Three Beautiful Things 02/06/16: Visiting Lincoln's Cottage, Value Village in Adelphi, Mental Trips

1. The Deke and I jumped into the Sube and barreled down New Hampshire Ave to N. Capitol to Rock Creek Church Rd and before we knew it we had arrived at the Soldiers' Home -- or as it's known today, the Armed Forces Retirement Home -- the grounds upon which sit the Lincoln Cottage. In the 1860s, this wooded oasis atop a hillock was separated from the city of Washington, D. C. by about three miles.  For Abraham Lincoln, this cottage was a place he regularly traveled to by horse or by carriage to get away from the summer heat and stench and noise of Washington, D. C. He spent about a quarter of his presidency here where the air was cooler and the water was cleaner and where he could ponder the great questions and face the great challenges of his presidency in solitude and quiet. We enjoyed our tour and I want to return soon and read more of the displays set up around the visitors' center.

2. As we dashed north on New Hampshire, I spontaneously decided that it would be fun and interesting to head east toward Greenbelt via University Boulevard rather than going on up to the Beltway. I wanted the Deke to see the chaos of mattress stores, bakeries, quick loan outlets, international groceries, fast food stops, liquor stores, pho restaurants, Latin American eateries, and more that are crammed into the New Hampshire/University Blvd. intersection and I thought she'd be interested in going by the Value Village in Adelphi. The Deke was more than casually interested in this Value Village.  We stopped and poked around for a while looking at everything from cookware and bakeware to picture frames to books to children's games and puzzles to DVDs, magazines, and more. It's a huge store. The Deke picked up some fun stuff for the grandchildren to play with when they come over. We had a good time.

3. As I often do, after spending time in a part of Washington, D. C. I'd never been to before, I spent a bunch of time looking at maps, figuring out other routes to drive, looking at proximity of places, like, say, of the Lincoln Cottage to the Hellbender Brewery.  Honestly, I wanted to jump right back into the Sube and rumble around some more, get more of the geography of the NE and NW committed to memory. But, alas, I tried out routes in my imagination and looked up pictures of other places I'd like to visit or patronize and further developed my knowledge of our nation's capital.