Camping

I am really just eating up all of D.C., it's exactly what I needed in my life. But! This weekend I was reminded what the countryside looks like and what an open space that doesn't have a statue in the middle looks like (All the parks in D.C. are named after some kind of wealthy founding male figure. And they all rode horses). We had purified spring water and did not get sick. Tried to make fires with wet wood and endless tinder. Heard rustling in the bushes and saw a fresh looking paw print from some kind of 4 legged animal. Made friends with Chip, the Appalachian trail hiker 4 days into his 4 month trip who only smelled slightly of body oder. Pet some horses and as many as 12 dogs, all under one owner. This older retired couple walks with their dogs for like 3 hours a day on these trails, love Mormons, offered to bring us some pizza, were a little loopy, and based their life around the 12 rescue dogs and they cooked chicken or beef for their dogs for dinner every night. Absurd. The cabin was basically really great. Best part: no bug bites and no cell phone service!

Literacy

This post is dedicated to J.K. Rowling because A. It's about Harry Potter and B. It's written and Harry Potter made me literate. I watched the last installment of the movies and have, for the time being, closed that chapter in my life. I really can't say enough about how much I have loved this series. My mother forbade me from reading any more books when I was a senior in high school because it was getting just that bad. But I loved them because I could pick up any book and start reading anywhere and it was my favorite part, again. The most excited I have ever been for a Christmas present was when I opened up my very own box set during my freshman year in college. Endless Harry Potter trivia, endless web searching and fan essay reading, so many deep literary discussions. . . :) I didn't like reading before Harry Potter. I owe my literacy to J.K. Rowling, and some other people but really to her. And because I owe her my literacy it is arguable that I also owe her any success I have in this world. Maybe. Regardless my point is I love Harry Potter and will always have fond memories as I force my own children to read the series that had a place in my life from 4 grade to my senior year of college. What a legacy.

After a brief review of my experiences in D.C. I have concluded that those I remember most fondly are those when I ate my weight in food.

Just a Lemonade

So Sarah and I set out for just a lemonade today and ended up getting into this friends and family opening at a new restaurant in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood. We walked up to the owner and told him we would love to try out the restaurant and tell the 40 other people we live with just down the street exactly how good it is. So he asked if we were 21 then said, "Ok ladies. The deal tonight is that everything is free. So be sweet and tip well. Joel, will you find these ladies a seat at the bar." Done. Our night began. After the first 3 virgin drinks we got two amazing appetizers, 2 life changing entrees, and 3 deathly desserts. I thought the best thing we ate was the salmon with pomegranate glaze. But the almond bread pudding with home made pistachio ice cream was a close second. We also made a ton of friends with the servers and the bar tenders, left a large-ish tip, gave a pretty smile, flipped our hair, and walked out with our 4 bags full of leftovers to share with our friends back at the Barlow because they wouldn't believe us otherwise. The owner, Steve, was very gracious and we told them all just how great the food and service really was. Basically I could not stop laughing the WHOLE night. We were so lucky. It's called Circa and is the newest of 3 in D.C. Great service, great food prices, wonderful management, metro accessible, highly recommended.

DOME

So the most prolific phone call of my life came on Wednesday at like 10 am. It was a fellow Barlow intern offering me a spot on a dome tour later that afternoon! Yeah buddy!!! Dome tours are more exclusive because a member of congress "has to" be on it with you. Anywhays. It's amazing. It's only when you're looking from the balcony right under the Apotheosis of Washington that you can truly appreciate just how high Brumidi was when he painted, and it's only when you can look at eye level to the frieze that you understand just how long the 15 minutes was when he was hanging onto the scaffoldings for dear life. It's when you see the exterior of the old dome and 3 of the 13 women surrounding George turning away from the circle that you realize just how crucial the completion of this dome was during the Civil War. It's when you look down at the people below that you can understand how the Statue of Liberty can, in fact, fit inside the rotunda with 30 ft between the top of her torch and the top of the dome.

This is right above the frieze. The first stop is actually in-between the original dome and the addition. When the capitol was expanded the smaller dome looked funny so they built another dome (what we see from the outside now) around it to make the capital building look more proportional. 

This is the balcony under the Apotheosis. Really, really, really, really high up. 

A cell phone camera shot looking down. So, so far down. 

The tour takes you outside the capitol on the roof. It's an amazing view, obviously. This is the National Mall and my excited face because we're on top of the roof. That's what's up. Oh, and my badge is in the picture too. How appropriate. 

In conclusion: We went inside just as a storm was coming in; you may be able to see it in the photo above. But we heard the first boom of thunder in the distance and felt the first raindrops then saw our hair start to get static and decided we should book it down the 300+ steps of the completely iron dome. 

Low Key

Sometimes all we want to do here is something low key because our days are SO packed with activities. Tonight we got IBC and went to the roof of the Kennedy Center and played cards. Turns out Alexandria was having fireworks so that was lucky. And the monuments are always more monumental at night all lit up.

Peanut Butter Overload

There is this new restaurant in Georgetown called Serendipity, you may have heard of the one in N.Y. or L.V. We split a sunday, the Can't Say No. It's a piece of peanut butter pie with two scoops of chocolate and vanilla, garnished with two sliced bananas, loads of whipped cream, chocolate shavings, and carmel topping. You know how it sounds like a ton of food and a ton of sugar and calories and almost life threatening? Well it's all that. Possibly more. They also have this dessert that's called the Treasure Chest. It's like $77 and feeds 20 people. Think of a chocolate treasure chest filled with cookies, cake, ice cream, etc. You could probably order a stretcher to the hospital as a side.

Huge Deal

So last week 4 of us went to Founding Farmers, great food, slow service, but it worked in our favor this time. Because they took so long and we made a suggestion along the lines of a free dessert we got some gift cards and 4 free desserts! Basically we ate our weight in food but it is an experience I would never trade in. I got the Reuben sandwich, pretty nice. One of our desserts was an apple pie. It came in a SPHERE. Can you believe it? The presentation was the best part. The crust was way flakey but there was too much of it compared to the half puree apple filling.

Souvenirs

The only thing I have wanted to buy for myself in D.C. thus far, souvenir wise, is some American flag shorts. Today, I have reached that goal. I looked for them everywhere on the 4th because I figured all of the tourist stands that make you pay through the nose because it's the only water in a 20 block radius would have some but they didn't! I checked online to no avail. Then! Today at the Gettysburg gift shop I found some and bought them! They're obviously a little flamboyant but I'll make them work I think. They are so awesome. I could probably even wear them to work because they're just so darn patriotic.

Oh Buddy.

Oh Buddy. The Fourth of July in D.C. is quite the experience. It's not so much the activities that go on as it is the excitement in the air or the mass amounts of red, white, and blue every which way. It's just the knowledge that not only are we celebrating the birth of a great nation, but we are doing so in that nation's capitol. And it's not just any nation. It's the United States of America. I've been able to piece together all the things I know about American history while I've been here. It's easier to remember each of their stories when you see their monument or their desk in the capitol or when you watch a really great HBO series about them all. You get it. Ok, mostly here's some pictures:

This is a parade we stepped into. It was our first encounter with hordes of people on the 4th. 

 This is where we watched fireworks from. We were right under the Washington Monument looking toward the Lincoln. Fireworks were shot off from the reflecting pool which is under construction.

The view towards the other side. Notice the carpet of people. It wasn't too crowded but there were literally people everywhere.

First of many firework pictures. The first ones are the best because there were so many fireworks that the sky mostly was full of smoke towards the end and pictures didn't turn out.

Me and Rachel. Being patriotic. It's fine.

So the fireworks were pretty good but were enhanced significantly by the location. Also, while waiting for the fireworks to begin we listened to this country singer doing her thing. So American I can't even handle it.

I never thought I'd ever see a man really drinking out of a paper bag.

The Home and Garden Channel

This just turned into a find-great-places-to-sleep-on-grass blog. So the best place to sleep on the grass would be on the White House back lawn. I was privileged to tromp on this lawn when we saw Obama greet Chancellor Angela Merkel a few weeks ago. The grass is long, thick, cool, no weeds, and no nasty bugs. However, it's highly inaccessible. But if I had my way, I'd nap there on the daily.

The worst point would be at Gravelly Point where we watch the airplanes come in. Every time I go there I have such a blast but come away with such diverse bug bites that one tube of CVS Pharmacy Cortisone 1% hydrocortisone ant-itch ointment will not do the trick for long. To I'll spare you the crass details.

The next best lawn is that of the National Cathedral; it's both accessible and clean! Today a bunch of us went to participate in Evensong and I got there early with a friend who only came because of the tales I told of the great napping grass. During the flowers festival on one of our first weekends out here I took a break and connected with Mother Earth through the East Lawn, it was great. So today we slept outside under a tree for an hour then did our little prayer/sing/sit/stand thing and it was great! So, if you're looking to find some great sleeping grass with shade head on over to the National Cathedral.

The Fourth of July

Tomorrow I'm going to go on a run around the National Mall so I can be super patriotic. And if I see any type of american flag shorts while I'm out, I'm buying some. Boxers, spandex, parachute, banana, briefs, diaper, or gym shorts. I'm getting some. then I'm going to put them on for the rest of the day. I don't even care if I get ripped off by some trolley souvenir truck man with an absurdly high price.

Sleeptime Interlude

Ok friends. This morning at 5 am I was awaken by bright flash of lightening, the loud tear of thunder, and a torrential downpour. I am usually the person who completely misses the HUGE thunderstorm during the night but this one was so loud it was hard to miss. Using my super scientific "Mississippi Count Rule" I deduced that the storm was happening literally right above us since the thunder and lightening was virtually simultaneous for much of the storm. And it wasn't a sporadic storm like you had to try really hard to listen and hear, it was constant for a solid 20 minutes.

The sound was amazing. I've never been in a storm that long before so I've never been able to listen for so long. It really sounds like the sky is tearing in half; like it's a thick and layered piece of butcher paper that just gets ripped and you're an ant right on the side of the rip so the sound is literally larger than life. Then it morphs into a crack or clap that I would compare to smacking two 2x4s together. Follow that up with a huge boom that, when reduced to a human level of measurement, can only come out of a very large man. I realize that makes no sense but if there were someone in the sky making this noise then it would be a very large, tall, muscular yet fat man wearing suspenders and slippers with a button down shirt and partially balding just letting the boom start at his feet letting it fly out.

Dixon and I went down to the library to try and get a better view of the sky but it had mostly passed by then. But we had fun running through the halls. I thought today that it would have been an excellent time for large scale hide and go seek either inside with the lights off with only the lightening to reveal the hidden, or outside where the possibility of fatality rises at the same rate as excitement.

I thought this was an appropriate time for Mother Nature to give this great storm to the district as it is Independence Day weekend. I like to think it was her way of putting her own fireworks show for us; it was her way of celebrating America with us.

This was obviously a significant event in my life because this was so long. But just read it in sections, paragraph by paragraph. Maybe have someone read it to you or go make a sandwich for an intermission.

Better Than a Roach Coach

So before I left for D.C. I tried to hit up the Food Truck craze but was unsuccessful. But! Luckily I have an awesome friend out here who found Food Truck Friday at Farragut Square! Dream. Come. True. Yesterday I was able to participate in the frenzy. It was pretty epic. Not like danger and adrenaline epic but like this is a big city cultural D.C. experience. I'm totally sold and will be returning. I got some mac and cheese, a bit of a sandwich, and some BBQ pork. Don't worry, we all shared so I didn't down all that. But I'm def a fan.