Silver Line opens; new way to Dulles Airport

So, my husband and I rode to the eastern terminus of the Washington Metro Silver Line on opening day yesterday. This is the first new subway — really, an elevated line — since 1991, and it goes through and past Tysons Corner, a local byword for big shopping malls, wide highways and mammoth office blocks.… Continue reading Silver Line opens; new way to Dulles Airport

Bleg: inexpensive guest house or hotel near Harvard

Dear readers: A bleg: blog beg. Any ideas for an inexpensive guest house or hotel in Cambridge, Massachusetts near Harvard or Mt. Auburn Cemetery? I have a day coming where I can look some things up in the Universalist archives, and visit the graves of Hosea Ballou and John Murray. One to satisfy some questions… Continue reading Bleg: inexpensive guest house or hotel near Harvard

Rapture post 3: in the Metro

I saw this illuminated sign, announcing today’s scheduled rapture, in a D.C. Metro station about a month ago. It’s worth recalling in case someone tries to make too much of an ad campaign — say by atheists and sceptics — using the local public transportation system.

WMATA on Google Transit

Today, D.C.’s transit hounds get what once thought impossible: the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA; “Metro”) is on Google Transit, a service that integrates maps and service schedules. It is available for dozens of other services worldwide. So now it’s possible to plot driving, walking and transit trips in the area. Other, smaller transit… Continue reading WMATA on Google Transit

Commuting to church: D.C., elsewhere tool

The folk wisdom about getting to church is that people will go as far to a church as they will go to work. That makes commuting data important for church plants, but failing that assume that someone won’t take more than a half-hour to get there. There’s a new interesting tool that maps how far… Continue reading Commuting to church: D.C., elsewhere tool

Visiting D.C.

The tourists are coming to Washington, D.C., and despite the recession I can imagine numbers will be high. Once you’re here and housed, it is a remarkably cheap place to visit with the leading destinations free to the public. So I have a request of local residents and recent visitors: what would you recommend to… Continue reading Visiting D.C.