, WMATA
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Metro Birding

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If you’re like me, you probably wake up every weekend morning thinking, “I’m tired of seeing only pigeons, sparrows, seagulls, starlings, and other parasitic and invasive avian species in this urban environment! But I don’t have a car! If only there were Metro-accessible places to see more diverse species of indigenous birds in the DC area!” Well, despair no more! John Beetham of the DC Audubon Society has posted Birding By Metro, your guide to bird-spotting locations easily accessible by DC public transportation.

Birding By Metro. Go do it. Seriously. Bring back pictures.

Foggy Bottom, The Daily Feed, The Great Outdoors, WTF?!
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Press Button, Receive Mud

It’s usually pretty simple to get across Rock Creek Parkway when walking between Washington Harbour and Foggy Bottom near the Watergate (map) — the button to get a WALK light is actually responsive, and vehicular traffic at that particular location is unusually generous to pedestrians for a DC intersection.

But when it rains, then comes the challenge: the button lies behind a muddy moat (okay, puddle) through which one must wade and risk the wetting of feet and pants legs to get a WALK light.

Muddy Crossing Button

And it gets worse in winter, when the puddle freezes over. Can someone get that paved, please?

Crime & Punishment, Entertainment, The District, The Great Outdoors, The Mall
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The Cardboard Samurai are Coming

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When the scroll arrived at my desk this morning, borne on the winds of change by a messenger falcon, I could not believe my eyes. The Cardboard Samurai were coming. Their likes have not been seen in Washington for some time, after they were driven back by the Army of the Paper Airplane back in ’99. I had feared that would one day return.

They fight without mercy, without cease, until their cardboard tubes lay in pulpy pieces upon the ground. The havoc…

On July the 26th, they shall return to Washington DC, their cardboard tubes at their side, their cardboard armor freshly carved and worn like the samurai of old. They will meet on the Mall, betwixt the Smithsonian and Natural History Museum at 3pm to display their ancient art.

The Washington War Dance. Upon us again. Perhaps, for the last time.

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Top photo: IMG_1075 by Hellathatguy
Bottom Illustration: Penny Arcade