Next Stop along the road.... DC

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ugh... It's hot and humid here!!! I was not expecting it to be so humid. It's been a great trip to DC. Unfortunately we haven't had much time to explore other parts of the city than the mall. Driving from NYC wasn't too bad (after we found our way back onto the New Jersey Turnpike after getting lost a little bit). Oh, just so you all know... there are lots and lots of tolls from NYC to DC (about $15 bucks worth). We had half a day our first day and spent it walking around visiting many memorials, etc. We had dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant near the place we were staying (with a friend of Evy's). All in all a good day, but we were quite exhausted from all the walking (at it was only half a day)

Today we walked down to Capital Hill... kind of a neat building, but quite a walk! After that we hung out on a lawn on the walk back, played some cards and wrote some post cards. =) Nice and relaxing, especially nice considering the heat. This afternoon we met up with my friend Sally for lunch. It was great to see her again!! I haven't seen her since Kenya in 2006 and am looking forward to visiting her in MN sometime in the next four years. (she'll be starting law school there in the fall). The rest of the afternoon we spent visiting the American History Museum. It was quite interesting, but also a little odd. It was incredibly patriotic and very one sided. It was still a neat museum, but I don't think it was the most informative one I've been to. It was also interesting that the largest exhibit was the "Price of Freedom: America at War". Hmm... wonder what that says about our priorities....

While we were in the museum, it started down pouring, so we ended our visit at the cafe waiting from the rain to die down (none of us had jackets or an umbrella with us). From there we decided to walk to the Supreme Court building (of which you aren't allowed to stand on the stairs). Luckily we decided to take the metro from there back to McPherson Square (the closest stop to Chris' house). Shortly after we got to his place, it started pouring again. Had we decided to walk the whole way, we would've gotten quite wet.

This evening, Chris took us out to a Mexican/Salvadorian restaurant a few blocks from his place. It was great =) The food was delicious and they were playing bachatas and merengues... made me wanna dance!!! While we were eating, a DJ began setting up and they got the disco lights going. I was looking forward to some really good salsa music, and what did he end up playing?... TECHNO!!! I wasn't too upset when we left. lol... Of course we waited a bit, hoping the rain would die down, but no it didn't. We were drenched by the time we walked the few blocks back to Chris'.

I wish we had had more time to do some non-touristy things, but alas the time has already slipped by and tomorrow we'll continue our journey and head to Shenandoah National Park. Here are just a couple more things I'd like to say about DC (at least the touristy part we saw):

1) It is absolutely incredible how many security people (meaning policy, private security, etc.) are in the city!!! As we were walking around, I almost felt like there was a person carrying a gun near me every time I turned around!! I've been to several capital cities in various places around the world, but DC was definitely the one where security was the most visible (Any links to America at war perhaps? .... see museum part of entry)

2) I for some reason had envisioned DC as being this really big city, but was very suprised at how small it was. Maybe it was even more noticeable coming straight from the hustle and bustle of NYC. DC seemed very tame and relaxed in comparison. It was quite interesting to compare the two... I think I'd rather be in NYC (granted I didn't get a chance to explore other parts of the city, so that might've made a difference).

Time to head off now.. hope you'll enjoy visiting Shenandoah with us next! =)

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