Lots to do this weekend (and nationally)

1. On Saturday September 25th, it's Smithsonian Museum Day. If you print out a coupon from the magazine's website, you can get free admission at participating museums ACROSS THE UNITED STATES. There are participating museums located in every state.

2. Saturday is also National Public Lands Day. I was joking with Suzanne that we could picnic in the "reservation" -- publicly owned land by the city I think, but it probably used to be under federal control -- a few houses down at the intersection of Quackenbos Street, 2nd Street, and North Dakota Avenue.

Last September, volunteers....

• Removed an estimated 900,000 lbs of trash
• Collected an estimated 20,000 lbs of invasive plants
• Built and maintained an estimated 1,320 miles of trails
• Planted an estimated 100,000 trees, shrubs and other native plants
• Contributed an estimated $14 million to improve public lands across the country

Public land reservation, 2nd and Quackenbos Streets NW

3. In DC, this weekend on both Saturday and Sunday we have the fall edition of WalkingTown and BikingTown, coordinated by CulturalTourismDC, with a variety of sponsors in support of the effort.

I will be giving a tour of Florida Market as part of the extravaganza. (Not doing alley tours this year, maybe next year. Too much work...)

9 - 11 am

Explore Florida Market/Capital City Market

Meet at the Florida Ave. exit of New York Ave-Florida Ave-Gallaudet U Metro station.
End at Litteri's Italian Deli, 517 Morse St., NE.

Metro: New York Ave-Florida Ave-Gallaudet University

Fitness: Low, 1.5 mile
Wheelchair accessible
Stroller accessible
No reservations required.

Ward: 5
Subjects: History

The Florida Market is the city's major wholesale food distribution center. The tour will stop at restaurants and vendors selling at retail, including the DC Farmers Market building, and address development issues that threaten the market.

Presented by the Citizens Planning Coalition, Frozen Tropics weblog, Capitol Hill North Neighborhood Association, and Rebuilding Place in Urban Space weblog; and led by DC resident and advocate for urban revitalization Richard Layman and two volunteers.

4. This weekend, the Cultural Landscape Foundation will also be sponsoring an open doors event too, What’s Out There Weekend, offering guided tours of 25 different spaces across the city.

5. Plus, the DC Preservation League has their annual conference on Friday and Saturday also.

6. This just in, an ad in today's Express alerts us to the fact that Saturday is also National Estuaries Day, and another opportunity to get outside, be active, and volunteer. Wow, it's as if this weekend is comparable to how people donate time and money to homeless shelters and soup kitchens around Christmastime.

This, in my opinion, is too much to offer, and ought to be better spread out in order to maximize impact. Instead, people have too much to choose from on two days and miss out more generally on similar opportunities on other days.