Feeling Like A Tourist in DC

It was such a beautiful bright and sunny day with blue skies all around. So we decided to take a ride to Alexandria for lunch and then stop by Capitol Hill to drop off a medical records release form at our doctor office. We moved to northern Virginia nine months ago and are in the process of switching over to doctors with offices closer to our house. While in town, we took a ride past our old house, the neighborhood, and then down Independence Avenue. We felt like tourists - especially since I was taking photos of things that I already have millions of pictures of having lived on Capitol Hill for thirteen years. But it felt different now because we no longer have our parking permit and need to abide by the parking signs more than ever. Everything looks a bit different from our new vantage point - the colorful rowhouses, the Library of Congress (where I worked for ten years), the Capitol, Supreme Court, Smithsonian Museums, Hirshhorn, Washington Monument, White House, Lincoln Memorial, Kennedy Center, Watergate complex. Whenever we drive in to town my husband gets nostalgic; I get reminded of the inconveniences of living in DC - like street parking - and that I worked most of the time we lived there. It was a great experience, but it was time to go. We know the city is there - just ten miles away - whenever we get the bug to see it. I have a feeling it won’t be that frequent after a while.