Please, Won't You Be, My Neighbor(hood)?

As you can see the title of this post is an ode to the late, great Fred Rogers of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood and it's all about some of the great things right in my own DC neighborhood.  I guess you could say I live in the Cleveland Park area.  I'm also quite close to Van Ness Metro and University of the District of Columbia.  Some people call it Cleveland Park, some call it Van Ness and others have newly named it "Forest Hills."  I couldn't tell you which it really is but either of the first two would more aptly apply since no one I know has heard of "Forest Hills."

The Cleveland Park Metro west entrance.  

Cleveland Park has a great neighborhood atmosphere, lots of homes and families, lots of young couples and singles, a good amount of bars, a lot of great restaurants and, of course, the Uptown Theatre.  Since it's a fancy old fashioned theatre, I use the fancy olde English spelling of theatre.  It adds a bit of class and pizzazz don't you think?

So in this great neighborhood, my husband and I have only had a taste of the great food offered.  Recently we tried an Italian place we've passed often and were curious about called "Sorriso."

Based on the waitress's recommendation I ordered the mushroom pasta.  Considering the amount of delicious looking menu options this one wasn't as fancy or elaborate as the other dishes I had been looking at but truly, it was totally worth it.

Simple dish. Homemade pasta.  Truly Delicioso!

I absolutely loved that pasta.  There was definitely some truffle oil involved as well.  I know I could probably never make mushroom pasta like this at home so I am glad to have someplace like this nearby.

 My husband also loved his food.  A lasagna made with crepes.  See?  He finished half of it before I got around to taking a picture of it.

Definitely a great choice.  The friendly atmosphere, the view of the kitchen where you can watch them make pizza dough and pasta and the great staff that complimented my True Religion jeans were all reasons to go back!  See what I did there?  I sneaked fashion in there somewhere!

And another plus, there's a PetSmart right in this neighborhood too!  I've never been within walking distance of one of these and it's a complete lifesaver!  They even show support for our local sports.

For those who may not know by now, RG3 = Robert Griffin III, our (the Redskins) new quarterback.  Go Skins!

When the weather got a bit warmer, we biked down to the National Zoo which is just less than a mile south from us.  Where else can you go to the zoo for free?  This is a fabulous zoo.  But coming in around 4 on a Sunday, some of the animals were avoiding the late afternoon sun including the big cats.

We did get to see a great new elephant habitat.  And there was even an elephant in it!

See him right there in the middle?  That's his butt facing us.  He was a bit far away for us but the persons in the overlook on the other side had great views! 

And then it was off to the Ape House.  We knew these guys would be indoors avoiding the heat!

Cute baby decided to frolic while mom napped in her hammock! 

The orangutan was quite popular with the kids because he was right up against the glass.  

Then it was off to the reptile house.  Look who was right outside the entrance to greet us! Alli the Gator!

And there were more scary and even cute reptiles inside!

Here's a chameleon.  Not sure what he's looking at.  I think the views of the hundreds of people who came to see this little guy might spark his interest a little more.  Perhaps we were boring him though...

Sigh!  Lazy iguana...

Here's a humongous anaconda!

And here's a boa constrictor!  That pattern is so inspiring.  When I learn to sew I could make so many great clothes inspired by the natural patterns and textures from the zoo animals! And of course not using real animals but deriving inspiration from them.  How great would a skirt in that pattern be?  Fabulous!

Here come the gators and crocs!

Look at him just lurking under the water... Waiting to strike!

This big guy is trying to get some sun! 

Yikes!  This one was sunbathing just a few feet away from me behind the glass.

An adorable little froggy!

Check out these iguanas just hamming it up for the camera.  One of them kept nodding his head too. I think it was directed at me! 

Check out this cute baby turtle!  He was so teeny and squirmy he was hard to capture with my camera phone!

Look at these freaky and kind of cool snake head turtles.

Here are some tortoises as well!

These guys were humungous!  But very camera shy.  

I love the patterns on the tortoise shells!  No wonder there are fabulous accessories inspired by tortoiseshell patterns like these sunglasses or these.  Just lovely! 

Well those are a few great things in my neighborhood.  When you get a free weekend, go out and enjoy your neighborhood!  You never know when the next free one will be!