The DC Traveler

Is there a more universally recognized toy than Legos?
Roughly 40 million children around the globe, spend 5 billion hours collectively playing with Legos each year, according to Lego.

And since 1949, 400 billion Lego elements have been manufactured or roughly, a 9,500 new pieces per minute.
With that many pieces floating around since 1948, you know Legos have a long long and interesting history.
So if you want to check out the latest in Lego-mania visit BrickFair ‘08 Public Expo this weekend. The event covers 12,000 square feet of original Lego creations from hundreds of creators, both children and adults. …read more

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I really enjoyed the preserved bodies exhibit and so did close to 300,000 other visitors to Body Worlds 2, at the Maryland Science Center in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.
The exhibit is closing on September 1st, 2008, so here’s you last chance to experience the inner workings of the human body.
For the final weeks, the hours are extended from 9:00 am, until 9:00 p.m. daily.
Body Worlds 2 Maryland Science Center 601 Light Street, at the Inner Harbor Baltimore, MD 21230 (map it)
Dates and Times – Daily 9:00 a.m. – …read more

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Join the good King Phillipe and his marry men for dinner and a jousting tournament at Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament in a medieval castle-like setting.
Besides a jousting tournament on a large, indoor field where the regally attired knights compete for the hand of the beautiful princess, watch and cheer for your favorite knight as they test their skills in swordsmanship, hand-to-hand combat, and displays of horsemanship.
You dine on long tables while the Medieval Times knights joust and pummel each other with swords, maces, lances and the alabardas. But be prepared to eat with your hands, as no silverware is provided. 
The meal, …read more

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Colvin Run Mill, in nearby Great Falls, Virginia is a working 19th-century water-powered gristmill, owner’s home and general store, set on a 38-acre historic site. There is also a recreation of a barn and blacksmith shop from the same era. The grain mill, powered by a waterwheel, was erected around the mid-1800s and ground grains for the local farming community.  Three grinding stones and various flour sifting apparatus are located in the basement of the mill, powered by three large wooden gears attached to the waterwheel. The miller’s house, just a short walk from the mill, was the residence …read more

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It was a time when tobacco was king, the year 1771.
Tobacco was the essential 18th century America crop and was often used by colonists as cash to pay for goods and their farm land rent.
Visit the Claude Moore Colonial Farm just outside of Washington, DC and see what it was like to live on a lower-income tobacco farm, just a few years before the outbreak of the Revolutionary War.

Now that the tobacco leaves are ripe and ready for harvest, join the volunteer farmers and colonists as they clean, cut and split their harvest and prepare the tobacco for …read more

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Washington, DC has tons of places for brunch where you need to get dressed up to enjoy an expensive and lavish Sunday brunch.  But how about a neighborhood joint that caters to locals and serves simple and hardy classic breakfasts, where wearing jeans and a sweatshirt is more than acceptable?
Then head on over to Jimmy T’s Place, just five blocks from The Capitol Building, for a classic diner,  no-frills breakfast. It’s been called the last of a dying breed- the classic greasy spoon and is a weekend ritual for people who live on The Hill.
Down home breakfasts ($5.00 – …read more

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Shark tagging….No, it’s not the newest version of online “tagging”, this is real, hands-on tagging of live sharks on the open ocean.
Join Baltimore Aquarium staff and Captain Mark Sampson, a recognized shark lecturer and writer, for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to spend a half-day on the water tagging live sharks off the coast of Ocean City.
Tagging sharks helps marine biologists and scientists, by providing valuable  on shark populations, habits, identity, migration and life span.

Shark Tagging in Ocean City, Maryland Ocean City, Maryland  (map it)
Dates and Times – a few weekends in late August (see below).

Saturday, August 23, …read more

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It’s the classic Victorian love story scene — a couple lounging in a rowboat, on a lazy summer afternoon in the middle of the lake, while he woos her with poetry by Byron or Keats.
And you too can add a bit of romance to your life and surprise your loved one with an afternoon or sunset rental of a rowboat at Burke Lake Park, in Fairfax Station, Virginia. All you need is a book of your favorite poet’s work.  Mother Nature can proved a romantic sunset.

In the late 1950s, Fairfax County Park Authority decided to create a public fishing lake. …read more

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So you think you’re funny?  John Belushi, Chris Farley, Bill Murray and Mike Myers all got their starts in Improv. 
Some learned their trade at Chicago’s famous Second City, others at New York’s Upright Citizens Brigade or other improv schools across the U.S.  The best ended up in Hollywood or on Saturday Night Live.
But improv is a learned craft, where students learn the basic skills of listening, spontaneously, off the cuff story-telling, confidence, teamwork, comedic instincts and how to never stop or never laugh, no matter what happens.
If you have a desire to try out your comedic skills, …read more

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“Exploratory artists” make up the participants of the Washington, DC Capital Fringe Festival.
What’s that mean?  It’s place festival where local talent can showcase over 100 cutting-edge, contemporary performances.
Plays, music, multimedia, burlesque, comedy, cabaret, improv, dramas, “science-fiction rock n’ roll parody” (check out Wiener Sausage: The Musical!), stories, one-person shows, puppets and clowns, and even a game show, all make up this year’s Fringe Fest. 
The festival is non-juried, so some of the performances may have never been pre-screened or “approved”, so some may be fantastic, others… may not.  But that’s what makes the festival fun.

There’s also a host of workshops, …read more

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