Silver Streak or Silver Sneakers?

To celebrate the second weekend of its service, Chris and I made the trip out to Northern Virginia and DC to give the new Silver Line a whirl. Given the sheer terror of my time as a commuter on the Red Line (especially in the months after the horrible crash where we all learned what “telescoping” meant and nine individuals perished), my hopes were not high. Yet, what I found reminded me of home, for it seemed almost as smooth as the SkyTrain that offers a similar level of not-quite-light but not-quite-heavy rail transit.

The Silver Line opened on July 26^th after several years of hot debates, delayed construction, and hot debates over delayed construction. For all the headaches involved, it’s a wonder that we can build anything on this type of scale with these types of goals when so many agencies are involved. There was hardly enough pie for everyone to get their slice. But once we got through the throngs of tourists unable to figure out how to use a Smartrip Card and the bathrooms that were locked but didn’t seem locked at the Wiehle-Reston East station, the trip on the train for the four-remaining Silver-only stations was a pleasure.

My greatest concern with the Silver Line is that it only increases the severity of the bottleneck at Rosslyn (and others agree and explain the situation very well!). Unlike other stations in the system that have three lines meeting, at Rosslyn they must do it all on the same track. Because of the spacing between trains and the demand on the peripheries of each respective line, the only word that comes to mind to describe those commuting through Rosslyn is “hell.” For the Blue Line in particular, I imagine the delays have only grown. Likely reminiscent of Red Line commuters who really, really want to get to Forest Glen, Wheaton, or Glenmont  but can’t get any further than Silver Spring if their lives depended on it, but worse.

But as these thoughts get frantic and negative, we were suddenly at one of the Farraguts trying desperately to get to the other Farragut to get onto the Red Line. The Red Line, not wishing to disappoint me, had a train break down at Gallery Place and no trains were running toward Shady Grove. After 30 minutes at the other Farragut with no trains coming, we turned around to go back to the original Farragut and get on the Silver Line back towards the safe arms of suburbia. Thankfully, due to the invisible, magic “transit tunnel” between the Farraguts, there was no financial toll for the 30 minutes in Metro Limbo, but we made the return trip much faster than expected. Returning to the original Farragut, within moments we were headed back out to Wiehle-Reston East and the day began getting substantially better from there.

On this journey, in one of the newest cars in the fleet, I saw my first glimpse of Metro’s tongue-in-cheek advertisements urging commuters to look alive because the love of their life may also be riding the Silver Line. I don’t know if it was my frustration or delirium from being outside of the mountains, but I found it absolutely hilarious.

I took this trip on a Saturday and was really impressed with the balance of traffic I saw heading both into and out of DC. Some things I was expecting. For example, I expected Tyson’s Corner to be the same kind of hit that Metrotown Station is on the Expo Line in Vancouver. You can’t go wrong with frequent rail transit to a major entertainment destination (especially if it’s the wintertime and there’s precipitation).  But I did not expect Wiehle-Reston East to be such a bustling hub of activity. Most of the construction here is not even complete (they’ve got all kinds of transit-oriented-design goodies planned here), yet it was probably the busiest station, rivaling even Tyson’s Corner. This is evidence to me that the line is desired and will see use. I hope that in five or ten years the only question remaining in the minds of those that pushed for this is, “why couldn’t we have this super nice thing sooner?”

Of course, for all of the promise of the Silver Line, it is still part of the overall Metro Rail system. I think my concerns about the bottleneck at Rosslyn are real. But Metro has an opportunity to set their best foot forward with something new and fresh that hasn’t had time to be ruined by neglect, vandalism, and bureaucracy. I hope they take it for all it’s worth and turn over a new leaf!

First Frigid Weekend

The holidays are here again. I think the only things I look forward to about the holidays are the scented candles. I buy enough of them so my home may smell like an autumn wreath or Christmas pine all year. I struggle most with having to spend more time indoors followed closely by drivers who make poor life choices in grocery store parking lots.

I fared my first very cold weekend of the season fairly well.

Saturday: Chris and I ate breakfast at home before running errands around town, one of which is to frame a piece of memorabilia from Expo ’86. I was conceived during Expo ’86 in the city where it took place, given the theme of that World’s Fair was transport and communications, I’m beginning to think my fate in life was sealed before I even got out of the womb. In two weeks, I’ll have that reminder hanging on the wall of the home office.

After these errands, we decided to find an easy geocache off Snake Hill Road. After we found the cache, rather than head back into town the way we came, appreciating the quality of this county road (as many county roads in West Virginia aren’t even passable by a regular car) we decided to see where it went. We discovered a back way to Masontown and Route 7. Route 7 is a favorite of mine, I’ve written about it and Decker’s Creek a time or two here. Even in the frigid temperatures, it is a beauty.

One goal I have set for myself is to work on my cooking skills. So after what I believed to be the adventure segment of the day, we did something we rarely ever do: attempt to go grocery shopping during the day on a weekend. Holy heck! I felt like if I wasn’t encroaching upon someone else’s personal space, they were encroaching upon mine. What also blew my mind was the poor parking lot etiquette. I do not understand why, especially, elderly individuals (often with handicap placards) find it necessary to stand in their vehicles in front of the entrance. Oftentimes, they do this while keeping their vehicle in gear which is especially dangerous.

To top it off, we watched Promised Land, a movie about the encroaching of natural gas into a small town in Pennsylvania, starring Matt Damon. I’d wanted to see it in theaters but for some reason the nearest it ever got to Morgantown or State College was Pittsburgh.

Sunday: Bingo at Mountain State Brewing Company. We’ve done this before, but this time our friend Courtney brought two of her friends, Kelly and Cody. So new friends, great food, and winning four of the seven bingo rounds—not bad for 2 hours on a frigid Sunday afternoon!

Afterward, we went to Sears to further investigate the possibility of a portable dishwasher. We were so pleased they had two models on the floor, but we were less pleased when after 30 minutes we left without even making so much as eye contact with an associate. It’s unfortunate when a company so desperate for money lets sales for big ticket items like that walk out the door.

Throughout the entire day, we had borscht cooking in the crockpot. We weren’t sure how it was going to turn out. Frankly, we were terrified we were going to hate it (so we had a contingency plan: delivery Chinese from Great Wall). When it was finally time to lift the lid off the crockpot and serve, it was actually pretty good—it just needed a little more salt and garlic. It was like a very hearty vegetable soup that happened to have beef in it. Delicious!

Now, in two months things aren’t going to have gone so well on a cold Saturday and Sunday. Though if the high cracks freezing, you can bet I’ll be hiking somewhere!