Record Heat in Washington

March 12, 2006

Returning to a city where one has spent a lot of time is enjoyable. In a new city or region there is always the push—at least I feel it distinctly—to see the sites. I don’t want to linger at any one spot too long since that means missing another site. In a city like Washington I can relax.. choose an old favorite or concentrate on some new exhibit.. or just sit on the mall and relax. That is the purpose of travel, it seems to me: not to cover territory, but to find places to which one longs to return.

These have been the nicest days I can remember. On Friday the weather was 78 degrees, with a cool breeze coming from somewhere. Newspapers reported that it tied the heat record for the day. Saturday was likewise warm.. and Sunday too. Nothing but blue skies and jet trails. On Saturday I walked back to our hotel on Capitol Hill through the very crowded Mall. The splotchy grass was filled with people doing every sport I could think of. There were footballs thrown, Frisbees hurled to acrobatic snatches, baseball mitts pounded, soccer balls kicked around.. I even saw someone getting ready for a game of croquet! Joggers huffed past me and over to the side a mother snapped digital pictures of her daughter turning cart-wheels on the grass. Ubiquitously there were individuals beckoning to a friend or loved-one to take a few steps away and pose for a picture with the white gleaming Capitol in the background.. or turn around and the great obelisk of the Washington Monument will be there.

Take a walk through the mall on such a day (alas, my camera batteries went dead almost as soon as I arrived in Washington!) and you realize the American urge to catalog.. in the manner of Walt Whitman. How else to capture this teeming world where so many things are happening.. and where no one is telling anyone: don’t do that. If I were ever asked by a foreigner: “Show me America! Something that will make me think differently about America.” I would be tempted to take them to the National Mall on an early spring day.. like today.. and let him or her watch the amusements and general chaos of our democracy.