"Walk With Jesus!" - The Greatest 10 Days Of My Life
Friday, 3/11/11 I met Tara (jinxycat) at the airport, right after her plane landed. I stood beneath the America! store sign and greeted her with a slightly-shy hug. Then we hung out in the airport for a bit, writing Nerdfighter notes to place in John Green's books. Then, we rode the Metro back to the apartment, I introduced her to the menagerie of pets, then we watched two episodes of The Mighty Boosh before we walked to the nearby shopping center and had Moe's for dinner. I was having massive difficulty actually getting the food in my mouth instead of all over my lap. XD I have talent.
Saturday, 3/12/11 We went to Old Town and strolled around, mainly looking at all of the shops and exploring possible letterbox locations. For lunch, we went to a little French bistro and I had the oddest lunch I've ever had, consisting of an open-faced avocado sandwich and a bottle of Stella Artois. The waitress looked at me like I'm insane. I had better luck eating that time. Then, we walked to the pier and explored the various things awaiting us, including ducks, Canada geese and giant cookies. Oh, and the awesome glass player. No one should visit Old Town without watching the glass player. When we got back to where I live, we went to the store and got a frozen California Pizza Kitchen pizza, which we ate while watching two episodes of Wonderfalls.
Sunday, 3/13/11 This was the longest day of our lives. We got up fairly early and walked to Huntley Meadows Park's visitor center, to inquire about letterboxing locations. We were given a map and took off in the right direction, stopping at my parents' house to water the plants, check the mail and explore my mess of a bedroom there. Then we set off again. A lot of the walking was on a hill and it involved crossing a big road more than once. But it was fun, because Tara and I got to have long conversations about various things as we strolled. Our only hurry was that the sun was lower in the sky. But, after a crazy amount of walking, we went to a 7-11 by the other park entrance and, stocked with snacks and iced coffees, we went on our search. My first letter boxes!! We found about 2 1/2 that day. Then, rushing to beat the sunset, we walked back and caught the bus near my parents' house, exhausted but happy. Then we went to Mama's Kitchen, this cute little local restaurant. Sleeping, in my memory, was very easy that night.
Monday, 3/14/11 Moar letterboxing! We headed to my parents' house with suitcases (we had decided to spend a few nights there, to get away from my sister). We got to Old Town fairly early and went up to the George Washington Masonic Memorial. I filmed my 5Girls5Minutes video and we made fun of GWash's nose. Then we went for a nice, long walk in search of another letterbox. This one was AWESOME! It was spooky, too, involving a ghost. By this day, my feet were killing me because of all of the walking. I think I was limping. XD We made frequent stops so I didn't just fall into a sobbing heap on the streets of Old Town. Then, we walked/limped to Hard Times Chili, where we were served by the greatest waitress, ever!! She was so amusing and patient and helpful. Tara and I had chili cheese fries and cornbread, so we were pretty stuffed before we got our entrees. But it was still awesome. We were very taken with the service, and Tara even wrote our waitress a note on the check. :) Then, when we finally got back to my parents' house, I put ice on my bleeding, blistered feet and we watched Harrison's Flowers. I love that movie so much, even though I still think the random narration is lame! Adrien Brody is amazing in it. But then, isn't he always?
Tuesday, 3/15/11 This was Tara's first day in DC. After waiting over an hour for the bus, we went to the Smithsonian American History Museum - enjoying such exhibits as the Pop Culture corner, the 1939 World's Fair, Julia Childs' kitchen, the First Ladies' dresses, the original Star-Spangled Banner, the science of The Manhattan Project/H-Bomb, the amazingness of Pop-Up books, and how imagination sparks inventions that change the world (aka the Children Being Adorable exhibit). Then Tara and I stood on a rugby pitch and she filmed her 5Girls5Minutes video. We walked to the Reagan Building and we ate at Quizno's after searching high and low for the food court. When we got back to my parents' house, we watched Glee. I had never seen it before, and I actually kind of liked it. :) Then, we Skyped with Tara's friend Leo! And that was awesome. ♥ We watched Bottle Rocket before bed.
Wednesday, 3/16/11 WES FEST! We watched the other 5 Wes Anderson movies in order [Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Darjeeling Limited, Fantastic Mr. Fox], accompanied with pizza and Girl Scout cookies (and several sodas). We watched the movies from about noon to 2 AM, with one hour-and-a-half-ish long break in between Life Aquatic and Darjeeling to check email and things. It was epic. And enlightening. I fucking love that man's movies.
Thursday, 3/17/11 We went back to the apartment before going to the Holocaust Museum and I did my best to lead Tara around and give her useful, intelligent facts. I probably failed. XD I also definitely squeed about my favorite survivors' story of liberation. Then we walked to the Jefferson memorial before heading down the Mall to the Lincoln Memorial, stopping to gaze at the World War 2 Memorial and figure out the order of the states on it. We also waved at Obama and made fun of my RP character. Because we're awesome. Then, we went to the grocery store and got hair stuff for my sister, a 6-pack of Stella Artois and some strawberry shortcake snacks. It was St. Patrick's Day, after all. We tried to watch Conan, but it wasn't on cos of stupid basketball, so we watched Archer instead.
Friday, 3/18/11 The day in which Tara realized that she was leaving Sunday, not Saturday. I was so relieved. We headed out early to see a matinee of Paul. It was a very amusing movie! Then we went to Cold Stone and I fed most of my cone to the birds. When we got back to the apartment, I played Avenue Q and The Who Sell Out for Tara. Then we chatted with my sister for a while when she got home from work ("We're going to the Air & Space Museum tomorrow." "Who's Aaron Space?") before heading back out to get dinner at Ruby Tuesday. While there, Tara reminded me of Howard Moon, so I had to show her a specific episode of The Mighty Boosh when we got back. XD And then she started using this "nerd voice" and I nearly died laughing.
Saturday, 3/19/11 Because Tara wasn't actually leaving, we decided to go to the Air & Space Museum. We saw everything from WWI and WWII planes to Lindberg and Amelia Earhart's planes, to the Wright Brothers' planes. ...We mostly saw air stuff. XD But only after going to the museum's cafe and having McDonalds (only fries for me). We filmed a video recapping some of the hilarity of the week, in the middle of a 21st century space exhibit, thereby puzzling several museum guests. Then we popped outside and got ourselves some $12 Powerades before strolling up to see the Capital, hug a parking meter or two and gawk at some very polite and friendly squirrels. When we got back to my neighborhood, we went to IHOP and had the slowest service ever known to mankind. Then, back at the apartment, we watched some more Wonderfalls before passing out quite happily.
Sunday, 3/20/11 We got up extra early so Tara would make it to her plane on time and ended up strolling all through the airport before finally finding the correct terminal. Then, lo and behold, the only restaurant happened to be our beloved Einstein Bros. Bagels! So we had bagels and coffee and tea for breakfast inside of the terminal. We chatted about possibilities for the future - things that are exciting but unsharable right now. [I'll be talking about them with my parents tomorrow before I allow myself to get too ZOMG EXPLOSIONS! about it. :) But it's an exciting egg of an idea. I've been thinking that metaphor all day, but it still doesn't make much sense.] Then Tara and I looked at some bobble heads of presidents (and wannabe presidents) before hugging and saying our "I'll see you again soon"s. I watched her in line for security and she looked back once to shout, "I almost got out my Metro card!" Then I made a kind of lonely trek back to the Metro station, passing some fun artwork along the way and smiling about all of our awesome, amazing shared experiences of the past ten days.
When I got on the bus, the driver stopped me and said, "I saw you this morning. Early this morning, you were two."
Yep. I was. We were memorable. :)
Saturday, 3/12/11 We went to Old Town and strolled around, mainly looking at all of the shops and exploring possible letterbox locations. For lunch, we went to a little French bistro and I had the oddest lunch I've ever had, consisting of an open-faced avocado sandwich and a bottle of Stella Artois. The waitress looked at me like I'm insane. I had better luck eating that time. Then, we walked to the pier and explored the various things awaiting us, including ducks, Canada geese and giant cookies. Oh, and the awesome glass player. No one should visit Old Town without watching the glass player. When we got back to where I live, we went to the store and got a frozen California Pizza Kitchen pizza, which we ate while watching two episodes of Wonderfalls.
Sunday, 3/13/11 This was the longest day of our lives. We got up fairly early and walked to Huntley Meadows Park's visitor center, to inquire about letterboxing locations. We were given a map and took off in the right direction, stopping at my parents' house to water the plants, check the mail and explore my mess of a bedroom there. Then we set off again. A lot of the walking was on a hill and it involved crossing a big road more than once. But it was fun, because Tara and I got to have long conversations about various things as we strolled. Our only hurry was that the sun was lower in the sky. But, after a crazy amount of walking, we went to a 7-11 by the other park entrance and, stocked with snacks and iced coffees, we went on our search. My first letter boxes!! We found about 2 1/2 that day. Then, rushing to beat the sunset, we walked back and caught the bus near my parents' house, exhausted but happy. Then we went to Mama's Kitchen, this cute little local restaurant. Sleeping, in my memory, was very easy that night.
Monday, 3/14/11 Moar letterboxing! We headed to my parents' house with suitcases (we had decided to spend a few nights there, to get away from my sister). We got to Old Town fairly early and went up to the George Washington Masonic Memorial. I filmed my 5Girls5Minutes video and we made fun of GWash's nose. Then we went for a nice, long walk in search of another letterbox. This one was AWESOME! It was spooky, too, involving a ghost. By this day, my feet were killing me because of all of the walking. I think I was limping. XD We made frequent stops so I didn't just fall into a sobbing heap on the streets of Old Town. Then, we walked/limped to Hard Times Chili, where we were served by the greatest waitress, ever!! She was so amusing and patient and helpful. Tara and I had chili cheese fries and cornbread, so we were pretty stuffed before we got our entrees. But it was still awesome. We were very taken with the service, and Tara even wrote our waitress a note on the check. :) Then, when we finally got back to my parents' house, I put ice on my bleeding, blistered feet and we watched Harrison's Flowers. I love that movie so much, even though I still think the random narration is lame! Adrien Brody is amazing in it. But then, isn't he always?
Tuesday, 3/15/11 This was Tara's first day in DC. After waiting over an hour for the bus, we went to the Smithsonian American History Museum - enjoying such exhibits as the Pop Culture corner, the 1939 World's Fair, Julia Childs' kitchen, the First Ladies' dresses, the original Star-Spangled Banner, the science of The Manhattan Project/H-Bomb, the amazingness of Pop-Up books, and how imagination sparks inventions that change the world (aka the Children Being Adorable exhibit). Then Tara and I stood on a rugby pitch and she filmed her 5Girls5Minutes video. We walked to the Reagan Building and we ate at Quizno's after searching high and low for the food court. When we got back to my parents' house, we watched Glee. I had never seen it before, and I actually kind of liked it. :) Then, we Skyped with Tara's friend Leo! And that was awesome. ♥ We watched Bottle Rocket before bed.
Wednesday, 3/16/11 WES FEST! We watched the other 5 Wes Anderson movies in order [Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Darjeeling Limited, Fantastic Mr. Fox], accompanied with pizza and Girl Scout cookies (and several sodas). We watched the movies from about noon to 2 AM, with one hour-and-a-half-ish long break in between Life Aquatic and Darjeeling to check email and things. It was epic. And enlightening. I fucking love that man's movies.
Thursday, 3/17/11 We went back to the apartment before going to the Holocaust Museum and I did my best to lead Tara around and give her useful, intelligent facts. I probably failed. XD I also definitely squeed about my favorite survivors' story of liberation. Then we walked to the Jefferson memorial before heading down the Mall to the Lincoln Memorial, stopping to gaze at the World War 2 Memorial and figure out the order of the states on it. We also waved at Obama and made fun of my RP character. Because we're awesome. Then, we went to the grocery store and got hair stuff for my sister, a 6-pack of Stella Artois and some strawberry shortcake snacks. It was St. Patrick's Day, after all. We tried to watch Conan, but it wasn't on cos of stupid basketball, so we watched Archer instead.
Friday, 3/18/11 The day in which Tara realized that she was leaving Sunday, not Saturday. I was so relieved. We headed out early to see a matinee of Paul. It was a very amusing movie! Then we went to Cold Stone and I fed most of my cone to the birds. When we got back to the apartment, I played Avenue Q and The Who Sell Out for Tara. Then we chatted with my sister for a while when she got home from work ("We're going to the Air & Space Museum tomorrow." "Who's Aaron Space?") before heading back out to get dinner at Ruby Tuesday. While there, Tara reminded me of Howard Moon, so I had to show her a specific episode of The Mighty Boosh when we got back. XD And then she started using this "nerd voice" and I nearly died laughing.
Saturday, 3/19/11 Because Tara wasn't actually leaving, we decided to go to the Air & Space Museum. We saw everything from WWI and WWII planes to Lindberg and Amelia Earhart's planes, to the Wright Brothers' planes. ...We mostly saw air stuff. XD But only after going to the museum's cafe and having McDonalds (only fries for me). We filmed a video recapping some of the hilarity of the week, in the middle of a 21st century space exhibit, thereby puzzling several museum guests. Then we popped outside and got ourselves some $12 Powerades before strolling up to see the Capital, hug a parking meter or two and gawk at some very polite and friendly squirrels. When we got back to my neighborhood, we went to IHOP and had the slowest service ever known to mankind. Then, back at the apartment, we watched some more Wonderfalls before passing out quite happily.
Sunday, 3/20/11 We got up extra early so Tara would make it to her plane on time and ended up strolling all through the airport before finally finding the correct terminal. Then, lo and behold, the only restaurant happened to be our beloved Einstein Bros. Bagels! So we had bagels and coffee and tea for breakfast inside of the terminal. We chatted about possibilities for the future - things that are exciting but unsharable right now. [I'll be talking about them with my parents tomorrow before I allow myself to get too ZOMG EXPLOSIONS! about it. :) But it's an exciting egg of an idea. I've been thinking that metaphor all day, but it still doesn't make much sense.] Then Tara and I looked at some bobble heads of presidents (and wannabe presidents) before hugging and saying our "I'll see you again soon"s. I watched her in line for security and she looked back once to shout, "I almost got out my Metro card!" Then I made a kind of lonely trek back to the Metro station, passing some fun artwork along the way and smiling about all of our awesome, amazing shared experiences of the past ten days.
When I got on the bus, the driver stopped me and said, "I saw you this morning. Early this morning, you were two."
Yep. I was. We were memorable. :)