Washington, D.C. (and the other nearby areas)

Sabbatical Days 12 & 13 | June 8 and 9, 2011
Washington, D.C. (and the other nearby areas)

Wednesday:

OH. MY. GOD!!! Can it BE any freaking hotter??? MIS-ER-A-BLE!!

When I woke up, I checked the Weather Channel app on my phone to get an idea of what we were facing for the day and discovered that a severe heat advisory had been issued for the urban DC area - EEP!! We decided to push through and head into the city anyway, so I got showered and we headed out. At first, it wasn't all that bad. We headed into New Carrolton, where we parked the car and picked up a pass for the Metro, which we then took into the city. This was actually a very lovely experience and we got to do some people watching. There are some absolutely gorgeous people in DC! 

When we got off the train we first went to the Smithsonian Institution Building (i.e. the Castle) and had some lunch. While we were eating, we had to share a table and we got to meet some very pleasant people! The first couple was an older couple and they were almost done eating so we didn't get to talk to them very much but then we were joined by a very lovely couple from Australia that were on a 5 MONTH holiday and they were doing something very similar to what Matt and I are doing (taking a road trip to see the US) but they are doing it as part of a home exchange so they are branching out from a few main cities and taking little trips from there. It was really fun getting to know them! Theeen the day started to get interesting.

From the Castle we went to the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian and that is when it started to get hotter. We tried to stick to the shade as much as possible but that was a luxury that was few and far between.  When we got to the museum, there were a few artifacts at the sides of the walkway as you started to head into the museum. We walked through some of the bigger exhibits and then sat down to watch a short movie that they were showing. It was a very nice building, but it was not set up very well to handle large amounts of people/tour groups. It has a lot of potential to be something great. There were a few times that we got stuck behind a tour group so we couldn't finish seeing what we were looking at, or we would have to navigate around them. Even then, it was like a maze to get through the different exhibits and you weren't sure if you were heading into a dead end, or if you were coming up to an emergency exit or what. And for a four story building, you would think there would be more to see. Essentially all the exhibits were on the 4th floor, the third floor was mostly classrooms/interactive exhibits, the second floor was the store and the bottom floor was mostly open - there were a few boats to see in the main entryway. But it wasn't all bad - as we were walking into the store, they had some beadwork up along the wall and one piece was the United States flag. But instead of stars, it was the abbreviations for each state and then in the stripes of the flag, they had worked in the pledge of allegiance. It was super cool.

After the American Indian museum, we decided that we were going to go to the Smithsonian American History Museum - which of COURSE was all the way back on the OTHER side of the National Mall and it very well may have been the longest walk in history due to the heat!  On the way there, we passed through the outside garden of the Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. There is a HUGE fountain in there that people were playing in and also a gigantic metal tree that was just happily shining in the sun. But the COOLEST was a house sculpture in there that seemed 3-D and it seemed to rotate with you as you walked past. However, it was a completely flat, un-moving piece! SUPER neat!  After what seemed like a million years, we finally made it to th American History Museum and found a place to sit. Thankfully it was right near the water fountain because I am pretty sure I refilled that bottle at least 6 times!! I was literally melting!

Our first stop in the museum was Julia Childs' kitchen. It was so cool to see! But it was also packed! This was the kitchen that Julia used for almost 45 years and filmed many of her shows in - it was gifted to the Smithsonian in 2001 and it is set up exactly as it was in her home. I really enjoyed getting to see it in person and to see how she had her kitchen set up. They also had a lot of pictures of her up and some quotes as well. I'm glad we stopped to see it!

From there, we went to see the dresses of the First Ladies. It is a collection of gowns worn by the First Ladies either at a State Dinner or the Inaugural Ball. The featured dresses were Helen Taft's Inaugural Ball gown and Michelle Obama's Inaugural gown - both were absolutely stunning!  I was really drawn to the dresses of Mary Lincoln Todd and Martha Washington. Ms. Todd had such a tiny waist!! and Ms. Washington was very short! If she were alive today and were to stand next to me, she MIGHT reach my shoulder. These are things that you just don't get from photos!

After the dresses, we passed through a few other smaller exhibits and then we headed for the Metro again. From there we headed to the Braddock  Rd station where we stopped over at Grassroots restaurant for some water and then my cousin Christine and her husband, John, picked us up. We had the honor of meeting their beagle, Gizmo, who is abso-stinkin-lutely adorable and we got to see their new home as well! From there, we went to Ray's Hell Burger for dinner which is also a popular haunt for the President of the United States from time to time. Matt and I both had the Soul Burger (Yummy!) and John went on a more adventurous route and tried the burger with bone marrow on it (BARF!). He SAYS that it was decent but that he would probably not ever get it again... I totally give him major points for even trying it a first time! .:shudder:.  Once we finished eating, John piloted us to see the Iwo Jima memorial which was breath taking at sunset! You never realize just how big something is until you are actually standing next to it and this memorial is HUGE! Every photo that I have seen of this memorial seem to make it seem smaller, or look as if the image is taken from a long distance away, but when we walked up to it it was absolutely awe inspiring. Words cannot express how glad I am to have had the chance to see it in person!  From there, we went to see the Air Force Memorial and that was also neat to see. When you look at it, it looks just like the jet stream from 3 jets moving away from one another into 3 different directions. It's very simple. After talking to my friend, he said that it's more moving if you are out amongst the graves in the Arlington Cemetary and look back on it. I will definitely have to do that the next time that we go to Washington!  After seeing some of the sites, John and Christine took us back to the Metro and we headed back to our kabin.

Thursday - the day that I won the "Idiot of the Day" award:

After some deliberation, we decided that it was just too freaking hot to try to tackle D.C. again, so once we got up, we had a little breakfast and headed to the pool!!  Since there was one lifeguard, there was a posted rule that we had to get out of the pool every hour on the hour so that he could test the chemical levels and monitor the water temperature. During one of the breaks, I decided I should put sunscreen on my tattoo to keep it from fading. I seriously have no idea why I didn't even THINK to cover the REST of my body!! DUH!!!  Needless to say, when you spend from 10:30am to 5pm in the pool - you best be wearing sunscreen!!  After I got out of the pool at 5, I went into the shop in the KOA main building to get a t-shirt because I had run out of shirts that I was okay with wearing out to dinner (i.e. all the ones that I had left in my suitcase were related to Angry Birds lol). After getting ready, we were back on the run again.

Tonight was one of the nights that I have been waiting MONTHS for - I got to see my best friend again after what seems like forever! Have you ever had one of those friends where you can not see each other for however long but as soon as you see one another again, you can pretty much pick up where you left off? It seems cliche, but, the kind of friend that grounds you and reminds you who you are? That's this friend and I was so stinking excited to see him!!  We decided to have dinner at Pussers Caribbean Grille (http://pussersusa.com/) in Annapolis, MD and Matt couldn't drive fast enough to get there! And then we couldn't find the place fast enough!! But, we finally did and we found my friend waiting for us at a table outside next to a little waterway where we could watch boats come in and out of the harbor. While we were eating, we watched the thunderstorm roll in over Annapolis - it was amazing how fast people bolted inside to get out of the storm and how fast the restaurant picked up the tables and chairs. But not us!! We decided to rough it and watch the storm. I'm glad we did though! It never did rain but we got to see some really neat lightning!  After dinner and desserts, we walked Annapolis a little bit but then it was time to say good night. My visits with my friend are never long enough but this was undeniably WAY too short!! Hopefully next time we can spend a lot more time with one another!

Now, it is time to organize our stuff and get ready to head out in the morning to continue our journey! Night!!