Our 60 hr. portal-to-portal-and-back trip to D.C. is over, we’re back in L.A., if a bit jet-lagged. Sue’s interview went well. We shall see if they make an offer and then decide if we accept.
A cousin who lives in D.C. drove us around. There were many buildings I’d seen pictures of and vaguely recognized. He has a vast knowledge of what they are, when they were built, and their history. "That building there is a coal plant that supplies power to several federal buildings, natural gas would have made much more sense, Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia forced that through, you can see the train tracks where the coal is brought in." This in downtown D.C.!
What I finally realized about the heart of D.C. that makes it different from other cities, is that there is no commercial core. It’s all governmental, non-profits, foundations, etc.
They also have real public transportation there. The Metro, buses, etc. My cousin sometimes parks his car for two weeks at a time because he has no need to drive.
D.C. license plates now say "Taxation without representation." This is not a vanity plate, this is not a license plate frame, this is printed directly on them the same way many states print a motto on their plates.