City Bike Tour

Today was an fantastic day to be outside.  Low humidity, with temperatures in the upper 70's - a welcome break to the tropical 80's we've experienced since I've arrived here in the city.  I thought that taking a bike ride would be the perfect activity for the day, with not being able to work yet and all. Using my bike would at least make me feel better about storing it in the living room!  

I needed to go to the Dept of Energy building downtown for fingerprints, so I ventured down Pennsylvania and Independence and, to my surprise and dismay, there were no bike trails, no bike lanes... nothing.  I figured that a town with such a phenomenal public transportation system would have at least made some accommodations for the bikers, but this is not so.  I am disappointed and do not think that I'll be biking to work as I had originally intended, but at least we do have a great metro system. 

I rode (slowly and carefully!) all they way to the Department of Energy building to get fingerprinted, which was quite an educational experience.  I learned that they do not even use purple ink to take fingerprints anymore - it's all done electronically.  All I had to do was roll my fingers over the scan pad and it was done.  Painless and no mess.  In the lobby downstairs I stopped to browse an exhibit on the Manhattan Project, which was fascinating.  I read the original letter from Albert Einstein to President Roosevelt that relayed information on the recent discovery of nuclear fission and its ability to potentially create a real weapon of mass destruction.  I was amazed to see how this enormous scientific discovery directly influenced WWII and the entire world.   

Here is where I will be working, which is only one block from the Smithsonian museums: 

Once I arrived at the Washington Monument I was able to catch some bike trails for several miles.  I figured I would bike until I was too tired or too lost to go anymore.  I found a small trail around a pretty lake (I think it was Tidal Basin) and stumbled upon the FDR memorial.   From the lake I had a view of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial and the Washington Monument. The city was also laid out such that I could see, clearly between two buildings, the US Capitol.  

Can you see it?

 

This is not the only time they thought about point-of-view when laying out the monuments and walk spaces.  At the FDR memorial I turned around and was in a perfect place for the next shot: 

I continued my ride down the Rock Creek Parkway all the way to the Kennedy Center, found the Watergate Hotel (and of course stopped to snap a pic), then traveled across the Memorial Bridge.  I found a nice-looking trail but decided to turn around (I was still in business-like attire from my trip to the office earlier that afternoon) but considered it a pretty great afternoon.