The day is finally here! My book, Moon Washington DC, is available today from Avalon Travel and Hachette Book Group. Whether you’re visiting for the first time and want to explore my favorite route through the monuments and memorials, or whether you live here, I encourage you to pick it up, because I’m certain you’ll learn something new.

When I started working on the book, it was a strange time in Washington, DC. I wrote my proposal during the final months of the 2016 election cycle. I signed my contract in the aftermath of the drizzly, bleak, “American carnage” inauguration, when the city was full of Trump supporters and Trump protestors. And I started writing in the spring of 2017, when Washingtonians of all political persuasions were glued to our Twitter feeds for the latest on Russia, Comey, and the travel ban.

How was I going to write a guide to Washington? It seemed impossible to know how this new, unsettled political reality would impact the city, which had seen so much growth and positive energy during the Obama Administration.

As it turns out, Washington, DC, is resilient. We keep legislating—sort of. We keep lobbying and reporting and advocating. Obama made Washington “cool.” It’s still cool. We haven’t lost the sparkle of the last decade. In some ways, Trump brought the drama back to the city—the kind of drama that motivates Washingtonians to wake up each morning and fight for our causes, and makes us excited to meet our friends at happy hour for gossip every evening.

In fact, I’d argue Washington is even better. The economy is booming. Neighborhoods citywide are busier and safer than ever. Washington is maturing into a world capital not only by circumstance, but also by design, with the mix of glamour and culture and yes, political drama, you can’t find anywhere else.

It’s swampier, too—and that’s a good thing. Sure, A-list celebrities no longer fill the White House Correspondents’ Dinner parties, but this gives more space to journalists and policymakers, Washington’s real stars. During the Obama years, you might have seen Beyoncé’s town car outside the White House. Now, you see more protestors than ever before, from all sides of the political spectrum, which tells us something about the Trump Administration, to be sure, but also about the democracy. The are some new faces on the walls of The Palm, but the steak is still perfectly mediocre. The Trump International Hotel didn’t fail, nor did it become the headquarters for fascists. It’s a glittering reminder of the fact that the more things change in Washington, the more things stay the same—and it currently boasts the best view in the city, of the landscape from the clock tower, and the powerbrokers in the bar.

With the Trump Administration mired in controversy, Washington is not the idealistic Hollywood version of the Nation’s Capital. It’s more like a melodramatic reality show—provocative drink-throwing contestants and all. But, the show goes on. Washington can weather any storm—and while those stormy winds may change the landscape around it, you can’t drain the swamp.

(And, it’s a great time to get out of your bubble—yes, you, too, live in a bubble—and visit Washington, DC with my book!)