The DC Traveler

Close to 70 authors, illustrators, writers and poets join this year’s 2008 National Book Festival on the National Mall in Washington, DC.
This year the list of highly recognized authors includes:

Travel guidebook writers Arthur and Pauline Frommer.
CBS Evening News host, Bob Schieffer.
The last of Edward R. Murrow’s legendary gang of CBS reporters, Daniel Schorr.
No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agent writer, Alexander McCall Smith.
The always controversial Salman Rushdie.
Sandra Brown, the author of romantic and suspense novels.
New York Giants running back and children’s book writer, Tiki Barber.
Plus dozens more.

Visit one or all of the themed-based pavilions, including:

Children
Teens & Children
Fiction & Mystery
History & Biography
Home …read more

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In 1908 New York, an art exhibition consisting of works from eight artists, mostly Philadelphia and New York newspaper illustrators, opened. The works were reflecting the rebellious attitude of eight artists against the current American Impressionist movement. Their style reflected rough and tough urban life — drunks, prostitutes, boxers, and other working class images were there themes. 
The exhibit catapulted these eight independent American artists and a new artistic movement. The artists, called The Eight, were a group of American painters who united to oppose academic traditions held by the established art world.
Their style advanced modernism, incorporating realist …read more

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“Here’s a bold Cabernet Sauvignon I created last season. Can you taste the raspberries and the hint of lavender?” That might be something you proudly state at your next wine tasting or dinner party.
But even if you don’t own your own vineyard or winery in the South of France, Tuscany or the Napa Valley, you can still serve friends a personally created wine from the micro-winery, Carafe Wine Makers in suburban Alexandria, VA.
The concept of a boutique micro-winery or “brew on premise” winery is big in Canada, where over 600 micro-wineries are operating. Carafe Wine Makers, a franchise company with …read more

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In Washington, DC, when you are outside in public, you have to believe you are being monitored or at least will be at some point.
With over 5,200 surveillance cameras operational in the District, not including the ones in and around private and public schools, cameras run by news organizations, hotels, tourist attractions and even the public, you can assume you will at some point, be under someone’s watchful eye.
There’s even a live National Park Service Cherry Blossom cam and a dozen or so at the National Zoo, spying on the pandas and tigers, 24 hours-a-day.
But the most notable cameras …read more

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If you have already toured the inside of the US Capitol Building, perhaps, now that the weather is starting to get a bit more bearable, it’s the perfect time to take an outside walking tour of the most recognizable landmarks in Washington, DC.
George Washington laid the Capitol’s cornerstone in 1793 and since it opened in 1800, it’s been the center of American power and government. 

The building needed to be partially rebuild after the British burned parts of Washington, DC in 1814.  In the 1850s, the Capitol building was expanded, with the massive dome top statue, Freedom being …read more

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Seismologists at the U.S. Geological Survey research and monitor seismic activity.
Using technology first developed by Charles F. Richter, a professor at the California Institute of Technology in 1935, scientists track and record every earthquake and seismic event that occurs around  the world.
And volcanic eruptions, major earthquakes and deadly tsunamis have dominated the recent news.
While they can’t predict earthquakes, they do build models that estimate the probability of an earthquake occurring in specific regions of the world. 
Besides measuring earthquakes, the U.S. Geological Survey is the governmental science organization responsible for providing reliable scientific information to help the government, …read more

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Originally on the site of a Methodist Episcopal church, the Greater New Hope Baptist Church at 8th and I Streets NW, just outside of Washington, DC’s Chinatown is an architectural landmark church, dating back to 1898.

The building’s style with its twin tall towers is considered similar to Berlin’s famous New Synagogue, build in 1866.
Originally on the site of a Methodist Episcopal church, the building was initially the home of Washington, DC’s oldest Jewish congregation, until 1954, when New Hope Baptist moved in.
The lower floors hold a large meeting room and cafeteria, while the top two floors house the church and …read more

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Join the famous Blue Angels along with stunt and acrobatic fliers, skywriters, barnstormers, dog-fighting jets and more as they perform at the annual Oceana Air Show, in Virginia Beach, VA.

The base is  just 3 hours from Washington, DC and the East Coast’s only Master Jet Base, the largest type of tactical fighter air base. It  manages a sophisticated array of attack and support aircraft of over 250 aircraft, including both F/A-18 Hornet and Navy F-14 Tomcat squadrons.
 
From vintage aviation to the latest in military firepower, the show includes demonstrations from the hottest fighters in the U.S. arsenal including the …read more

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During my last trip to Las Vegas, I had the opportunity (thanks to my brother-in-law, Mac) to drive the super-fast Dodger Viper, with its 510 cubic inch, 600 hp engine.  It was an experience that still makes me smile.

And during a couple weekends over the fall, you too can experience driving not one high-priced super car, but four, all in one day. At the Capital Dream Cars - Power Driving Tour, get behind the wheel of four hot cars, that are out of reach to most drivers, for 3 hours of driving excitement.

The tour puts drivers behind the wheel of …read more

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It’s voting season – but I’m not talking about the presidential election. It’s time to vote for your favorite “short”, short film, that is.
The 102 short films presented at the 5th annual DC Shorts Festival in Washington, DC run from just one minute to over 20 minutes, and include a wide ranges of genres – dramas and documentaries, comedies and science-fiction, animation and creative, and of course, a few experimental shorts. Six screenplays will also be performed live.
Besides the films, there will be two free seminars for budding filmmakers on Friday, September 12th at Flashpoint (916 G Street, …read more

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