Things I Will Miss About DC

After close to two decades in DC, I will be leaving next week. In no particular order, here are things I will miss about Washington, DC:

1. The open spaces and building height restriction. DC is a beautiful city!
2. The monuments. I still get a charge out of them.
3. The bike paths, including the Capital Crescent, W&OD and Mount Vernon Trails.
4. People wearing i.d. badges and talking policy in the bars.
5. The weather. Many people knock it, but we have lots of moderate weather, a change of seasons, and extremes that usually do not last very long.
6. Shamelessness by politicians and lobbyists. It's generously rewarded here.
7. MacArthur Boulevard and Glen Echo Park. This was the area where I first lived in DC, and it is still a bucolic step back in time.
8. Motorists blatantly ignoring the hand-held cell phone prohibition.
9. The C&O Canal.
10. Bethesda. I know it is somewhat sterile, but as sterile goes, it's one of the best. And it has the Bethesda Writer's Center, a stimulating and decidedly non-sterile place.
11. White's Ferry and the General Jubal A. Early cable ferry that faithfully crosses the Potomac River between Maryland and Virginia there. In keeping with the period, the ferry's operator has been standin' up to the federal revenooers.
12. Embassy Row.
13. The guy on Embassy Row who has stood across from the Naval Observatory for years waving hand-made signs stating that the "Catholic Church Abuses Children." Dude, you were way ahead of your time.
14. Bad Mexican food.
15. Good Thai food.
16. Redskins game results crowding out real news on page one of the Washington Post each Monday during football season.
17. Adams Morgan.
18. Rock Creek Park.
19. The DC bloggers!
And last but most importantly,
20. Friends, family members and loved ones who make their home in DC. I am very sad to be leaving you, and I hope we will all make full efforts to keep in touch and visit each other.

Farewell DC, and thanks for a great run!