D.C. Journal: Entry 2

Tour of Downtown D.C.

The day got off to an early start—8:30 am early.  I was up for a jaunt around downtown D.C. with my critique partner Lisa Sullivan.  Now, I will admit, we had a very ambitious plan to do a thorough walking tour of the entire downtown D.C. area, hitting all the major and minor high points.  After a quick Metro ride, I found myself in the heart of the downtown D.C. area. 

Amazing.  I was blown away by the architectural detail and the amount of work and time that went into the planning and building of downtown D.C.

First up, the Washington Monument.  I’ve always wondered why the Washington Monument was obelisk, and not the man himself immortalized in a statue—either standing solo, on a horse, or in a boat. (I don’t know why, but whenever I think of George Washington, I think of him being on either a horse or in a boat   )  So Lisa, who’s a wealth of knowledge when it comes to history, told me his monument is an obelisk because he was a Free Mason and the obelisk is one of their symbols (they have a close association to Egyptian lore).

After that, we proceeded to the War World II Memorial, up  the Reflecting Pool, and on to the Lincoln Monument.  I paused a moment to take in  the  view from the top of the steps.

I also stood in the spot where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his “I Have A Dream” speech. 

Then we headed over to the Vietnam War Memorial.  There was a very solemn and serious atmosphere in the air here.  I even did a rubbing after picking out a random name, well actually 2 names.  I plan to Google them later to see what I can uncover.  Who knows, I may get a spark for a new story line.

From here we headed to the back of the White House, and promptly got yelled at by a security guard (an armed security guard I should note) for walking on the street-LOL! Now granted, it was Pennsylvania Ave we were walking on, and we were directly behind the White House, but we thought this was a funny, possible indication of our day to come—us getting into some sort of trouble before the day was over.

You see, apparently you are not allowed to get too close to the gate at the back of the White House, so Lisa and I got off the path that would take us that way because there was a gate (this entire section of Pennsylvania Ave it blocked off by several temporary gates and barricades to prevent any type of unauthorized automobile or pedestrian traffic.  So we are looking at this open gate that clearly says “Authorized Personnel Only”. After a few seconds consideration,  we backed away, deciding not to chance it.  There are snippers in the trees there, and they have a “Shoot first, ask questions later” policy.  (And I got the feeling they don’t shoot to wound)

So we started walking down the street, not the section that’s blocked off, when a group  comes up and asks us if they can cross the gte.  We say “Not, according to the sign.”  But they go anyway, along with several other unrelated groups because they saw them cross the gate. So Lisa and I are are walking down the street wondering (1) if they are going to get in trouble, and (2) if we should go back and cross the gate too .

At tha exact moment, a security guard yells at us “On the sidewalk!”  We look at each other, then look around, then look back at the guard going “Who us?”  His response was a resounding “ON THE SIDEWALK!!”

So we run, not walk, over to the sidewalk, jump over a little iron fence, cross a little grassy area, then jump over another little iron fence-LOL.  Meanwhile there is a gang of people at the fence at the back of the White House, so we continue our walk—albeit on the sidewalk, laughing about the fact that we did the right then and didn’t disobey the sign, but still got yelled at.

We decided to head to the front of the White House, which is a bit of a detoured journey since you can’t take any of the close, direct routes to the front due to security issues.  Once we rounded the corner of the Treasury, we’re standing in front of this impressive looking building, so I ask Lisa, “Ok, so what’s this building again?”  She looks at me like “No you didn’t”.  After a good laugh, she answered “It’s the White House!!”

LOL—ok, in my defense we’d passed several impressive buildings from the time we left the back of the White House, to the time we got to the front, and I easily get turned around in unfamilar settings.  Plus the land and buildings located right in front of the White House looked so unfamiliar and out of place.  Not what I was expecting to be in front of the White House at all. 

So, after laughing at my stupidity, we headed off the Capitol, the Library of Congress, the Senate buildings, and a collection of Smithsonian Museum; all the while passing several buildings—many of which I never knew existed (the Organization of American States building for example).

All in all, a very long day of walking but I took in a lot of the history about our Nation’s Capital.  It’s hard to not be impressed with the masonry and architecture the builders used so many years ago in building D.C..

We finally made it back to the hotel, after a ride on the Metro car from hell. Literally.  There was no air condition on the train, and after about 6 hours of walking around in the 80 plus degree weather and full sun in downtown D.C., we definitely needed some AC. 

The Rest of the Day
Once we got back to the hotel, Lisa and I said goodbye and I headed to my room, my first priority was to crash.  However, before I could answer the sweet call of the bed and the AC, I had to make arrangements to get my opening day tickets to Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.  Come on, it’s opening day, did you really think I was going to let the fact that I was in D.C. deter me from seeing this movie?  I think not!

But of course, it had to be difficult.  I’m walking around the lobby  with my computer open, looking for an internet signal (there is no free internet access in the hotel and it’s a very pricey per day charge in order to get it).  I eventually ended up at the concierge desk where the concierge on duty let me use his computer to purchase my tickets.  While I was doing that, two members of my writing group, RCRW, were milling about, waiting for their rooms to become available.  After a brief chat, I gave them directions to Georgetown (because after 2 days in the city, I’m now a directional expert…NOT!) and we made plans to hook up later that night at Sequoia for dinner.

So after my little power nap, I freshened up for a night in Georgetown.  Sequoia is a nice restaurant that sits right on the Potomac River and at night, the trees are lit with, what looks to be, hundreds of Christmas lights.  For dinner, I enjoyed lobster ravioli and a nice glass of Pinot Grigio. 

Of course I could not end the day without some near mishap.  I stand in preparation to leave, and my camera decides to make a mad dash to the floor.  Ok, first off, I’m wearing shoes with wooden heels, and the restaurant’s floor is hardwood, so sudden movements are a no- no for me.  Anywho, I make the lunge to catch the camera and my heel slips right from under me and down I go!  Luckily, I fell right into my chair-LOL.

So after nearly falling in the middle of the restaurant and really embarrassing myself, we hailed a cab back to the hotel.  The ride was uneventful, except for a funny conversation we had about sun tan lotions (which I know had the cabbie wondering if I was African America, or just really tanned ) 

All in all, a great ending to very tiring day.

Tags: D.C., vacay

D.C. Journal: Entry 1

Today I had a really good, laid back time in DC.  (This is my first trip back to the Nation’s capital since a 5th grade fieldtrip.) 

The flight in was relatively smooth, hit a pocket of rough air for a minute, but other than that, I took a nap, then did some work on my wip.  Once we landed, I retrieved my luggage, again relatively painless compared to the length of time it usually takes my luggage to come around at home.  The only issued was my bag, which is quite large and heavy (come on, I packed for 6 days) was near the top of the belt with 2 other suitcases tangled in it a bit.  So the first time around, I could not disentangle it quick enough to get it off the belt.  Luckily there was a nice stranger there who stayed to help me get it off the second go around.

The Metro:
From the luggage area, I headed outside Regan International to get my first live glimpse of DC since 1985.  It was more than  bit warm, so I quickly made my way over to the shuttle station so I could get to the Metro station.  Ok, the heavy suitcase was a stumbling block again since all the bottom row spaces were taken up on the shuttle, and try as I might, I could not pick that thing up to put it on the middle shelf.  LOL—luckily there was another nice stranger there who helped me store the suitcase.  So I am now heading towards the metro station, but I have no clue where it is.  So the shuttle van stops at another airport exit, and I assumed he was just picking up other passengers.  Then all the folks that had gotten on the shuttle with me jumped up to exit, so I’m like WTH??  So I asked was this the exit for the Metro and they go “Yeah”  Ok, damn shuttle driver never said a word, had I not asked I would have just been riding the shuttle to… I have no clue where.

So I get off the shuttle, get directions, and then make my way to the Metro Station.  I walk in and there is no attendee at the booth.  My first thoughts were “Uh oh, this can NOT be good for me.”  Now, my co-worker had tried very hard to prep me for the Metro, but it all that knowledge had leaked out of my head at some point, and was therefore of no use.  So I headed over to the map (like everyone else did, thinking this had to be the right thing to do-Lol) and found the location I need to get off on.  So no sweat, I got this down right? 

Ha!  Wrong.  I didn’t know which station I was at, so I could figure out how to get to my stop.

Then, I know I must have been looking confused, because the attendant, who was walking around, came up and asked me if I needed help.  My response, “What gave it away?”  He laughed and told me how much my ticket would be, and told me the route to get to my station.  So I was good to go, right?  

NOT!  I got to the machine to get my ticket, and I was stumped.  After leaving one machine because it would not take my dollar, I went to another on that took my money, but then I just sort of stared at it, not knowing what to do next.  So then, just like a scene in a movie, the attendant just popped up out of nowhere, pushed the buttons for me to add the correct credits to my ticket and hit the button to produce my ticket.

Then he gave me a map with my route outlined and stops circled.  I laughed because I knew I was looking like the hopeless tourist.  I thanked him and he said “No problem, I just didn’t want you riding the rails all night.”

LOL—this is soo true.  I was soo intimidated by the whole Metro process.  But other than me being a temporary prisoner when I couldn’t get out of the station to get to my transfer (I have no idea what happened, when I put in my card, the gates would not open, so another attendee had to rescue me and let me out of the side gate—this would have been embarrassing, but at the moment, I really didn’t give a care; I just wanted to get to the hotel.)

The Hotel:
So I finally get to the hotel after struggling with the Metro and riding, what had to be, the longest escalator I’ve ever seen.  The area around hotel is beautiful, so I took a second to look around, then made my way to the entrance (which involved a loooong walk up a semi-steep hill in 80 degree heat with the sun beaming done.  I thought I was going to pass out, but I finally made it to the front desk only to learn that my room would not be read for another 3 hours or so.

Great. 

I’m hot, sweaty, tired,  and have no room.  So what do I do?  I check my bags and head over to Georgetown. 

Georgetown:
I spent a wonderful 2.5 hours walking around historic Georgetown. I started my tour at the famous M Street and Wisconsin intersection and just slowly made my way up and down both ends of these streets.  I had a great lunch at Dean & Deluca and I finished my afternoon up  at the Sequoia restaurant. 

Sequoia sits right on the Potomac river, and the view is gorgeous.  My original plan was to have cocktails and early dinner there, but I was too hot, sweaty, and tired to eat at that time; so I took some pictures, got a menu, and made my way to the cab stand with the intention of having dinner there before I leave DC.

When I got back from Georgetown, my room was ready, so I completed my check in and just crashed.  When I got up from my nap, it was about an hour or so before sundown, so I got my camera and took a walk around the hotel.  I love the area, very trendy-ish & charming, but not too over the top.  You can see history in just about every building.  Within 2 mins, I come across a bevy of restaurants and shops, everything from Italian, Mediterranean, Indian, Thai, Vietnamese, and American fusion. 

Open City
For dinner, I settled on a place call Open City,  a coffeehouse that’s open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  I LOVED the vibe in this place and decided it would be my first stop every morning, provided I got up in time. 

I had a wonderful dinner, a glass of wine, and a chaippuccino to go.  They played R&B the entire time I was there, so I was entertained with some Alicia Keys, Baby Face, Janet Jackson, and the like while I enjoyed my dinner and people watched.

All in all a great first day in DC.  I’m looking forward to tomorrow.

Tags: D.C., vacay

My Week in the Nation’s Capital

As I sit in the Regan Airport with about 2 hours to kill before my flight leaves, I decided that now would be a good time to get a jump on my DC trip recap.  My orginal plan was to post every couple of days or so, but that plan was quickly and efficiently shot to Hades and back once I saw that internet access in my hotel was an asinine, astronomically high daily fee that I flat out REFUSED to pay.  So instead, I’ll  just do a comprehensive daily recap. 

All in all, my trip was a blast.  This was my first trip to DC since I was a 10 years old visiting on a  5th grade field trip. But DC as an adult is markedly different than DC as a child.  No, I did not hang out an party (well at least not every night ), but I did enjoy the freedom I had to explore the city at my own pace and leisure.  I partook in some sightseeing, some good local shopping, and some great food–I know I walked at least 5 miles, if not more, a day.  If nothing else, I think my trip to DC has unwittingly kicked off my new exercise program.  I really think it will be a waste to let all this hard work I’ve done in breaking in my body by getting use to daily exercise go to waste. 

Tags: D.C., vacay