Trip to DC
Because of my job, I got selected to take a trip to Washington DC to attend a technical workshop.
It was, overall, a very nice trip. I took my wife along and since the workshop was on Monday and Tuesday, we left Friday afternoon and got to spend the weekend seeing the sights.
The flight to Washington was mostly uneventful. We flew on Northwest Airlines who decided to stop giving out peanuts and sell a "snack pack" for a $1. We got a drink and my wife had packed some snacks so no big deal, just yet another thing you used to get that you no longer get.
The excitement started soon after we got to the hotel. The workshop folks put us up in The Watergate Hotel (yes, THAT Watergate). It isn't a bad place, just rather expensive. So we get to the hotel about 9 PM Friday night and I'm hungry. I'm hoping to find a little cafe to get a coffee and a piece of pie or something but my wife doesn't want to go out. I remember seeing a convenience store close by so go down, get a few sodas and some cheesy poofs. As I am walking in the front door of the hotel, Condolezza Rice comes out the other door with a group of people. Personally, I don't care for the woman but I have to admit to getting a little thrill out of it. As I come in, I hear a group of people going, "ooohhh, she did this and she did that..." and they sound so much like 10 year old girls who just saw N'Sync. It makes me feel a little sheepish about getting excited but I still went up and told my wife about it.
We got up fairly early Saturday morning and found some breakfast. DC is a very weird place when it comes to finding something to eat or souveneirs or the normal tourist stuff. The breakfast buffet at the hotel was $22 per person so I asked the desk cleark if there was a Denny's or something close by. He looked at me like I had just dropped trou and pointed me to a little shopping center around the corner. We had a pretty good breakfast of croissant sandwiches and headed off down to the Mall.
For those of you who don't know, the Mall is the big strip of federal office buildings and monuments in downtown DC. We started at the Lincoln Memorial. It's a pretty cool place and you can look out on the whole area from there. We next went down to The Wall (Vietnam memorial). That place is hard to describe. I'm sure everyone has seen pictures but nothing conveys the impression of standing in the middle of 57,000 names of the people killed in Vietnam. There were lots of vets around and people taking rubbings.
We then walked down to the WW II memorial and on to the White House. We found out you had to get a tciket for the White House to get in so just took some pictures from the fence and headed for the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. We were originally planning on doing that on Sunday but when we walked in and found out it was free, we decided to go thru. That was an amazing thing to me, most of the stuff was free. I'm just so used to people being in my pocket, I was amazed at how much there is to do for free in that town. We spent the rest of the day at the Smithsonian and then grabbed the Metro back to the hotel. After we found a place to eat, we decided to just head out and ended up following some people to an area on the river and ended up in Georgetown, a pretty nice shopping area and place to just hang out. We wandered around a bit and called it a night.
Got up Sunday and headed for the Capitol, hoping to get in early but found out it was closed. There is no doubt that you are dealing with the government in DC because they roll up the sidewalks at 5:30. EVERYTHING closes around 5:30 during the week and most are closed on the weekend. One of the events we came to next turned out to be some of the most fun we had the whole trip. We were leaving the Capitol and heard music, someone singing Dancing Queen by Abba. We found a big stage at the end of one of the main streets and the street for several blocks lined with booths. When we got to the front of the stage, the music we heard was from some people doing a sound check and on top of the stage was a big banner that said, "CAPITOL PRIDE FESTIVAL." Well, it didn't take long for us to figure out what they were so proud of. As I turned from the stage and looked down the line of booths, the second one on the left was sponsored by "Your Gay Realtor" and the second or third one on the right was covered with the little rainbow stickers. Two guys walked by holding hands about that time and we kind of figured out what was going on. Not to mention that all the little carboard trash receptables lining the street were advertising LD Lubricants. Anyway, talk about a laugh a minute, just looking at some of the booths and most of the poeple was a lot of fun. It's always amazing to me how much people scream and rail against stereotypes but then embrace the stereotype with a passion. My favorite, other than the guy with the "I heart Dick" t-shirt was the tell slender person dressed to the 9s, mini skirt, sequined blouse, poofed up hair and the face of a lumberjack. I know I'm an insensitive lout and I try hard not to be but this one just cracked me up and it was all I could do to stifle the laugh till she/he/it was out of ear shot.
So, we grabbed some food from one of the booths then ended up at the Art Museum. This is a big place and has some very interesting pieces, so many that they kind of blend together. I really like a lot of the stuff but find it hard to understand why some of these guys are considered such great artists. They have the only Da Vinci in the country and it is really beautiful. That was a very interesting afternoon to say the least. We then did a sculpture museum with lots more art till I was completely arted out. Since everything else was closed and she wouldn't make a decision as to what she wanted to do, I took us down to Arlington Cemetary. It was right at 5:30 when we walked up the road to the cemetary and the guard atopped us and told us it was closed but that Iwo Jima was still open. He gave us directions which took us around the outside of the cemetary. It was warm but a nice walk. The number of graves as you walk along is staggering so it was a rather quiet, reflextive walk. After a few misadventures trying to find a bathroom, we found the Iwo Jima monument. This place is special to me because my Dad was there when they raised the flag. The monument is a lot bigger than I expected and the detail is strking, it is a very moving monument. We were pretty tired by this point so found a place to eat and headed back to the hotel.
Monday I had to go to the workshop and my wife was on her own. She ended up back down in Georgetown and I met her there for supper. We wandered around a little but made an early night of it.
Tuesday I had to work again and she went to some of the old house in the Georgetown area. We headed back down to the Capitol as soon as I got finished but you have to get a ticket early in the morning to get in. We opted instead for the Library of Congress which ended up being a good choice. It is a beautiful place, lots of statues and art work.
We flew out on Wednesday and other than a stewardess who felt compelled to use the intercom every 5 freaking minutes, it was an uneventful trip back.
All in all, a fun time.
It was, overall, a very nice trip. I took my wife along and since the workshop was on Monday and Tuesday, we left Friday afternoon and got to spend the weekend seeing the sights.
The flight to Washington was mostly uneventful. We flew on Northwest Airlines who decided to stop giving out peanuts and sell a "snack pack" for a $1. We got a drink and my wife had packed some snacks so no big deal, just yet another thing you used to get that you no longer get.
The excitement started soon after we got to the hotel. The workshop folks put us up in The Watergate Hotel (yes, THAT Watergate). It isn't a bad place, just rather expensive. So we get to the hotel about 9 PM Friday night and I'm hungry. I'm hoping to find a little cafe to get a coffee and a piece of pie or something but my wife doesn't want to go out. I remember seeing a convenience store close by so go down, get a few sodas and some cheesy poofs. As I am walking in the front door of the hotel, Condolezza Rice comes out the other door with a group of people. Personally, I don't care for the woman but I have to admit to getting a little thrill out of it. As I come in, I hear a group of people going, "ooohhh, she did this and she did that..." and they sound so much like 10 year old girls who just saw N'Sync. It makes me feel a little sheepish about getting excited but I still went up and told my wife about it.
We got up fairly early Saturday morning and found some breakfast. DC is a very weird place when it comes to finding something to eat or souveneirs or the normal tourist stuff. The breakfast buffet at the hotel was $22 per person so I asked the desk cleark if there was a Denny's or something close by. He looked at me like I had just dropped trou and pointed me to a little shopping center around the corner. We had a pretty good breakfast of croissant sandwiches and headed off down to the Mall.
For those of you who don't know, the Mall is the big strip of federal office buildings and monuments in downtown DC. We started at the Lincoln Memorial. It's a pretty cool place and you can look out on the whole area from there. We next went down to The Wall (Vietnam memorial). That place is hard to describe. I'm sure everyone has seen pictures but nothing conveys the impression of standing in the middle of 57,000 names of the people killed in Vietnam. There were lots of vets around and people taking rubbings.
We then walked down to the WW II memorial and on to the White House. We found out you had to get a tciket for the White House to get in so just took some pictures from the fence and headed for the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. We were originally planning on doing that on Sunday but when we walked in and found out it was free, we decided to go thru. That was an amazing thing to me, most of the stuff was free. I'm just so used to people being in my pocket, I was amazed at how much there is to do for free in that town. We spent the rest of the day at the Smithsonian and then grabbed the Metro back to the hotel. After we found a place to eat, we decided to just head out and ended up following some people to an area on the river and ended up in Georgetown, a pretty nice shopping area and place to just hang out. We wandered around a bit and called it a night.
Got up Sunday and headed for the Capitol, hoping to get in early but found out it was closed. There is no doubt that you are dealing with the government in DC because they roll up the sidewalks at 5:30. EVERYTHING closes around 5:30 during the week and most are closed on the weekend. One of the events we came to next turned out to be some of the most fun we had the whole trip. We were leaving the Capitol and heard music, someone singing Dancing Queen by Abba. We found a big stage at the end of one of the main streets and the street for several blocks lined with booths. When we got to the front of the stage, the music we heard was from some people doing a sound check and on top of the stage was a big banner that said, "CAPITOL PRIDE FESTIVAL." Well, it didn't take long for us to figure out what they were so proud of. As I turned from the stage and looked down the line of booths, the second one on the left was sponsored by "Your Gay Realtor" and the second or third one on the right was covered with the little rainbow stickers. Two guys walked by holding hands about that time and we kind of figured out what was going on. Not to mention that all the little carboard trash receptables lining the street were advertising LD Lubricants. Anyway, talk about a laugh a minute, just looking at some of the booths and most of the poeple was a lot of fun. It's always amazing to me how much people scream and rail against stereotypes but then embrace the stereotype with a passion. My favorite, other than the guy with the "I heart Dick" t-shirt was the tell slender person dressed to the 9s, mini skirt, sequined blouse, poofed up hair and the face of a lumberjack. I know I'm an insensitive lout and I try hard not to be but this one just cracked me up and it was all I could do to stifle the laugh till she/he/it was out of ear shot.
So, we grabbed some food from one of the booths then ended up at the Art Museum. This is a big place and has some very interesting pieces, so many that they kind of blend together. I really like a lot of the stuff but find it hard to understand why some of these guys are considered such great artists. They have the only Da Vinci in the country and it is really beautiful. That was a very interesting afternoon to say the least. We then did a sculpture museum with lots more art till I was completely arted out. Since everything else was closed and she wouldn't make a decision as to what she wanted to do, I took us down to Arlington Cemetary. It was right at 5:30 when we walked up the road to the cemetary and the guard atopped us and told us it was closed but that Iwo Jima was still open. He gave us directions which took us around the outside of the cemetary. It was warm but a nice walk. The number of graves as you walk along is staggering so it was a rather quiet, reflextive walk. After a few misadventures trying to find a bathroom, we found the Iwo Jima monument. This place is special to me because my Dad was there when they raised the flag. The monument is a lot bigger than I expected and the detail is strking, it is a very moving monument. We were pretty tired by this point so found a place to eat and headed back to the hotel.
Monday I had to go to the workshop and my wife was on her own. She ended up back down in Georgetown and I met her there for supper. We wandered around a little but made an early night of it.
Tuesday I had to work again and she went to some of the old house in the Georgetown area. We headed back down to the Capitol as soon as I got finished but you have to get a ticket early in the morning to get in. We opted instead for the Library of Congress which ended up being a good choice. It is a beautiful place, lots of statues and art work.
We flew out on Wednesday and other than a stewardess who felt compelled to use the intercom every 5 freaking minutes, it was an uneventful trip back.
All in all, a fun time.
posted by Big Ed at 2:09 PM
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