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Roberta
and I attended the 2nd Annual Congressional Bank Baseball
Classic yesterday at Nationals
Park. The event gives four
high school teams the chance to compete and raises funds for DC-based youth
baseball programs. We saw
some of the semi-final game between St. Alban’s and Gonzaga. Also took some photos of and
around the ballpark, including a pose beside some player named Willie Mays…
I’m
a weekend hacker, which means I lost count a long time ago of how many times
I’ve started out a round of golf suffering through a bogey or worse. That’s my fault, of course, for
not playing enough, and not always hitting a bucket beforehand. But then again, not all courses have practice ranges, and have you ever heard of one that started out with something easy like two par
threes?
Actually,
Hilltop Golf Course, south of Alexandria on Telegraph Rd, fits that bill. Roberta and I played there this morning. It was our first outing of the year so we appreciated the easy start (I still went bogey, bogey).
This
nine holes executive track is certainly not for everybody. Even from the tips it’s short, so
the grip-it-and-rip-it crowd stays away. Having said that, some of the holes are not easy,
especially the third hole, an uphill, boomerang-shaped par five.
Hilltop
opened up in 2003, offering area golfers a break from nearby Greendale. Four of
the holes are on landfill. That visual will keep some away but we
have never noticed any odor problems.
In addition to its unique shape, what sets Hilltop apart is the links design. If you have a big enough imagination, you can pretend you’re playing in the British Open.
Why
you’ll go:
Rut-breaker, fun to play once, don’t have to pull out your driver, fairly easy course.
Why
you won’t:
Carts
mandatory on weekends, too short, no snack bar.
The American
College of Sports Medicine has ranked America's Fittest Cities. The nation’s capital (metro region) earned
the top spot.
The ACSM website has a cool interactive look at each city, giving their strengths and challenges.
One writer from another city we love, had this to say about DC,
the unlikely winner of Washington D.C.
I guess they’ve
never been to Georgetown…
With
the Giants set to roll into the nation’s capital next week for a three-game set
against the Nationals, my thoughts turn to the games I’ve seen my favorite team
play in their gray away uniforms.
My
first Giants game was my second big league game. In August 1976, my friend Steve and I
drove from North Carolina to Atlanta for a Friday night game. Too bad we didn’t choose
the Giants visit there on September 29. We would have seen John Montefusco toss a no-hitter.
My last Giants game was last year here in Washington. Great to see them in the new ballpark but remember the scorching heat wave?
In
between those two bookends are a lot of good memories of taking road trips to
see the Giants in New York, Philly, Pittsburgh, Cincy and Baltimore. The most
memorable game of that lot is the Giants historic return to Yankee Stadium in
June 2002. Bonds hit a
jaw-dropping, three-run shot into the upper deck to give San Francisco a 3 to 0
lead in the first. Then we won
it 4-3 by scratching across a run in the ninth off Mariano Riviera.
A
part of waiting for the Giants is anticipating the rotation. We were supposed to see Clemens
pitch that sunny Saturday afternoon in the Bronx, but it rained on Friday night,
pushing his start to Sunday.
That’s
where my thoughts are now, wondering about the probable starts for when the
Giants play on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights. If I’m not missing
something, the rotation will be Lincecum, Johnson and Cain, with The Big Unit going
for his 300th win.
That’s
got to be the best menu I’ve ever seen in this regard, but like my fellow
DC-based Giants fans, I’m nervously waiting to see if it works out.
And
there’s always the worry about how they will do. Hopefully it will be better than that first game in
Atlanta. Rob Dressler got
knocked out in the fifth and the visiting team lost 7 to 0.
But we got to see the Giants.
National
Harbor has its faults and critics but count the better half and I among those
who enjoy going there. You’ll have to forgive me for saying
this several times now, but for years folks on the Virginia side of the WW
Bridge avoided going over to the Maryland side because the bottleneck was so
bad for so long. Now we even
have a dedicated lane. In just a
jiffy, you’re there. And then it’s
almost surreal, like you’ve entered a whole other world.
There’s
also the discovery.
Since no one is blogging the site, the places there get little
attention. (Disney did get the
big-time publicity, with plans on building new hotel. According to the Post piece, it’s just going to
be a hotel and nothing else.)
So
the better half and I enjoy walking around and seeing what we haven’t
seen. On Monday we checked
out three places located next to each other on Waterfront Street. They’re near the Coming Soon
Los-Angeles-based Ketchup restaurant.
The
new National Children’s Museum Launch Zone actually got some press, but its two
neighbors have not. On the corner
is Elevation Burger. We peeked inside to see the place under
construction. Looks like it’s over half way done.
In between Elevation
Burger and the Kid’s Zone is a new Segway store called Segway of National Harbor. Coming on the
heels of our “safari” downtown, we were excited to see them. I had been thinking it would be
great to go on another ride, but didn’t want to do DC again. So we are hoping to take their tour to
Old Town which is scheduled to begin on Sunday, June 7, the day after the
official opening of the new trail lane.
Once again, we know the area but it should be fun going over the new
Wilson Bridge and going faster than we did downtown. The manager
also said they are hoping to construct an off-road course on the other side of
the Gaylord National.
We also made
another discovery along the stairway that takes you from Waterside Avenue down
a level to the restaurants along the pier. The stained glass mosaics are by DC native artist Cheryl
Foster.
Before our Segway outing on Saturday, Roberta and I came across a ceremony at the Navy Memorial. We also took some photos of the Harleys we saw this weekend.
To our troops past and present, thank you for your service.
Memorial Day’s three-day weekend kicks off the tourist
season in the nation’s capital.
As the visitor’s pour in, some of the locals head for the mountains or
the beaches.
Well, some of us thought we would stay and play
tourist. Maybe even take a Segway
tour!
Yep, the better half and I did just that yesterday. We’ve seen them zipping around downtown
and The Mall, their occupants looking so smug and cool. So even though we’ve already seen the
sites, I figured we just had to do it once.
From what I found on-line, there are three established
Segway rental places downtown.
I looked over each website and contacted all three by phone. I was most impressed with the
customer service and friendliness of Segs in the City. Their Pennsylvania Avenue location at
the Old Post Office was also a plus, as well as the fact their catchy name
stands out better than the other two.
We had a great time.
The five-day forecast turned out not be an oxymoron, the learning
process is fairly easy and they gave us five minutes to gain confidence.
There were nine of us, five from the area and four
out-of-towners. We took the
one-hour tour, stopping at National Archives, National Gallery of Art, the
Canadian Embassy, up the Hill to the Capitol, back down and then the
homestretch past the Newseum.
That’s not much, but we didn’t want to the more expensive two-hour
“safari.”
Our guide Will had good enthusiasm and taught us a thing
or two. I love meeting people from other places and spoke briefly
with a lady from London and two from South Carolina.
These tours are a great way to see some of the sites and
the city, especially if your time is limited. They’re very popular so I would highly recommend
advance planning. I didn’t
visit the other two places, but they get very good reviews on-line. You probably can’t go wrong with them
but we were very impressed with the one we chose.
After all, Segs sells…
Segs in the City
11th and Pennsylvania
http://www.segsinthecity.com/segs_in_dc.htm
Capital Segway Tours
13th and I
capitlalsegway.com
City Segway Tours
624 9th
citysegwaytours.com
Note: Google
search shows City Segway Tours having a second location (1455 Pennsylvania) but
the customer rep said they are no longer there.
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