While nothing will compare to the awesome blizzard we had just after Christmas on Long Island, Bethesda experienced it's own special winter weather that crippled the commuters. Funny, the DC area freaks out when we might get two inches of snow (it could always end up being 3 feet like last year! Quick, buy provisions!) no one seemed to notice the deadly ice coating every single surface outside after a night of "wintry mix" ...
Ice coated every branch, every berry, and I decided to be artistic with my droid:
In the process of ice sticking to every single individual leaf,
sometimes the poor leaf eventually slipped off from it's icy prison, leaving a translucent ice shadow:
I passed a guy holding an ice-leaf as big as his fore arm while I walked up to the NIH, but he had an enjoyable smashing episode before I could try to get a picture. Anyways, good work Bethesda, some spectacularly inclement weather.
Some pictures from a nice day wandering around food stalls in Bethesda with my friend Elizabeth. Bethesda is unofficially the (a) restaurant capital of the East Coast, and there are hundreds in town that were all out to cater to our changeable and discerning wandering palates. Good weather, good food for not too much money, and ultimately a very successful day. Aw, Bethesda, you've grown on me in the last year!
Today I reached a rather satisfying milestone... 1k on the trusty Jamis Satellite. I've been rather neglectful of my faithful steed, and with the combination of the great damage inflicted on it by careless shipping companies with the look of disapproval by the repair guys when they saw the state of the (uninjured) chain I have recently pledged to treat it with more respect and coddling. The chain is, and will forevermore appear, silver.
The magical 1k appeared only a few miles out from home on the Capital Crescent trail, as I dodged powerwalking grannies and little kids weaving about on their Christmas presents for the first time. The *perfect* weather we've been having seems to funnel everyone into the public park-y places, but slowing down for joggers also meant slowing down to enjoy the day. I ended up on a 30+ mile jaunt to Alexandria, where a nice fellow cyclist named Johnny (big burly guy in baby blue lycra) watched my bike while I purchased some much needed Starbucks refreshments. I almost called us "bikers." Can I call us that? So badass in our matching spandex outfits with diaper padding in the shorts and shoes that make us waddle like penguins.
The trail I rode passes by National Airport, and I joined a bunch of really excitable kids and their parents in watching the planes come in to land directly over our heads. Planes are really cool. The ride mostly followed the Potomac all the way from Bethesda, so I had some other splendid vistas of the mall monuments, the Pentagon, the cathedral, and other classics. The last 8 miles are a gentle uphill incline, so I managed to arrive at home feeling nice and tired... and since my body clock insists that I am in a time-zone in the middle of the Atlantic, I really felt that I could go to bed around 7pm. I baked muffins and resisted the urge to pass out, but now it is a very reasonable 10:15pm and I think I shall call it a day. A thousand miles. And I only *almost fell off my bike in the SPD shoes once! I think I can say I'm a cyclist now?
