Driving Home from DC at Night

We rarely drive at night anymore. Yesterday we went to a Library of Congress program that was scheduled at four in the afternoon. That would mean it would be getting dark when we left. We found a parking space just two blocks from the Library. When we lived on Capitol Hill we lived two blocks from the Library. That meant a very short walk commute to work for ten years and also a short walk for any program or event we attended. Now that we live in northern Virginia we do miss that convenience as well as the residential parking permit - although I really didn’t like street parking for a whole host of reasons. When the program ended last night the city wasn’t quite dark, but the lights from the buildings were on and the traffic was just terrible - another reason we try to attend programs that are scheduled at one in the afternoon. But this day going to the program was more important that getting stuck in rush hour traffic and driving at night. We didn’t have anywhere to go so it hardly mattered. But it did remind us of how much rush hour traffic is a nuisance and any one who wants to work from home is certainly a great idea. I can’t imagine having to drive in rush hour traffic every day. So as we traveled the all too familiar route we reflected on our time on Capitol Hill. It has a lot of great aspects, but for every day living it could be brutal.