I recently uploaded nearly a thousand pictures from my camera and realized that I had neglected to post about a number of my exploratory adventures during my first weeks here in DC. These photos were taken during the second weekend in September, on King Street in Alexandria, Virginia, where there was an enormous and very lively art fair which stretched down to the end of the street to the (Potomac) river.


When I had finished browsing one side of the art fair, I took a walk down by the waterfront. It was a hot Sunday afternoon, and there were people everywhere, musicians playing on the sidewalk, and, of course, pigeons. I made sure to get you a nice shot of the pigeons.



I walked back to the metro (about a mile and a half) along the other side of the art fair, so I could at least catch a glimpse of everything on display. (My favorite stall of the day was a gallery of jewelry made out of old watch parts!)

And in case you were worried, I also made sure to take in some historic buildings with arches and columns.


And all of this was really easy to access by Metro - my love affair with DC public transportation has yet to die. All in all, it was a fantastic day!

One of the things I missed when I was in college was going apple-picking. I know there were orchards within driving distance of Providence, but I never had a car - and between classes, my job, and rugby, there just never seemed to be any time to hop a bus or find friends to go adventuring with.

But I'm from apple-town (Barack Obama gave not one, but two speeches from our orchards on the campaign trail), and whether or not I get to pick them from the tree myself, I can taste the difference between fresh local apples and imported ones. And the autumn (my favorite season) just never seems the same without being surrounded by bushels and pecks of my go-to fall fruit.

So imagine how delighted I was to find this:


Farmers from West Virginia come to DC every weekend to sell their produce outside of Eastern Market, and while I can't vouch for the peaches (too late in the season) I can tell you that the apples are mind-bendingly good. I've been living off bags of Honeycrisps as big as two fists, interspersed with crunchy little Galas and the occasional Jonamac. My lunch bag every day is decidedly lumpy and harder to fit in my purse on the way to work. I have been known to munch through an apple at lunch and go back for another one in the evening when I get home.


I don't live in apple-town anymore - but I'm liking this one just fine. :)