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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.

This<strong> last Saturday was a gorgeous day. Last minute, i said to my husband, "Why don't we ride our bikes to DC?"</strong> (We live in Maryland, just over the district line). So we loaded up with water and food and my phone with a map, and rode our bikes all the way downtown on bike paths! No cars anywhere. We rode the (Somewhat) new Anacostia River Walk trail--8 miles through Southeast DC and it was lovely.<strong> 18 miles in total for the ride. It was so great to be outside and seeing sights!. Lots of people were outside riding too, most without masks and it felt okay</strong> since it now appears it's impossible to get the virus if you're vaccinated (Which we are) and you just pass someone on the street.. Everyone was in a good mood.<strong> We stopped at a small park in DC on Capitol Hill to rest and there were lots of small groups of people congregating in the park, mostly unmasked too</strong>. It was so nice to see people gathering and feel like it was okay, not scary. <strong> It really felt like things were slowly returning to normal..</strong> <strong> Then we rode our bikes to Union station to get the Metro home--here's the photo. Everything closed! I couldn't believe it. Usually Union Station is hopping at 3PM on a Saturday.</strong> But all the restaurants and stores were closed, even the lights were off. A lot of the shops looked like they'd gone out of business too. I guess some parts of DC haven't opened yet! <strong> I suspect in many places the "return" to normal is going to be rough.</strong> It's not just about taking our masks off and being able to go out, but making sure that people have jobs and places to live. I think it's going to be a long haul. I don't think we're out of the woods at all. But for a few hours, last Saturday, it felt like we were--and that was a great relief.