The DC Traveler

These days, with TV, radio, instant messaging, e-mails and overnight delivery, we take for granted that getting news and information was once a very slow and unreliable process. But in America’s colonial days, things were very different. Letters and news could take weeks or months to reach the colonies or travel from settlement to settlement.
The first private mail delivery service in the U.S. began in 1673, with riders delivering mail between Boston and New York. Twenty years later, King William of England granted the right to deliver mail to Thomas Neale, who ironically had never been to the colonies. Neale appointed the …read more

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Starting her career after runing away from home, Josephine Baker began dancing as street-performer in St Louis. Within a couple years, at just 15 years old, she started dancing in vaudeville. She soon moved to New York City during the Harlem Renaissance after the end of the first World War. There she performed on Broadway and at numerous night clubs where she was billed the highest-paid chorus girl in vaudeville.
In 1925, she opened in Paris and became the talk of the town, notably for her erotic and semi-nude dancing. Paris was, at that time, obsessed with African and African-American culture, …read more

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Giant Gypsum Quartz
The National Museum of Natural History - Mineral Gallery
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During his time as a a U.S. Senator, John F. Kennedy and later his wife, Jackie, lived in several homes around the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, DC.
In 1946, he first moved to DC as a Congressional representative from Massachusetts and World War II hero. In 1953, he was elected to the Senate, the same year he married Jackie. Before January 1961 when the Kennedy family moved into the White House, they lived at a total of seven residences around Georgetown.
After the President was assassinated in Dallas in 1963, Jackie and the children lived in two other homes, before moving to …read more

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Since 1942, The Voice Of America has been broadcasting daily news, information, educational and cultural programming to the world. With AM, FM, short-wave, satellite TV and radio broadcasts in 44 languages, VOA boasts a global audience of over 115 million.
VOA started during World War II as an attempt to get news and information to Nazi occupied Europe and North Africa. It began broadcasting to Soviet Russia in 1947, as the Cold War escalated. During the 1980s, broadcasts into Russia peaked at 12 hours a day.
To have the ability to broadcast to virtually any hot-spot in the world, Voice of America also installed …read more

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While New York has Rockefeller Center for winter outdoor ice skating, nothing compares with skating while surrounded by fine works of sculpture and great music at the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden. So now that the cold winter weather has arrived in DC, the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden ice-skating rink is open.
If you get cold, the Pavilion Café serves hot chocolate, coffee and tea (even beer or wine), as well as sandwiches and salads, but closes a couple hours before the rink closes.

National Gallery of Art
Sculpture Garden
Constitution Avenue, NW at 7th Street NW
Washington, DC
Rink Hours
- Monday - …read more

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Being a Chicago native, I’m fond of many things that come from The Windy City – The Cubbies, The Second City Improv, The Joffrey Ballet, and Chicago’s famous deep-dish pizza, to name just a few.
One other notable Chicago icon that I have seen many times is the high-energy and always entertaining Hubbard Street Dance Chicago.

I recall the first time I saw Hubbard Street perform, it was while I was still in college. I knew little about modern dance and after watching that one performance, I was, from then on, both a big fan of modern dance and of Hubbard Street. The …read more

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Models of giant birds with 15-foot wing spans, armored fish, strange invertebrates, bizarre reptiles and amphibians, 350 million year old dinosaurs and strange mammals make up Bizarre Beasts, Past and Present.
Highlighting some of the most bizarre and different animals that ever walked, crawled, swum or flew on, in or over the earth will capture your imagination.
Created by animal sculptor Gary Staab, this exhibit brings to life touchable cast skeletons, fossils, and realistic life-sized models that you can interact with. The hands-on interactive exhibit explores how animals evolve and adapt to their environment over millions of years.
This exhibit is great for …read more

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It’s that time of year again, for the annual Washington Auto Show. This year’s theme is “Presenting Advanced Technologies“.
Fresh from the Detroit show, over 40 automakers will display 700+ cars, trucks, SUVs and mini-vans in over 9 acres of the DC Convention Center.

Focusing on new technology and alternative fuels, one of the highlights should be Toyota’s interactive exhibit promoting their hybrid technology - Highway to the Future – Mobile Hybrid Experience.
A highlight of the show for me, being a life-long sports car owner, is always the super-expensive and super-powered exotic cars.

Some notables models to look for:

Aston Martin Vanquish S – …read more

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Camera…Scanner.
Last week, I wrote about a great photographic exhibit of award-winning nature photographs on display at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History.

In the gallery next door, is a rather unique exhibit of stunning photographic(?) images of flowers. The reason for the question mark is that these images are not taken with a camera, but with a digital desktop scanner.

Transitions: Photographs by Robert Creamer is an exhibit of 39 photographs and a brief video presentation on how he creates these dramatic and one-of-a-kind images.

Creamer, a professional photographer for over 30 years, set down his camera and brought his subjects - flowers, …read more

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