Places That Shape Us: Biking Home

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January 8, 2013, Washington, DC: I snapped these photos this evening on my bike ride home. It was the first time I'd gotten out and exercised in awhile and I took my sweet time, pausing to balance my bike against a street lamp or curb while removing a glove and taking my camera phone out my coat pocket to capture the sunset. I live in a beautiful city. It's easy to remember that while biking through the areas of town occupied predominately by tourists. Every one of them is smiling. It's refreshing to see the city as they see it, through the eyes of someone who's never lived here and is moving through it for the very first time. Movement itself, I've decided, makes me a particular type of nomad. Despite my best efforts, I'm not a traveler who can sit still at the beach or a homebody capable of spending a day on the couch. I am someone who appreciates my surroundings most profoundly by moving through them -- one step, one pedal, one stroke at a time. For some, it's predominately music or food that draws them in; while both compel me, I'm typically hooked by opportunities for physical activity. Outdoor recreation allows me to live well in a space, inhaling its air, taking it in at a manageable pace, appreciating its health. A run in a foreign city, a paddle around Teddy Roosevelt Island, or a bike ride home from the office are the best ways I know to carefully observe the landscape.

Georgetown and Potomac River, Washington, DC, January 2013

Lincoln Memorial, Washington, DC, January 2013

Washington DC, January 2013

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