It’s just a week after the best snow of the year that we’ve had the most warmth of the winter! I guess spring is here.
We received 6-8 inches of snow last week, as these photos from Capitol Hill attest. This week we’re luxuriating in temperatures that have ranged from the 50s and up into the 70s. Nice! I won’t provide photos of the warmth because they just aren’t as compelling. But, trust me, it’s more satisfying to walk through a warm DC day than it is to slog through a cold DC morning.
Living and working in downtown Washington, D.C., is a special experience. It’s monumental, it’s urban (in a good way) and it’s social. But still, there is the nagging concern that — however small the chance of it actually happening — I live in the blast zone for a nuclear attack on the nation’s capital.
Thankfully, Wired has provided a Wiki page on how to “Suvive a Nuclear Blast.” Sadly, it didn’t tell me anything I didn’t already know. But it is somewhat reassuring that I’m not alone in worrying about this possibility. Right?
Well, it’s just a few hours away for those of us in Washington, D.C. It seems like it was only yesterday that I was in New Orleans contemplating the unfathomable year 2000, eight years in the future. Then I was covering the year 2000 at CNN.com in Atlanta. Now we’re closing in on the end of the first decade of the new millennium. While I might have concerns that the robot apocalypse looms on the horizon, I’m going to end 2008 by saying that the future looks bright.
Saturday was one of those days when living in Washington is the special experience you imagine when you’re off living in the Midwest.
Kites were flying down much of the Mall as part of the Smithsonian Kite Festival. It was a riot of shapes and colors dotting the sky as everyone from toddlers to kite-obsessed adults tugged at strings attached to their kites. Despite its ragged condition, the Mall shined once again as a public gathering place.But that wasn’t all that was on view Saturday.
The cherry blossoms were also popping, framing the Tidal Basin in pink. Walking under these trees is like walking through a tunnel of cotton candy, with visions of the Jefferson Memorial dancing across the water.
Along the way, we enjoyed seeing the Capitol, the Washington Monument, the D.C. War Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Organization of American States, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the American Red Cross, the White House and the National Press Club.
What a day!