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sweaty wrote: Tue Apr 28, 2026 4:46 am

bisontuba wrote: Mon Apr 27, 2026 6:21 am

bort2.0 wrote: Sun Apr 26, 2026 7:34 pm "Cesspool on the Potomac"

Horrible comment...a beautiful, historical location...

Local yokel here. I had written about the DC area in a previous post:
https://tubaforum.net/viewtopic.php?p=35183#p35183

I think DC is a combination of what I, Lisa Simpson, and bisontuba all said. I also think that every city I've been to has its own complex mix of human achievement and sin.

The "fancy" VA suburb I grew up in, Herndon, was not particularly fancy. It was an old country town starting to become a suburb as the area grew. It was a combination of blue collar and government workers and contractors. In the late 70's, a number of refugees from Southeast Asia moved there escaping Communist turmoil and because it was cheaper and had job opportunities. In the 80's, Central Americans moved there for the same reason. In the 90's, it became a center for internet development. My high school boundaries included lakefront yuppies, Section 8 housing, and formerly rural areas starting to become high-end housing. It was "diverse" in every sense of the word. Our band director was an intense and demanding musician. We played The Melody Shop, Symphonie Fantastique, Scheherazade, Lincolnshire Posy, and many other great pieces I have forgotten by now.

Teaching in the same area, I taught in wealthy, middle class, and poorer areas. I taught kids from all around the world and kids with a wide range of abilities, character, special ed labels, and family backgrounds. I moved closer in for a more convenient drive to my schools. My sons' public schools had civil behavior, high achievement, and quality programs. There is real life going on around here well beyond the stories you see on the news, just like your own area.

Regarding the NSO job, I would gladly trade jobs with the man who won it. First, I need to learn how to play.

We (well, at least I) miss your thoughtful posts around here. Hope you are doing well!

DC is ok. I grew up in Baltimore, and went to DC a few times per year, so it we were quite desensitized to it. I went to college even closer to DC, and by that point didn't go all that much.

I don't hate it, but I've never wanted to live there. Or maybe, the parts where it would be cool to live are just way too expensive. Traffic also sucks, and I've never particularly liked northern Virginia for myself. Especially when compared with the rest of Virginia, which is extremely different, and very nice.

If I had any tuba job over there, I'd learn to live with it, as I did for nearly 30 years of my life. But honestly, I've just been way happier NOT living in the Baltimore/DC area.

bort2.0 wrote: Tue Apr 28, 2026 8:01 am DC is ok. I grew up in Baltimore, and went to DC a few times per year, so it we were quite desensitized to it. I went to college even closer to DC, and by that point didn't go all that much.

I don't hate it, but I've never wanted to live there. Or maybe, the parts where it would be cool to live are just way too expensive. Traffic also sucks, and I've never particularly liked northern Virginia for myself. Especially when compared with the rest of Virginia, which is extremely different, and very nice.

If I had any tuba job over there, I'd learn to live with it, as I did for nearly 30 years of my life. But honestly, I've just been way happier NOT living in the Baltimore/DC area.

DC traffic is on another level. The closest thing that comes to it up in my neck of the woods is the snarl on I-95 between NYC and Stamford, CT, but I feel like there is just so much more traffic in the DC metro for whatever reason. Every time I take 95 down that way there's always some bad juju going on.

Best way to get to DC from here is to take the Amtrak down. It's not a bad trip at all on the train, and way less stressful! I also only take the train into NYC for that same reason. Adds maybe 30 minutes of travel time, but it's time spent sitting on the train instead of suffering from traffic-induced high blood pressure, and if you're doing a day trip in the city it's totally worth it.

Amtrak is pretty good, exactly as you mentioned... as long as the tracks take you close enough to where you're going. Most of the time when I lived in NYC, I worked for companies based near Boston (but not _in_ Boston). Occasionally I would take the train, but usually I would just fly... And then drive or take a taxi about 45 minutes to my destination. The train didn't save any time, but it was a nicer experience.

The Acela was especially nice for getting from NY to DC. Which I never perceived as being a faster train, but rather a train with fewer stops, and able to achieve a higher speed rather than the constant start/stop trains.

IIRC that train is how people like Toby Hanks and Dave Fedderly were able to teach at schools in DC, Baltimore, and NYC all at the same time. Ok, well not literally at the SAME time, but you know what I'm talking about.

The Amtrak station in Baltimore is a lot nicer to use than Union Station in DC. When I took the train to NY or Boston, I would drive to Baltimore and catch the train there. Once I returned right in the middle of rioting and had to ask the station cops which was the best exit strategy. But it's easy to park in a garage right at the station and the walking distances are lot less than in DC (and vastly less than Penn Station in NY). Lots of times, I was going to Newark, but Penn Station Newark is one I can be happy to avoid in the future.

On one occasion, the doors on my rail car didn't open at Baltimore, and I had to continue to New Carrollton or whatever the next stop was halfway to DC, and wait an hour for the next northbound train. That added two hours to the trip, which has discouraged me from considering Amtrak since then. Now, I usually fly to Newark and then take the Path train to the World Trade Center and the subway from there if necessary.

The Northeast Corridor is the only track that Amtrak actually owns, and thus they have primary running rights, unlike Amtrack basically anywhere else. They also have electric catenary, with power at 25 Hz frequency, the only remaining such in North America. ( Aside: My South Bend lathe, which was originally delivered to Bethlehem Steel at Sparrows Point MD in 1946, was supplied with a 525-V, 25-Hz motor running at 1425 RPM. Fortunately, it had long since been converted to a conventional 240VAC 1800-RPM motor, which improved the spindle speed of the lathe usefully. Beth Steel was probably generating that power themselves--that steel plant opened in 1911 or something like that.)

I've also taken Amtrak from Houston to Tucson. A different experience. Houston at 10 PM, San Antonio at 3 AM, El Paso at 3PM and Tucson at 8 PM. That provides a sense of scale. It was August of 1980, and the air conditioning on the train didn't work except in the lounge car. That was the longest period of time I stayed slightly inebriated in my life--one had to pay rent on the table in the lounge car.

Rick "doesn't go to NY much any more" Denney

The MARC train in MD is very convenient for us when we have to go to the DC area, when my wife flies from BWI, I drop her off at the local station and no parking hassles.

I may be taking the Auto Train this summer. I've taken it in the past, and it is variable because CSX owns the rails, and Amtrak does not have right of way. If there is a local to come through, you wait on a siding. It's just the way it is. It is easier, but longer than driving down 95.

MD/DC just seems to be an unhappy place to live. I think that it is too many people in too small of an area.

-prodigal, dreaming of an Appalachian Spring with a brook trout stream and a HL Leonard fly rod.

My sister lived in DC 1995-2010 (or thereabouts) and really liked it. She left when work changed, but still visits friends there. I visited her at least a half-dozen times, and at least once took the train down from Baltimore to DC and back. I recall being impressed by the BMI/DC train as I had ridden Amtrak a fair amount in the 80s going between grad school (IL) and home (upstate NY).

DC was like any city: expensive, crowded, lacking in some things and having a excess of others. I don't recall ever having a bad time while there, but it's also not something I would choose, which is pretty much the same for every other large city I've visited.

YMMV.