The DC Traveler

May 2nd, 2008

Blue Ridge Arsenal

Firearms have played an important role in America’s history.  Starting with the first settlers to the New World, firearms were used for protection and to hunt for food.  Without firearms in the hands of citizens, the armed revolution to free America from British rule may have never happened.
Yet the use of firearms continues to have […]

By Jon -- 0 comments

April 29th, 2008

Strangest Race Ever

It’s a race Wile E. Coyote or Rube Goldberg would probably enter –the tenth annual Kinetic Sculpture Race at Baltimore’s Inner Harbor. And it’s one of the wackiest races in America.

Nicknamed the “Triathlon of the Art World“, and put on by the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore, the race requires contestants to […]

By Jon -- 0 comments

April 24th, 2008

Sail on a Colonial Tall Ship

I recently wrote about the tall ship Schooner Sultana, which was part of the Alexandria Waterfront Festival.
The replica of a 1796 British Revenue Cutter and Dispatch ship intrigued me, so I did a bit of research.
The original Sultana was built in Boston in 1767, as a Revenue Cutter.  It’s mission was to inspect […]

By Jon -- 3 comments

April 18th, 2008

The Virginia Gold Cup

The annual running of the Virginia Gold Cup horse races in The Planes, Virginia,about 45 miles from Washington, DC, attracts 35,000 spectators each May. 
It all started in 1922 when eight area horsemen organized a four-mile race through the local countryside. 
Today, the event has grown to seven races run throughout the afternoon, over a […]

By Jon -- 2 comments

April 11th, 2008

Since When is College Funny?

College teams compete at all kinds of sports and intellectual pursuits, a comedy?
Yes, at humor.
And here’s your chance to see some of the funniest college students from eight universities around the Washington, DC area.  Since the beginning of year, The DC Improv comedy club, has been hosting stand-up comedy competitions at several universities around […]

By Jon -- 0 comments

April 10th, 2008

Sunday Brunch is a "Drag"

Perrys restaurant is a 20+ year dining institution in the Adams Morgan neighborhood of Washington, DC.  It’s an American bistro and Asian-fusion sushi bar with a very popular rooftop garden in the summer, making it a popular late night single scene as well. But on Sunday’s, it get a bit wild with their Sunday Drag […]

By Jon -- 2 comments

March 10th, 2008

Body Worlds 2

In April, I wrote about the controversial plastination human body exhibit here in Washington, DC, Bodies - the Exhibition.  The major controversy surrounding the exhibit were reports of questionable sourcing of Chinese bodies, for use in the preserved and skinless anatomical exhibit.  The claims were that many of the bodies were used in Bodies […]

By Jon -- 4 comments

February 28th, 2008

Calling All Super-Heroes

The theme of a Comic Book or “comic” for short can be funny, serious, historical or action-oriented, and many involve a super-hero or notorious villains. 
Dating back to the first American comic book, The Yellow Kid in McFadden’s Flats in 1897, the history of the comic book is divided into several historical eras.  The time […]

By Jon -- 0 comments

February 26th, 2008

Fly a "Chopper"

Just a few years ago (pre-9/11), you could take a quick 20-minute helicopter tour over Washington, DC.  Now, if you want a bird’s eye view of the White House or the National Mall, you probably need to know a high-ranking government official that can get you a ride on Marine One.
But you can still […]

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February 6th, 2008

"Ella" and Friends

Before it closed in 2006, Ziegfeld’s cabaret on O Street in Washington, DC’s Navy Yard area was famous, or perhaps infamous, for its campy and saucy female illusionist “drag” shows.  But the club closed to make way for the new National’s baseball stadium.
Yet Donnell Robinson (Ella Fitzgerald), DC’s longest performing drag artists, keeps the […]

By Jon -- 0 comments