Our Side Trip to the Capital
We interrupted our summer-long stay in Ames to take a whirlwind trip to Washington, DC, this week.
We wanted to see Brad and Nicole after nearly two years of coronavirus-mandated distancing. We wanted to re-visit some of our favorite Smithsonians. And we wanted to see the Nats play baseball.
We did all that, and we were surprised by what we saw. Not by the National Museum of American History or by the American Art Museum or by the National Portrait Gallery — and not by the Nats. No, what surprised us — a whole lot, in fact — was that we appeared to be among the few “tourists” who were in town.
We have been to DC numerous times — and we have never seen the city so empty. Not only have visitors not returned in droves — the city’s working population also has not come back.
The well-run and usually-jammed Metro was virtually empty, both during rush hours and times in-between. On every one of our trips underground, we had train cars almost to ourselves.
And believe it or not, the museums and galleries we visited were nearly empty, as well. Part of that was because you had to sign up for entry times, and the museums were limiting capacity to 25 percent. But trust me — none of the places we walked through had anywhere near that 25 percent.
So imagine, if you will, walking through the magnificent Museum of American History — yes, the one with everything from Edison’s early inventions to one pair of the ruby slippers Judy Garland wore when she filmed the legendary “Wizard of Oz” — and NOT having to jostle your way through crowds of people — as we have had to do every previous time we have visited.
The truth — hard to believe, I know — is that almost no one was inside when we were there in the middle of the day. It was eerie — almost like something out of “The Twilight Zone.”
The same was true at the American Art Museum and the National Portrait Gallery. At the latter, our walk through the incredible halls with those portraits of our presidents was almost free of other tourists. It was surreal.
Yes, it was quite nice to see Gilbert Stuart’s indelible portrait of George Washington and those iconic paintings of Jefferson and Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt and FDR that we all remember from our high school and college history books — to see them without other people jammed up to us and rubbing against us.
But in a way, it was also sad. It showed how much the coronavirus has hollowed out DC — how much that virus has changed the way so many work and live and travel.
Yes, what happened to DC over the past year is a microcosm of what happened in other major metros. We know that Manhattan emptied out. We know that San Francisco lost thousands of people who decided they could more profitably and safely live elsewhere — as long as they could work remotely.
Now, the question is, what happens next? No one we talked with during our stay in DC thinks federal workers will return en masse to their offices. If people can work by computer at home, they will.
What does that mean for the future of our major cities? Make a guess, and then put it alongside the crystal-balling everyone else is doing. No one knows.
The only place we saw any kind of crowd was at the Nationals ballpark. Because we attended two midweek games with Brad and Nicole, those crowds were smaller than they would have been on a weekend.
But even so, you might have expected the stadium to have more spectators, given that the Nats are hot and near the top of the National League East, and given that their opponent — Tampa Bay — is near the top of the American League East.
Now, you might wonder — did anyone wear masks in the places we visited? Yes, in the Metro and at Reagan National Airport — they are still mandated there, and everyone complied. Inside the museums, a few people wore masks. At the ballpark, no one did. Masks were not required at those spots.
We had only two full days to enjoy the sights and sounds — and, yes, the food — of our nation’s capital. And we made the most of them — not just visiting some of our favorite historical museums but also discovering delightful new dining spots — some of which had just opened. We ate well, and we ate too much.
We had some really nice times with Brad and Nicole. They’re “living the dream,” in a new apartment complex next to the baseball stadium and within walking distance of dozens of eateries.
It’s a great time in their lives, and Sharon and I remember having some great times in our lives when we were the age they are now.
But our great times are mostly in the past, and our current times are such that we had to moderate how much we could do and see. In other words, we’re older now and can’t run around the way Brad and Nicole can and do. We miss that. Yes, we do.
That’s the nature of life, of course. While we wish we were as young as they are, we aren’t. So we have to be grateful just to be able to see them again after so long, and to share a bit of time in their busy lives. And we are. Now, it’s time to get back to our own lives.