We decided to visit Tysons Corner today, but first went with Leanne and Gizmo to the acupuncturist, who regrettably advised us that she saw a neurological problem, which she couldn't attempt to fix. So we now have to make an appointment with an animal neurologist in an attempt to make Gizmo well again.
After that depressing visit, we caught the Metro at Braddock Rd Station and rode out to Rosslyn, which has one of the longest and steepest elevators on the Metro underground (there is one steeper and longer but I'm not sure of its location). A view from bottom up -
This is steep but nonetheless you often see foolhardy travellers running up and down these stairs. Anyway, from there we caught a bus to Ballston Mall and then another from there to Tysons Corner. Started at around 10.00am and arrived at midday.
The object of the visit was to get some trousers for me at LL Bean (which we did) and Marg took advantage of being in a shopping centre to do some other miscellaneous looking/shopping as well.
The return trip was far easier - while waiting for a bus back to Ballston etc, we spotted a Fairfax Connector bus with Franconia Springfiled on the destination sign. I asked the driver to confirm that this meant he would pull up at the FS Metro station and with his acknowledgement, we hopped on board for a single ride all the way home. The bus system here doesn't operate like ours, in that there is a single (cheap) fare no matter where you are heading - think it's something like $1.50. So it makes public transport a very viable option.
While on the bus and from a height advantage, I noted the large numbers of drivers who eschewed the notion of wearing a seatbelt. I'd say that around 20% were wearing no restraint at all, which is 100% dumb.
It took us no more than an hour to return from Tysons Corner - again a plus as far as public transport is concerned.
