Dance is this week’s travel theme from Where’s My Backpack? So, here we go, a collection of colorful frolicking from the months past. A king and the Maypole at the Maryland’s Renaissance Festival: Montresor and Fortunato, doomed by Poe long ago, stumbling over the bones at the Westminster Hall & Burying Ground: Performers practicing backstage at the DC Turkish … Continue reading
It is almost the inauguration. I wanted to see DC prepare for this grand happening, so we went to the National Mall. It was all dressed up–Obama, Obama, Obama EVERYwhere. We first headed to the National Museum of the American Indian for the “Out of Many”: A Multicultural Festival of Music, Dance, and Story, a three-day … Continue reading
I loved the whirlwind of color, movement, and imagination stirred up by this week’s travel theme challenge from Ailsa’s Where’s My Backpack: Multiples. There are so many great responses. I’d like to add mine to the chorus. My swarms, rows, and badelynges of multiples are grouped by season and month when I encountered them. 1. Winter 2. … Continue reading
Growing up so close to China, I was inevitably exposed to the intricacies of its lunar zodiac, with 12 bird and animal signs, each one influencing the personality and fortunes of a person born under its care and setting the tone for the year. Ever since I moved to the US, I missed this part of … Continue reading
After years of hearing about it, I finally went to the Maryland Renaissance Festival, the annual autumn celebration outside of Annapolis. We went on a whim: I saw an ad, hailing entry price discounts until mid-September ($19 for adults, instead of the usual $24), and it sounded like a good idea to experience the venue before … Continue reading
Mount Vernon Estate and Gardens, the beloved home of George and Martha Washington, is a place I recommend all our visitors see–its location here and Washington’s attachment to his plantation is why we have the capital in DC, after all. “No estate in United America is more pleasantly situated than this,” Washington wrote of Mount Vernon … Continue reading
Late spring and early fall are when Washington is at its best, and street festivals certainly contribute to this. One of my favorite local traditions is coming up: the DC Turkish Festival, held every year in late September, an explosion of colors, tastes, and sounds. The Festival is held across from Freedom Plaza, on Pennsylvania … Continue reading
After a morning at the Library of Congress, lunch beckoned. Along Independence Avenue, past the U.S. Capitol grounds and the glass Conservatory, a small gate invites alert pedestrians to the US Botanic Garden (the oldest botanic garden in North America), leading you gently to the Mitsitam Cafe, the best cafeteria on the National Mall, at the … Continue reading
Did you know that July is the lotus season in DC? Last week, I wrote about my late-June stroll through the serene and beautiful Kenilworth Park and Aquatic Gardens, “where water and wind dance,” and the lotus ponds were just beginning their bloom. This weekend, I went back for the park’s Lotus and Water Lily Festival. Ponds upon ponds of … Continue reading
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