[SkateDC] Washington, D.C., is about to be Dan Browned

[George Marinkovich]

"Washington
will find itself a changed city today. One invaded by Founding Fathers
scandal, by fictitious Harvard symbologists, by very short chapters
ending in cliffhangers and exclamation points! One to which tourists
will flock, brandishing conspiracy theories. We want the real story, they'll say to helpless docents at the Smithsonian, perhaps, or the Scottish Rite Masonic temple. This is the real story, docents will reply. No, the reeeeal story. Wink, wink.

Washington is about to be Dan Browned.

The inciting incident is today's [Tuesday's] release of The Lost Symbol, the third installment of Brown's mondo-selling adventure zeitgeist, sequel to Angels & Demons and The Da Vinci Code. In Angels,
professor Robert Langdon races through Rome, saving the city from an
explosion and uncovering religious secrets that rock Christianity to
the core. In Da Vinci,
he races through Paris and London, solving a mysterious death and
uncovering religious secrets that rock Christianity to the core.

In The Lost Symbol,
Langdon will be racing through Washington; what, exactly, he'll be
doing there is unclear. In the five-plus years Brown has been
researching and writing this novel, nary an important plot point has
leaked."  
more http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/main/6618529.html

At the risk of contributing to the insanity, it occurs to me it would be a "lost" opportunity not to skate at least two of the "symbols" sure to figure in "The Lost Symbol:"  the Pentagram and the Compass.

The Pentagram:  http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3193167 

The Compass:  http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3193509 

Without further ado, the "Lost Symbol Skate, Part I:"
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=3193561 

I think I'll do this for the Sunday (9/27/09) 9 AM Intermediate Skate.  

Subsequent skates may cover some of these "Lost Symbol" related sites:  
George Washington Masonic National Memorial in Alexandria, 
The House of the Temple -- Scottish Rite headquarters at 1733 16th St. NW, 
National Museum of Women in the Arts -- former Masonic building at 1250 New York Ave. NW, 
Albert Pike Statue -- former Masonic Leader at Judiciary Square, 3rd and D St. NW
and more to be determined (once I get a copy of the book from the library)
____________________________________

Pentagram and Compass Skate Route Cue Sheet (10.8 miles):

The White House (1st point of the pentagram)
NW through Lafayette Park to Connecticut Ave
NW on Connecticut Ave
NW through Farragut Square
NW on Connecticut Ave
RGP Dupont Circle (2nd point of the pentagram)

SE on Massachusetts Ave
Counter-clockwise around Scott Circle
R (SE on) Massachusetts Ave
Tunnel under Thomas Circle
RGP Mt. Vernon Square (3rd point of the pentagram)

W on K St
RGP Washington Circle (4th point of the pentagram)

NE on New Hampshire Ave
R L St
L 19th St
R Desales St
L 18th St
R M St
L (NE on) Rhode Island Ave
Counter-clockwise around Scott Circle
R (NE on) Rhode Island Ave
RGP Logan Circle (5th point of the pentagram)

SW on Vermont Ave
Counter-clockwise around Thomas Circle
R (SW on) Vermont Ave
SW through MacPherson Square
SW through Lafayette Park
RGP White House 

E on Pennsylvania Ave
R 15th St
L Maine Ave
Upstairs to pedestrian bridge over Maine Ave
Around Oriental Hotel
RGP Maryland Ave Circle (start of south compass leg)

NE on Maryland Ave
Becomes D St
L 9th St
R Virginia Ave
L 7th St
R (NE on) Maryland Ave
R Independence Ave
L (NE on) Maryland Ave
RGP Garfield Memorial (at 1st SW and Maryland, start of compass spring-bow head)

Around Capitol
RGP Peace Monument (at 1st NW and Pennsylvania, start of north compass leg)

NW on Pennsylvania Ave
NW through Freedom Plaza
NW on Pennsylvania Ave
R 15th St
L Pennsylvania Ave
The White House