Late Night Fiction It’s all in your mind

My Adventure to DC

I live about 30 miles out of DC and, since it's one of my last nights in the area, I decided to go see the city. This was my second time driving there, but first alone and first time at night. Now, the one thing I had trouble with on my first venture with my friend was the block setup and how the traffic lights are across the intersection. It also never helped that I'm partially color-blind.

So tonight I got in to the city after making a stop in Alexandria, and let someone get in front of me to lead the way through the intersections. I wanted a relaxing cruise through town while I listened to music and enjoyed the cityscape. However, I was at the front of everyone for two or three blocks, staring and trying to tell if 1) the light ahead was a traffic light and 2) if it was really red. Or yellow. It's definitely harder at night not knowing where the signals are and then actually determining the color based on its position on the traffic signal (my usual means of determining whether to stop or go). Once I had someone to follow it became less of a burden and I could finally relax a bit. That is, until I came to a circle. I'd handled circles before, but there was always one exception: I knew where I was going. And I had an actual, you know, destination. But after an almost-complete U-turn and an almost-fender-bender I made it through and eventually ended up getting back to 66 with the help of my friendly TomTom.

But it was nice. Being from the suburbs, it's always a humbling experience to see the city (any big city, for that matter), especially at night. As I was driving over the bridge, the orange-ish moon was rising over the water and the lights and everything. I wish I could've stopped for a picture.

So it was interesting. Next time I think I'll go with the intention of actually getting somewhere. Ah yes.