D.C. Hospitality Bureau

Since we run in D.C. most days, especially on the Mall (probably three times a week, minimum) and in the heavily trafficked tourist areas, I tend to get asked for directions by tourists. A lot. I don't mind, of course--but I'm starting to feel like I should get some kind of "hospitality" badge or something.

The most frequent question, "Where is the nearest Metro?" Last week, I think it was Wednesday, there was a couple at Constitution and 12th--I don't think I've ever run past that D.C. tourism map when there weren't tourists looking at it trying to get their bearings. The woman--not the man, natch--stopped me to ask where the nearest Metro was. Now, if you're at Constitution and 12th, as you know, you're just two blocks from the Smithsonian Metro stop, and if you climb the (short) hill to the Mall, you can see the stop. So I said, "Oh, just up this hill and you can see it." Then we ran on. I looked back and saw the couple going the other way. I wondered why, and Frances explained to me that she had heard the man in the couple say, "Smithsonian isn't that way" as we ran off. Well, excuse me, sir. Please feel free to disregard my expert directions and to follow your (rather large) gut instincts.

Most of the time, I can provide pretty good directions. I know the names of most of the streets, and I have learned, for my own purposes, where most of the Metro stops are. But from time to time, I get stumped.

Btw, speaking of tourist sites, the cherry blossoms were beautiful Monday night, when we ran down to see them. Today, there were hundreds of people down around the Tidal Basin, but the cherry blossoms had really declined--a thunderstorm, heavy winds (Thursday night, I swear that there was a twenty-mph wind out of the west on the Mall), and today, snow. Not a lot--not like in Cleveland, where the Indians game was cancelled for snow--but not good for cherry blossoms.