Being a tourist in DC

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I ended up sleeping lots at Lauren's. I barely left before she got back from work. I walked around Arlington for a bit and then tried my hand at DC highways, where it's always 5 PM. I was headed to Julie K.'s in Shepherd Park, in the North of the NW quadrant. So of course I took the most convoluted route there. I ended up taking the Outer Loop, which was significantly out of my way, but I got to see more of the area so it all worked out.

Julie's spending the next year working at a Latino public health clinic through the Avodah program. I got to crash at her place which is a 6 bedroom house with 8 Jewish girls in it. Basically a social justice, Jewish sorority house. It's also within 500 feet of not one, but two synagogues. Ridiculously wonderful 😊

Bright and early the next day, I headed downtown and did the tourist thing. All my other visits to DC have been spent in museums so I decided to screw that, and walk around the Mall on the hottest day of summer. I'm a smart one. One cool thing I saw on the Mall was a new engraving being put on the steps of the Lincoln memorial. They're marking where MLK stood when he gave his "I have a Dream" speech. Nice, huh? About time 😊

I had found a bitingly honest guide book in Julie's house so it helped me learn alot about DC (even the not-so-happy stuff), such as 50%!o(MISSING)f the black male population in DC has a criminal record of some sort (written in the being of 2001). How screwed up is that?

Anyway, after walking around in 95+ degree heat for a couple hours, I found a cafe with AC to sit in for the afternoon. I finally finished Cradle to Cradle, which I highly recommend. I went to Potbelly's to try "DC's best sandwich" and it was pretty damn good. Also something I recommend.

I met up with Josh L. at the BBYO, Inc. office which was a tourist stop all in itself. It was like a time warp back to high school. Josh and I went back to his place in Van Ness for awhile and talked about life in general. It was good to see Joshie after so long, but I had to leave soon to get my car and move it over to Mas's place. Mas and Weldon live in this sweet house near downtown. Before I even walked in, Mas was already busy drawing me a bath in his whirlpool. We hung out all night and made some amazing grilled cheese sandwiches.

Life is beautiful 😊

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Photos

Lincoln
The man himself.

MLK
MLK finally getting recognition in Washington.

white house
You're not allowed to even step foot on Penn. Ave. The closest you can get is the sidewalk. Bush was in Iraq when I took this.