These weekend trips won’t break the bank (along with a few pricier options in case you want to splurge.)

With dozens of hiking, swimming, and dining destinations an hour or two away, D.C. residents are perfectly situated to soak up the summer.

Go forth and watch as other people do actual work.

Only weeks after passing a law that makes having an open alcoholic container in public a misdemeanor offense, officials in Ocean City are revisiting a debate over whether or not to make parts of the beach off-limits to smokers.

If you can’t make it to the beach this weekend, the closest alternative might be a new beach-themed bar that’s opening along New York Avenue just east of Mt. Vernon Square this weekend.

Were you thinking about taking a quick trip to the beach this weekend? Uh, you’ll probably want to put a hold on those plans.

Photo by Wendy HarmanThe once mighty Hurricane Earl has now been downgraded to a Tropical Storm as it moves up and out of New England. The east coast and the mid-Atlantic dodged a bullet, with relatively minor damage and no reports of injuries. Here in the District, we didn’t even see a drop of rain, though we did see some impressive clouds. What does this mean for beachgoers? Well, if you canceled your hotel…

UPDATE: According to WGMD, the Coast Guard has called off their search. The Examiner adds that rescue teams searched 895 nautical miles over 20 hours, but could not locate Delgado. A Washington, D.C. man is still missing after he was caught in a riptide in Ocean City, Maryland on Saturday. 250 people were caught in and rescued from riptides this weekend at the popular beach destination, where all swimmers were called out of the water…

For those who decided to postpone their weekend travel plans until today in hopes of avoiding the initial vehicular exodus from the District, here’s the current traffic scene: the Beltway looks fairly clear, despite a slow-up at the Springfield interchange and a messy morning. On the whole, traffic seems pretty smooth as soon as you actually get out of D.C. But it wouldn’t be Labor Day weekend without a big delay at the Bay…