By Bob Tagert

It looks like spring and nice weather is finally here. Now is a great time to take a drive to the mountains. That is just what I wrote about in this month’s Road Trip. I basically retraced my distribution route every month when we deliver the Old Town Crier. There are great small towns with quality restaurants and shops as well as some very good wineries. I recommended a few, so I hope you take the time and escape the city for a bit. In Doug Coleman’s Civil Discourse column this month he gives us a look at the soon to be released movie the Free State of Jones, a story based on the life of Confederate outlaw Newton Knight.

With the nice weather it is time to checkout our garden column and get a head start on spring gardening. Farmer D has some great suggestions for container gardening in Urban Garden. Sarah Becker writes about the 100^th anniversary of the U.S. Park Service in her History column and the April Business Profile is about a very interesting pair of guys who operate Sacred Spaces. It is all about the ins and outs of designing, building and restoring churches.

National Harbor celebrates its 8^th Anniversary this month, hence the reason we have the Capitol Wheel on the cover. Hard to believe that it is going to be 10 years soon! Seems like yesterday we were taking the construction tour of the Gaylord Hotel Atrium.

I would like to take this space to give a shout out to our friend and fellow publisher, Mary Wadland. We want to wish her a speedy recovery from her recent liver transplant. Rumor has it that she is on the mend and will be back to her old self soon. Take care Mary!

Last and certainly not least….April means that Opening Day for baseball is coming to Nats Stadium! The Nationals crushed it during spring training and I am really hoping they bring that same caliber of ball to the field during the regular season! Go Curly W!