Escalator to Heck

I don't know if this is a photo of the same escalator, but
I get dizzy looking at it, so it is close enough!

While we were in DC, we rode the Metro to someplace (I can't recall where, exactly) to have dinner with other folks who were in DC from Colorado.  When we left the Metro underground station, we took THE longest escalator I've ever seen, probably some 5-stories high, all one, single escalator.  It was a long ride up, several minutes at least.  What I failed to understand until later was that we would eventually end up back at this station from the top, and I'd have to ride the other escalator DOWN.

So, several hours and one dinner later, we got to the station.  I admit, I get vertigo pretty easily. I'm terrified of heights.  And basically a weenie about such things.  So I finally psyched myself into getting on this thing, and then dared to look down to the bottom. The only problem was that you really couldn't see the bottom. And that's when the panic set in. However, I was already on the thing, it was moving, and I was committed.  I must have looked ridiculous, clutching the black rubber moving hand rail thingie with both hands on one side (I could NOT face forward, it was impossible).  And I swear the ride down was several hours long.  It wasn't until we were nearly to the bottom that I could release my death grip on the rail and actually contemplate stepping off.  Phew.

They say what doesn't kill you can only make you stronger.  That may be true. And in light of life's other challenges, this really wasn't that big of a deal.  But the adrenaline rush of making it to the bottom, alive, was incredible.  But I probably won't want to use this particular Metro station again.  I can't imagine how people do this every day. In my opinion, an escalator like this warrants flashing red lights, and a replica of Robbie the Robot waving his arms frantically while saying, "Danger, Will Robinson!"

To my credit, I did cling to the RIGHT side of the escalator.  So those crazy people who walk down escalators like this, without a thought of how close they are to loss of life or limb, weren't getting too annoyed at me since I wasn't blocking their path.  I learned pretty quick that if you don't stay to the right as a slow-pokie like me, people get pretty impatient with you and feel inclined to let you know what they think of you blocking their egress.