The first 10 photos are from Crystal City/National Gateway development in Arlington. It was a really nice newer neighborhood. They had a neat little park/walkway in the center of the complex. There was a Harris Teeter which appears to be sadly closing soon. There is also a very small Lidl in the complex as well. The area is fed by BRT. There are two metro stops as well.
Below are photos of The Wharf DC. This place was super busy around 9-10PM. There were families with kids both on the swings on the pier as well as playing in the splash pad. A lot of people were walking around.
I ventured to DT Miami today to try out the new Aldi there. It was the first time that I’ve ever been grocery shopping on the 6th floor of a vertical urban shopping center. Alas, this isn’t a post about that.
After taking the Metromover from Omni to a stop near the center of downtown, I had to walk past the Brightline train station and couldn’t resist going in to explore. Here are few snaps.
Beyond the novelty of it, this looks like a terrible way to watch a baseball game. It’s hard enough to see what’s going on from outfield seats, I can’t imagine being in the grandstands 40 yards away.
The current Capitol and the historic Capitol building in Olympia, a city of only 55,000, capital of a state of 7.9 million. Meanwhile Raleigh with 500,000 in a state of 11 million…
I know, I know, you guys think fondly of it. And I only tease because I love each and every one of you.
I’ve been to the “new” building, what a great location - though it did feel disconnected from town itself. Somehow I missed the “old” building - but then I was dragging a wife and young daughter along who do not really share my love of capitols, lol. Thanks for these pics!!
Construction started in 1889, capitol moved in 1928.
I may have seen this and thought it was the county courthouse. This was after I’d lived in Texas where many a country court house looks like a capitol.
Random city photos from downtown Seattle. They definitely have a lot more homeless than downtown Portland, which didn’t actually seem particularly different than anywhere else I’d been. Regardless, no one in 8 days so far in both cities has approached us or spoken to us other than a middle class old white guy trying to hand out Bible stuff at a hippie market. He wasn’t homeless. Really enjoying our time in both cities. Light rail, trains, buses, dedicated bike lanes with signals, and of course Lyft/walking which is what we do. My God tho, I had no idea how steep the hills are in Seattle! I’d be so fit if I lived here.
What Seattle and Portland have become downtown…so sad but looks like (recently) there is a push to clean those cities up. No place to go but up, from where they are now with all the drugs, crime, empty offices and storefronts, homeless tents everywhere in both downtowns. Tangentially, I think it’s enough of a reason to think Portland will not be awarded an MLB team; if there’s a team in the West I predict it’ll go to SLC. But we have a topic for that already!
This is the biggest office to residential conversion going on in Charlotte right now. The old Duke Power buildings a brutalist style grey building being transformed into 460 apartments and 57,000 sq ft of retail right by the Bank of America Stadium uptown. Every city in NC has had to grapple with surplus office buildings and this is a good reuse and the first such in Charlotte in several years. Winston Salem has done a lot of this but they have a lot older office buildings. Called Brooklyn and Church for it is address.
here is the link to what it will look like https://brooklynandchurch.com/
that is one FUGLY building. I immediately felt 80’s Marriott vibes, not office building vibes. Good riddance to whatever used to be here. Yowza. That’s just a grim looking building.
We literally had zero issues with any homeless people or crime. We felt safe and had a blast in both cities. I’ve seen worse in Raleigh.
Unrelated, just got to Vancouver a few hours ago. They have some awesome buildings of all scale, but these few specifically made me think how people in Raleigh would lose their minds if stuff like this got built.
