Elder Wallace (My Brother)

My brother, Andrew, has been on his mission for 16 months. It is hard to believe how fast the time has gone by. What is more amazing though is that he was called to serve in the same mission that Michelle and I live in. Furthermore, he is currently serving about five minutes from where we live. Since he is in our same stake and since he is the zone leader he does splits with the other missionaries in our ward occasionally. Fortunately the mission president is really cool about us seeing him from time to time and he actually suggested we go out to lunch sometime (which we did!). We also went to see one of his baptisms, and he came by our apartment while he was doing splits with the missionaries here.

Live For The Commute

I saw the slogan "Live For The Commute" written on a public bus on my way to school recently and thought that that summed up pretty accurately how my feelings have changed regarding commuting to work in DC traffic since I started biking in once or twice a week. When people find out I ride my bike from Alexandria to the top of the District where the school I teach is at they often times react in one of two ways: they either can't believe I bike that far or they are in shock because they think I weaving in and out of traffic on crazy DC roads and freeways. Fortunately the ride is almost entirely on trails and hardly any of it is on actual streets (just a little bit at the very end). The ride is about 15 miles each way, so the round trip is 30 miles. That is definitely enough to get me my exercise for the day. In addition to getting good exercise, I also save quite a bit of money riding my bike in. Although it is convenient and efficient in the DC metropolitan region, the Metro is not cheap. When I ride the Metro to and from work it costs me $7.55 (total for the round trip for one day). By biking in once or twice a week my bike could pay for itself after not too long! Also, the commute is absolutely gorgeous. I didn't know there were such beautiful trails and paths in DC. I am on Mount Vernon Trail and Rock Creek for about 12 of the 15 miles. I get to ride right past the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, and alongside the Potomac River for quite a ways. I really do enjoy riding in as much as I can. It takes a little bit longer than taking the Metro or driving but the benefits are worth it. On days that I ride in I feel great and I am looking forward to riding home for the entire day. I took all of these pictures while I was on my bike riding home from work. This should give you an idea of what the ride is like.