having a nice life
Long time, no post cuz I've been having a nice life. The shweetie and I upped and went on a semi-impulse getaway to D.C. We have friends in VA and in DE, so we rented a car and drove around to visit them, since we were in the neighborhood. Thought my experience with I-10 has inured me to long trips, but that VA-to-DE haul-six frackin' hours!-was quite depressing. Still, good pals on the other end.
Our plane left late, so we got to D.C. later than planned, which meant not a lot of sighseeing on the first day. I demanded to go to the Smithsonian's American History Museum to see Julia Child's kitchen. And it was most gratifying.
It must've been 97 degrees, with high humidity that day, but when we came out of the museum, flags were snapping on their poles, my skirt blew up a la Marilyn Monroe, we were sand-blasted by horizontally driven street grit, and then it rained and the temp dropped, oh, 20 degrees. The rest of the trip, I doubt if it broke 80. Very pleasant.
Naturally, much of our D.C. time was spent on... eating. On our own the first night, with the unerring instinct for where to find duck confit, we stumbled across Les Halles. The next day, cousins took us to lunch at Chef Geoff, and recommended that we try Zaytinya for dinner. Then we found Jaleo, near our hotel.
Sure, we also did the de rigueur stuff, like the Washington Monument, WWII Memorial, reflecting pool, Lincoln Memorial, Library of Congress. All these were wonderful. No amount of photos or TV can prepare you for the emotional effect of the Lincoln Memorial. I got pretty pensive. Also, I've been reading a lot of Sarah Vowell lately-Assassination Vacation and The Partly Cloudy Patriot, so Lincoln has been on my mind a bit.
Our plane left late, so we got to D.C. later than planned, which meant not a lot of sighseeing on the first day. I demanded to go to the Smithsonian's American History Museum to see Julia Child's kitchen. And it was most gratifying.
It must've been 97 degrees, with high humidity that day, but when we came out of the museum, flags were snapping on their poles, my skirt blew up a la Marilyn Monroe, we were sand-blasted by horizontally driven street grit, and then it rained and the temp dropped, oh, 20 degrees. The rest of the trip, I doubt if it broke 80. Very pleasant.
Naturally, much of our D.C. time was spent on... eating. On our own the first night, with the unerring instinct for where to find duck confit, we stumbled across Les Halles. The next day, cousins took us to lunch at Chef Geoff, and recommended that we try Zaytinya for dinner. Then we found Jaleo, near our hotel.
Sure, we also did the de rigueur stuff, like the Washington Monument, WWII Memorial, reflecting pool, Lincoln Memorial, Library of Congress. All these were wonderful. No amount of photos or TV can prepare you for the emotional effect of the Lincoln Memorial. I got pretty pensive. Also, I've been reading a lot of Sarah Vowell lately-Assassination Vacation and The Partly Cloudy Patriot, so Lincoln has been on my mind a bit.