Washington, DC (USA)

[last day of the year! - due to some requirements at work, I had to go in for a few hours - made the best of that, though, by trying something I've been wanting to do since I moved to our new home: use the Metro all day (no car) - it started with a little research on the schedules for the (many) bus lines that go down the busy street about four blocks away - I found a good (early) morning arrive time and (mistakenly) thought I needed to go to that location (turns out I could just stand at any bus sign on the street and all buses would stop for me...) - it was a little chilly to wait, but I actually got picked up and arrived at the station almost at the same time as I usually do with my car (roughly 15 minutes lost by using the bus) - worked all morning, closing out business for the year - ate lunch with my Subway gift card (thanks, Carolyn!) - around noon, I headed over to the Metro Station and used Yellow and Red to get over to Judiciary Square, which I hoped would be near the Supreme Court - it wasn't, so I got to walk about 10 blocks to get there (and learned that Union Station is MUCH closer...) - saw a lot of media and protestor activity at the Capitol ("Fiscal Cliff" issues) but avoided it and went into the Library of Congress to do some research - took about four pages of good notes and left early enough that it was still light out - had to wait a while for trains for some reason, but after only one change (Orange to Yellow) made it back to where I normally park - took the same bus I used in the morning (it was waiting there!) and made it home in about 20 minutes - all in all, today proved I can get around without a car (if I really wanted to...) - even the walk home from the stop (about 1/4 to 1/2 a mile) was good for me (and provided humor to the kids: "Who is that guy walking down the street? Oh, it is Dad!") - stayed up just long enough to see it was 2013 (and hear the fireworks all around our area) - Happy New Year!]