Tuesday, August 31, 2010

The Many Charms of Living in The DC Metro Region- Traffic!

Even though this blog's main purpose to share aspects of my vintage life, I thought I would share another element: living in the DC Metro region!

I have lived here in Northern Virginia since 1994. I first came to the area in 1993 to attend George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia. I am originally  from Richmond, Virginia. I did not go far but wow, what a difference in lifestyles!

Richmond represents quaint southern charm, rich with Civil War history. The city was once the capital of the Southern Confederacy. Outside the city where I was raised, farms and plush green countrysides make up the landscape.  People say hello to each other and wave at every car passing the house. Neighbors will have conversations with each other from across the street.

Washington, D.C. and the surrounding areas, however, are quite the antithesis of the laid-back "Old Dominion."  The federal government is based here along with President, Supreme Court, and Senate.  The national and political news is our local news.  People are lobbyists, contractors, lawyers, government employees, senate staffers, and military personnel. Due to the heavy concentration of the federal workforce, there are a LOT of people here. And as a result, there is a lot of traffic!  Did you know that the DC Metro Region is number 2 in the country for worse traffic? Whoo-hoo! I am so proud!

The above photo was taken at 5:03 pm. See the time on my car's console  pictured below?
This is me, not moving:
Here is my exit! The traffic was actually moving faster today. It was still bad but me and the other cars were moving a bit!

 
I think people are still out of town for summer vacation because the traffic was not as painful. School starts next week and I know the roads are gonna be bad!

So, how is the commute where you live?

5 comments:

  1. I sure don't envy you having to drive that nightmare everyday! I don't like city driving period, so any trip to D.C. or Baltimore is always traumatic for me. I count my blessings everyday that I head up to Carroll County, MD for work, in the opposite direction of all the traffic. I am blessed!

    (by the way, your bangs look great. I'm really impressed you were able to fix the cut yourself - that takes courage!!)

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  2. At least you have cute sunglasses to do it in. :)

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  3. When I went back to work a month ago, I knew the easy commute was just an illusion...it takes 15 minutes just to get onto the freeway now, and half hour to get to work...it was 15-20 minutes total a month ago. School started last week for us.

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  4. I'm very happy to work from home right now but it won't last forever, traffic around where I live can be pretty heavy, but I've done horrendous commutes, in 2 seperate jobs I've done commutes of 160 miles round trip! So usually nothing is bad compared to that.

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  5. Thanks for your comments, gals! It sounds like most of us understand bad commute all too well! All I have to say is thank goodness for my CD's and XM radio!

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