Washington Nationals Opening Day

In Milwaukee, I would check the Brewers schedule to avoid the rush hour traffic on the freeway and take an alternate route home whenever it was game day. Now we live in Washington and live only a few blocks from Nationals Stadium. I make a copy of the schedule every year and keep it on the desk to help us plan when we should or shouldn't move the car, or avoid the overcrowded restaurants in town. Someone recently circulated a petition to make opening day a national holiday. I'm sure for most people it makes perfect sense. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind baseball or sports in general, but it's not always easy to live in a neighborhood that has a major sports team playing in the vicinity on a work day. On top of that, even though the cherry blossom season so far is a bust, the traffic this time of year is indeed the worst on top of all the spring break crowds. Some of my colleagues at work were really complaining that it can take two hours to get out of town if it coincides with a game that just ended. Our only saving grace is that I walk to work, and we move the car when we have to. When we left to go to lunch this afternoon in Alexandria, the streets and freeway were filled with Nationals' enthusiasts. When we returned we circled the block a few times before finding a parking space two blocks away. All I can say is at least it wasn't raining.