Riding the Tide

It still amazes me every time I ride the Tide that we actually have light rail in Norfolk. If you're new to the area, to give you an idea of how long we've been waiting for it, the first time I remember hearing rumors of bringing light rail to Hampton Roads, I was a kid in elementary school (The Pilot ran a big article on it once, and I remember so well a bunch of us kids running around on the school playground singing the Monorail song from the Simpsons). Now I'm a J.D. with a kid of my own. That's a long, loooong time coming.

A few weeks ago, A. and I were downtown for lunch. We crossed the street near the Monticello station, and a train was pulling in. On a whim, we bought tickets and hopped on. Our car was half empty, and we had our pick of the seats. So we each chose a window seat on opposite sides of the aisle, and settled back to ride to the end of the line.

A. was super cool about it all. We rode the Metro a lot in DC, and I guess she considers herself an old hand at riding the train. She pressed the button to open the door all by herself, carefully clutched my ticket in her hand, stood like a little commuter holding on to the hand rail as the train pulled away from the station. She even knew somehow to line up on one side of the door while the passengers exited, a skill it took me about a year (and many dirty looks) to learn when I first moved to Washington.  I love my little cosmopolitan kid who won't ever remember a time before we had the Tide in Norfolk.

But I was feeling that old childlike wonder. The camera came out, and I pressed my face to the glass and soaked up my familiar city whizzing by the windows in a new and unfamiliar way. Usually, when I am driving downtown, I have one eye on the car in front of me and one eye on the pedestrians who are threatening to step out in front of my car. On the Tide, I had the chance to notice so many of the little details about the city that I haven't really seen in a long time -- the old brick and stone of the buildings, the stately Victorian houses ringing the Hague. The water, water everywhere. It was an inspiring way to spend a chunk of afternoon; the new perspective was well worth the $3 fare.

Some really exciting things are going on with future planning for the Tide right now -- this week Virginia Beach is holding public meetings to discuss ways to connect the Tide to the Oceanfront, and HRT has released some amazing maps that show how the Tide might connect up with Portsmouth, Chesapeake, and the Peninsula. I recommend friending Bring the Tide to Virginia Beach on Facebook to read more and find out how to have your say on the issue.