Good morning, sports fans. For those of you that don't know, Sara and I are spending some time with her sister and husband in the U.S. capital. Friday brother-in-law went to work and wife and sister-in-law went to shopping, so I went to running. There's a fantastic view from their apartment, you see, and I couldn't resist the urge to run to it.
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Left horizon: Washington Monument
Center: Reagan Int'l Control Tower
Right of control tower: Capitol Building |
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Google Maps told me there was a walking route to the White House that was about 6.2 miles long. Sounds good. I only wanted to do eight miles tops, but what's another four to run amok downtown D.C.? But, as it turns out, you should really listen to the warning that says, quote, "Walking directions are in beta. Use caution – This route may be missing sidewalks or pedestrian paths."
Off I went. First stop was a wrong turn which put me in view of the control tower.
But that was only a few thousand yards of error. Undeterred, I went on...but I just couldn't seem to make the directions I remembered from Google Maps' walking direction match up with reality. On top of that, the bridge it said I could cross was clearly marked off-limits to pedestrians. I looked at my phone and saw another bridge up the Potomac a ways. I decided I had already come this far, I mean, look how close the Washington Monument was, so I might as well find the other bridge and see if I could cross it.
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| It's just across the river... |
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Right before I took that photo I got a shock. I came out from an underpass and I was presented with this view:
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| El Pentágono |
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It is quite a large building. Oh, and I was forbidden from taking pictures for another mile or so while in the 'reservation':
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| Military thinks they're special. |
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From there, I meandered through L.B.J.'s memorial grove. Memorial groves, by the way, are a much better idea than memorial piles of stone, I think. On the other side of the grove I found a promising looking road, and then I found the next bridge:
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| Now we're talking. |
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| This picture is worth one half of one cent. |
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The Reflecting Pool isn't as pretty as I
remember from 'Forrest Gump' |
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I was across the bridge and still feeling good. I knew where the White House was, so I figured I might as well. Apparently I wasn't the only one with the day off and a desire to see the executive branch's building, however.
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| Maybe they really like UAVs...? |
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| No, not so much. |
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These people were protesting the war. They picked a rather odd way to do it, though...their chant was, "When drones fly, children die. Stop the war now!" It's as if they believe drones are part of the problem. Do you think less children would die if there was a human in the cockpit? I'd actually argue that human pilots in the heat of battle increase collateral damage and civilian casualties through adrenaline-based bad decisions...see Black Hawk Shootdown Incident. These people probably think drones dehumanize and distance the pilots from reality, desensitizing their better human nature through the video gamification of war, making them into remorseless kill-machines. I've heard the same argument against remote-controlled gun turrets on armored vehicles. Never mind the fact that military training itself is designed to desensitize you, strip away all those pesky emotions like empathy and fear and replace it with dutiful adherence to orders...and mostly, for good reason. If you stop to think in a firefight you might die. A little distance from the battle gives one the luxury of pause.
But I digress. The main reason these people pissed me off is that I couldn't get a decent un-protested picture of the White House. I had to go around to the front for that.
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| Just tourists over here. |
With that out of the way, it was time to head back. I took a quick jog over to the Washington Monument. |
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| Nothing says 'America' like an obelisk |
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...and back over the bridge by the Lincoln Memorial.
By this time, I was plenty done. I had a drink on the mall from a water fountain, but I was still thirsty, hungry, and my feet were starting to blister (my new FiveFingers aren't entirely worked in yet). I took a look at my phone to see the shortest route home, which appeared to be going around Arlington National Cemetery. So I ran down the road that led to said graveyard, and I found that there was no way past it. I consulted my phone again. It appeared there might be a way through. One problem:
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| What kind of cemetery doesn't allow jogging? |
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It hurt my blisters more to walk, so I took my Vibrams off. I walked all the way to the other side and found that there was only one way in and one way out...groan.
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| A way out? |
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I was this close to jumping that low stone wall over there, but luckily I spotted some restricted area gates and some other telltale signs of a military installation. I almost brought my military I.D. with me, always a good idea around D.C., but like an idiot I didn't. I found an opening in the wall which was being guarded by someone in shiny Class-As and a pistol harness. I asked if that was government property on the other side and he said yes. He probably would've let me through if I'd had my I.D., because according to my phone it was just a regular old Army Fort. Grr. I had to walk back out.
I called wife to see if she could pick me up, but they had just got started shopping so I told her not to worry about it. After leaving Arlington I put my Vibrams back on and retraced my steps back to the apartment. This was moderately painful, but I didn't realize the extent of the problem until I got back.
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| That doesn't look so bad... |
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Yes, it looks fairly mild, but that was post-shower. It looks worse now, but instead of showing you a current picture, I'll just show you what happened to my shoes:
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| Carnage! |
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| Bloody hell! |
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This made it okay that my wife packed two left sandals for me. I don't think the blister would've let me wear these.
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I know I have two left feet, you
don't need to rub it in |
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Also, I love her for packing my shoes like I asked when I texted her from working saying I forgot to and would she please. I just think it's funny.
Why do I have two pairs of sandals that are exactly the same, you ask? Long story. It involves how these sandals have the carbon footprint of a Hummer, though.
Anyway, all told it was 19.6 miles of running and walking. That's about as much as I wanted to do all weekend. Oops.
View 2011-10-07 10:12 in a larger map
These things happen. At least I got to see some things, and now I have an intimate understanding of the immediate national mall area. Bonus.
