New Carrollton Station Parking

For the last eight months I have been commuting to Downtown Washington, D.C. (see the earlier blog.) I typically park in the structure at New Carrollton Station, and then catch the Metro for a 30 minute ride to work. The first step to an uneventful commute back to Annapolis - remember where I parked my car. The eight-level parking structure is made up of multiple ascending and descending ramps that are wide enough to park cars on the left and right sides of the driving lane. There are breaks mid-way in the supporting walls that form passages for walking between levels, and that can serve as short-cuts for exits if cars are not parked in them. Not only do you have to remember what level you are parked on, but also which of the three lanes you parked in, and whether on the left or right side, and at the proximal or distal end of the level, relative to the elevator or stairs.

There have been four times in the last four years of using Metro that I walked to where I thought I had parked my car, only to not find it where I thought it was. When that happens, all you can do is try to think back and retrace your actions nine or ten hours earlier. It is easy to spot other commuters in the same situation by way they walk, stop, and then have that stair-ahead-in-space-look - you know they are thinking "where did I leave my car?" I have even seen people looking for their cars, while I walk in circles through the structure looking for mine. (It would be a good Twits sketch if Monty Python's Flying Circus was still active.) One of the technological saving graces of finding a lost car in the labyrinth is the electronic key fob. As long as there are no cars exiting so it is quiet, I can press the unlock-door button and then carefully listen for the distinctive Toyota sound. The unlock-door button is superior to lock-door button because you get two beeps instead of one - a kind of sonar beep that beings to give reassurance that I am close to finding my way back home. A car search typically adds an additional half-hour onto that evening's commute home. When I realize that I didn't remember where I parked my car, the last thing on my mind has been to time how long it takes to find. But my wife can tell because I always text her when I arrive at my Metro stop - she then times dinner being ready with my arrival home. When I don't show up in 40 minutes, its either bad traffic, or a lost car.
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This past week as I was exiting the parking structure, I saw this family of Canada Geese walking across the street. I stopped, unzipped my brief case, and dug out my camera to take a quick shot. I kept looking in my rear view mirror to be sure I wasn't holding up anyone - some drivers get impatient with the littlest things so honk their horns. No other cars were in sight, so I got this portrait of part of the proud family - not the greatest composition, but at least captured the moment.

It is amazing how wildlife adapt to the Washington, D.C. urban environment - just as commuters looking for their cars have to do so in multilevel parking structures, or they would never get home for dinner.