Traffic and Parking

We just got home from a little vacation to Washington, DC. Overall, we had a great time! We got to see a few sights, see a few friends, and meet the newest addition to my husband's side of the family. However, the traffic, roads, parking, and construction in and around the DC area are TERRIBLE!!! If you didn't know this, now you do. We tried THREE TIMES to so see the Lincoln Memorial and each time we got there but then got lost or detoured while looking for parking so saw something else instead.

Now, they do have, what they call, the Metro. This train picks you up from out laying cities and takes you into DC. We considered this but decided that with 3 small children and our budget, it would be better for us to drive. This was a mistake. Between the massive number of cars on the road and the crazy construction that reduced most roads to one lane, we spent more time in the car then we did seeing the sights.

It just made me wonder at the problem. Richard Cypher always reminds himself, "don't think of the problem, think of the solution." So here's my solution: First, make the Metro more affordable and family friendly. Next, close the city to cars!! I know, that doesn't sound possible, but I saw the coolest thing there: Bikes. You know those cart rental racks you see in the malls or airports? You put in your money and it unlocks one cart for you. When you return it to any other rack, you get a deposit back. They had that for bikes! So increase options like that, increase bus routes and make them more affordable, continue to allow those touring buses/trolley, make walking maps for tourists (maybe the do have these but the only map I found was one put out by the tour trolley and it had all it's stops and routes marked but was unhelpful for parking and walking). Or, if you're not going to close the city to private vehicles, at least make parking more available.

On another random topic, you know how car tags ("license plates" where I come from) say something about the state? Like in Utah they used to say, "Greatest Snow on Earth." Well, in DC say on them, "Taxation without Representation." It made me chuckle that that was actually printed on their plates. But then I thought, "Well, if you don't like it, why do you live here?" I just mean, DC is so small and there are so many areas nearby that are in a State and have Representation. That let me to think, what if you closed all these apartments and turned them into parking structures. Then people who came into DC to work and visit would actually have a place to park! Taxes from the businesses could continue to run the city and there would be no residents to complain about their taxes!

Okay, I know, I know! That would never work anyway. But these are my random ramblings, and that was what I was thinking about as I sat for 30 minutes in construction staring at the tag on the car in front of me.

On a positive note, the George Washington Memorial Highway is beautiful!! And the bridges along that road were magnificent!! I got really excited when Dani (my GPS) would take us onto that road. If I were more familiar with the area, I would have taken that road every chance I got, even if it was out of the way. There was no construction (at least not on the part I was on), the traffic ran freely, and the view was breathtaking!! I can't say ALL the roads were terrible (just all but one).