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Thread Number: 1148
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Original Message
"Washington, D.C. / Northern Virginia"
Posted by Godd3ss on 10-11-05 at 09:27 AM
I live in Northern VA (and have lived for 28 years) and I thought I found this part somewhat humorous.

1st - There is never that much open parking at the Capitol. Not during the week, not on the weekends. All of the teams managed to find parking awfully quickly. That in itself is an absolute joke. I am guessing that the cordoned off the parking area so that they could actually park their trucks.
2nd - I find it funnier that they really didnt show anyone getting lost. Anyone who has driven in this area will get lost even after living here, no one armed only with a map would find their way that easily.
3rd - The family that couldnt find a gas station?? WTF? We have gas stations on every corner and they were in #####. That made me laugh harder.
4th - I loved seeing some of the families get stuck on Rt 66 in rush hour traffic. For those of you who don't live around here, 66 West is pretty much bumper to bumper 12 hours a day. Between construction and the CF of the area, it is never pretty.
5th - I found it surprising that the people that got off in Manassas (Rt 234) were able to find their way using backroads. There is so much construction in this area that I dont think any map would be truely updated for the roadwork that is done.

Anyway - these were just some observations from a local.

- Jennifer

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Messages in this discussion
"RE: Washington, D.C. / Northern Virginia"
Posted by CouchTater on 10-11-05 at 09:36 AM
I was thinking the same thing about #'s 1 and 2. I've never lived there, but I've been a tourist in D.C. a few times and I've also never been able to find parking that easily, and I've gotten lost with a map several times. And I'm good with a map.

Once again, maybe it's editing and maybe they did keep spaces open for them to show up. I can't believe though that they would keep spaces blocked from the general public all day not knowing when the contestants would show up and if they would be there at the same time.

It's a farce!

"RE: Washington, D.C. / Northern Virginia"
Posted by Cygnus X1 on 10-11-05 at 10:20 AM
I thought the same thing about the parking. The National Park Service seems to be doing everything in its power to get rid of parking and make the whole Mall area more conducive to TourMobiles, as this article attests:

...I drove an aged visitor into town for a close-up look at the Washington Monument. The nearby parking lot, by custom reserved for just such drop-ins, was suddenly closed. It has never reopened. Late last year, the small parking lot adjacent to the Jefferson Memorial, also intended for quick visits, was sealed off to all but authorized vehicles (authorized: "not yours"). Now anyone who would like to see Jefferson in his memorial must park nearly half a mile away, duck under a pair of freeway exits, cross a street blurry with careening Tourmobiles, and, after a while, pass through the now-closed parking lot, from which the memorial is a thirty-second walk.

The National Park Service at first declared the closing "temporary." It will be permanent. Four of the eight windows at the top of the Washington Monument have mysteriously closed; the porch around the Lincoln Memorial is fenced off; visitors to the Reflecting Pool {which one? -Cyg} are unaccountably shooed away. And so it goes: Overnight a wall of Jersey barriers arises here; a chain-link fence closes off a shortcut there; favorite spots for picnics or loafing suddenly recede behind bollards or are rendered inaccessible altogether. The shutdowns usually occur without public notice, much less a public hearing.

Maybe had it been a 2-hour show, we would have seen the teams struggle with how to get downtown. The B/W Parkway? The GW Parkway? New York Avenue? But they had to show the Rogerses with their faux pas on Rt. 30 in PA. And the Aiellos dodn't get much of a bump from one of them having lived in NoVA, did they?

I still submit that gas stations are hard to find in NoVA if you don't know where to look. One Sunday morning in Arlington (why does the system think that's a bad word?!), I found a couple stations on Rt. 50 . . . that were closed. (FTR, I HATE driving almost anywhere in NoVA, even on weekends.)

Right you are about westbound I-66. I was on it once at 6 PM on a *Saturday* night, and it was slow from Glebe Road westward.

That, to me, is why DC would make a great place to finish an Amazing Race. The traffic is murder.


Why the NIMBYs stopped I-95 from continuing into DC down to the 3rd Street Tunnel, I'll never know.

"RE: Washington, D.C. / Northern Virginia"
Posted by CouchTater on 10-11-05 at 03:32 PM
This article makes me think that maybe this might be a result of the current anti terrorism atmosphere. I've been to both Philly and NY before 9/11 many times and there were no restrictions to anything, now, for instance, to go to Independance Hall in Philly, you have to go through the bag check and get screened. Once in there you have to follow the path that they've marked out and there are armed guards watching everything. It's just so different from before 9/11 when you could just walk up and hang out there. I was a crummy feeling.

Maybe now they are trying to keep the spaces cleared out so terrorist cannot hang out too close with cars and what not.

I find it rather sad. I'm sure TAR got permission for their cars to park nearby and probably that's why they had quick access.

"RE: Washington, D.C. / Northern Virginia"
Posted by cipher5150 on 10-11-05 at 03:40 PM
You are absolutely right about the parking. There is no way they would be able to find parking around the capital. Although there is rarely any mention of it, I believe that TAR provides a designated parking area whenever they are in areas that parking will be an issue (as I would expect they had to do in NYC for the premier episode). Sometimes you can see flags when they are parking, and when they have to park at airports and such you can often hear them read the parking information under their breath.

“They really didn’t show anyone getting lost”

Actually they did show the Rogers(?) family getting lost on their way from the Capital to the Tidal Basin. I think they were in Chinatown at one point (I can’t remember if they said they were in Chinatown or if that is just what it looked like to me in the two seconds they showed of it). But I’ve lived in DC for over 20 years and drive a lot and I still get lost sometimes downtown - I can’t believe this was the only family that had a significant delay due to navigation. I expected this to be a major factor on this leg of the race and was, frankly, disappointed that more teams didn’t suffer Lafayette’s wrath.

I do have to disagree with you regarding the gas stations. In my experience there are very few gas stations downtown and you have to know where you’re going to find them. Once you move away from “downtown” and get into outer DC and Virginia, and out towards the suburbs, they are fairly common (which may be what you meant) but I don’t recall there being any that are readily available near the monuments. I think the Paolo family tried to find a station immediately after leaving the Tidal Basin and this was simply a situation of if you don’t know where they are you won’t find them.

"RE: Washington, D.C. / Northern Virginia"
Posted by Cyndimaus on 10-11-05 at 04:17 PM
I love finding out what areas are like from people who actually live there. You get such a limited perspective on tv. (they can only show SO much in an hour)Thanks to all of you who commented on this week's location.


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