Directions to WSFA's First Friday meeting location

Directions to WSFA's usual First Friday meeting location, at Alexis & Lee Gilliland's house. (Third Friday meetings are usually held elsewhere.)

4030 8th Street
Arlington, Virginia 22204
703-920-6087

People arrive from 8:30 to 9:00 pm. The meeting itself lasts from about 9:15 until 9:45. The rest of the evening is spent socializing, and consuming the provided refreshments. The last people drift away between midnight and 1:00 am.

By car:

From I-395, take Exit 7 and go north on South Glebe Road. After about a mile, turn left on 8th street. 4030 will be on your left within about half a mile, halfway down the side of a hill. You can park on the street for free.

or

From I-66, take exit 71 and go south on North Glebe Road. After a mile, turn right on Pershing. After a few hundred yards turn left on North George Mason Drive. After about a mile, turn left on 8th street. 4030 will be on your right within a few hundred yards, halfway up the side of a hill. You can park on the street for free.

(Don't know where I-395 is? It's exit 170 from the Beltway, at the “mixing bowl”.)

If you take Arlington Boulevard (Route 50), note that right turns on red are no longer allowed.

By Metro:

It's about 10 minutes by bike or 30 minutes on foot from the Ballston Station on the Orange Line. (Bikes are allowed on Metro after 7 pm. Bike permits are no longer required.) Go west on Fairfax Drive, then after a few hundred yards turn left on Glebe Road. After a mile, turn right on Pershing. After a few hundred yards turn left on North George Mason Drive. After about a mile, turn left on 8th street. 4030 will be on your right within a few hundred yards, halfway up the side of a hill.

or

It's about 20 minutes by bike or 60 minutes on foot from the Pentagon Station on the Blue and Yellow lines. Take Columbia Pike uphill, away from the river, about three miles. Turn right on George Mason Drive (at the Food Star grocery store). Turn right on 8th street after a few hundred yards. 4030 will be on your right within a few hundred yards, halfway up the side of a hill.

The last train from the Ballston station on Friday nights leaves at 2:39 am, so even if you're on foot you're not going to miss it. When returning to Ballston, note that the station is right next to a Hilton. Once you see that hotel, you can save time by heading directly toward it rather than worrying about which road you're on. (Gaylaxicon was at that hotel in 1999 and 2000.)

By bus:

Take any 16 bus from the Pentagon or Pentagon City Metro station. It will go up Columbia Pike. Exit the bus at George Mason Drive (at the Food Star grocery store). Turn right on George Mason Drive. Turn right on 8th street after a few hundred yards. 4030 will be on your right within a few hundred yards, halfway up the side of a hill. Buses leave the Pentagon at 8:15, and every 15 minutes thereafter, through 10 pm. (Less frequently after 10.) Buses leave Pentagon City at 8:12, and every 12 minutes thereafter, through 10 pm. (Less frequently after 10.) Buses leave the intersection of Columbia Pike and George Mason Drive heading back to the Pentagon or to Pentagon City at 9:44 pm, 9:58, 9:59, 10:14, 10:14, 10:26, 10:29, 10:38, 10:44, 11:00, 11:21, 11:40 pm, 12:10 am, 12:44, 1:10, 1:50, and 2:12 am. Even the 2:12 am bus will get you back to Metro in time to take a train from the Pentagon to anywhere in the system.

By the W&OD trail:

A few hundred yards west of Columbia Pike, there's a short unpaved connection to 7th Street on the north side of the trail, adjacent to a blue mile marker labelled B 4. From 7th Street, turn right onto Wakefield, then left onto 8th Street. The total distance from the trail to the WSFA meeting is about half a mile.

GPS:

N 38deg 51.726min, W 77deg 06.066min, altitude 170 ft.

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This page was created 18 June 2005, by Keith Lynch. This page was last updated 4 October, 2005 by Keith Lynch