Resurgence in stares around inauguration?

mdfortwoguy · 01-19-2009, 08:41 AM

Has anyone else on here noticed an increase in peculiar looks/parking lot lookey loos/stares and honking and such from the people coming in to the DC area for the inauguration?

I was heading out for some retail therapy the other day, and it seems like I took a step back to August when I got my car - everyone was staring and smiling and such. I came out from the store to find handprints on my side glass again from people looking and such.

paroyboy · 01-19-2009, 09:25 AM

Theyve never stopped here in PA. Just got back from the grocery store. When I checked out, the cashier came back from the window and said she was looking at the cutest little car. See it out there? Its adorable! As I'm walking to my car, two people are just leaving it after doing the walk around thing. As I get closer to it, theres a guy coming from the other direction. I know he wanted to look at it but when the lights flashed as I unlocked, he changed direction. I still think the attention is hilarious!

mdfortwoguy · 01-19-2009, 09:35 AM

We have 3 dealers within a ~20 mile radius of each other around here - they are becoming a lot more common on the roads.

**JPaul** · 01-19-2009, 09:49 AM

But in my neighborhood, around the Mall and the Museums, lots of tourists still give me thumbs-up, smiles and take pictures with their phone... Kids nudge their siblings to make them look. Especially theses days with the big event! And it still is fun...

forestacademy · 01-19-2009, 10:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JPaul

But in my neighborhood, around the Mall and the Museums, lots of tourists still give me thumbs-up, smiles and take pictures with their phone... Kids nudge their siblings to make them look. Especially theses days with the big event! And it still is fun...

It is just one of those things you see in the Big City that they don't see in the country (flyover territory)

brian r · 01-19-2009, 11:07 AM

My son attends GW; it's about four blocks from the White House. I spoke with him this morning and he said, "It's like an episode of South Park around here...". A couple of the more unusual things he saw over the weekend:

The GWU Hospital is building on the block accross the street from my son's dorm, which is on the block ajacent to the existing hospital complex. They've dug out the entire city block, right to the edges of the sidewalk, about 50 feet deep. Over the weekend they've had police walking the block as there have been several dozen people pasted up against the fence looking into the hole throughout the day. On the way to lunch he heard a woman (whose heavy southern accent made him and his friends laugh out loud) proclaim to her family, "Lookee kids, it's just like 9-11!!".

GW legend has it that the Potomic was once home to Hippos, and that George and Martha Washington used to let kids lure them ashore to pet them for good luck. In '96 the university president gave a large bronze statue of a hippo to the school, which is displayed in a garden at the corner of H and 21st streets. There are now cops there also-people have been trampling the garden as they wait to climb onto the statue or get their kids onto it for a picture. On Saturday a bunch of 40-year-olds were arrested for trying (while drunk, of course) to steal it.

Hope your car doesn't get tipped over.

vwW12 · 01-19-2009, 12:01 PM

Ours is now 8 months old and still is quite a draw.

Just this weekend, we parked it (open top of course) in Miami Beach and sat across the street for crêpes with Nutella at A La Foile. Virtually every passerby on the walkway stared at the car. It is particularly popular among young kids and teenager girls.

mdfortwoguy · 01-19-2009, 03:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brian r

My son attends GW; it's about four blocks from the White House. I spoke with him this morning and he said, "It's like an episode of South Park around here..."

I have a guest in from Ohio right now. We went to the mall yesterday to see the hoopla... let me tell you - its a sight to see.

Not that I am trying to be insulting to tourists (considering I live in one of the largest tourist destinations in the US), but some of these people are beyond clueless. Standing to the left on an escalator on the metro will get you barked at at least, if not shoved out of the way. Likewise - stopping at the bottom or top of an escalator will anger people very quickly. Coming up the escalator at Smithsonian yesterday, a bunch of people stopped and the pileup ensued... at one point I essentially picked someone up and moved them because I was being shoved so hard (I'm 6'2 and 215lbs...) and that was just the beginning of the madness.

Between the crazed out of town drivers and the insane amount of cars with diplomat plates out there right now, I am metroing everywhere I can.

gstreetcomic · 01-19-2009, 08:30 PM

Frankly i am avoiding Washington. DC at all costs until the inauguration of Obama is a done deal. If i see it at all, it will be from my own living room. I was at slick Willies and it was a madhouse then.

gstreetcomic · 01-19-2009, 08:35 PM

I by the way don't get as many questions as i used to, but i still get all the stares from the other motorists. One young lady was looking at my car in awe, and then suddenly, i saw a cel phone being pulled out for a candid. When i get those stares, i just look over and wave right back at them. It is true those little Smarts are everywhere. I saw two of them today.