Finally, The Trip to DC

Now that it's almost been a week I have time to jot down some of the illustrious details of Matt and my trip to our Nation's Capitol last week:

Wednesday: We left Jamestown just before 9am and headed down the back roads of Pennsylvania towards our destination. We arrived at the Marriott at Metro Center just after 4pm (not bad timing) and checked in. I highly reccommend looking for a room at this Marriott online if you're ever thinking of visiting DC. I got great rates (although parking ran $15-$22 a day), the place is beautiful, and it's literally steps away from a main Metro Subway station. Assuming we make a return trip, Matt and I are shooting for a bed and breakfast that's also close to a Metro station (Woodley Park). But that's another trip. Wednesday night we walked around the Tidal Basin with Chuck & Lori, trying to catch the Cherry Blossoms before they blew off the trees. Chuck then cooked us a great meal of marinara sauce over pasta and garlic broccoli.

Thursday: This trip ended up being a very cold trip compared to what we had anticipated. At least it didn't snow! We went to the Holocaust Museum in the morning. Very emotional but an excellent exhibit. Lunch was vendor food followed by a few hours in the National Museum of American History. We then met up with Kara (a former intern of Matt's), who gave us a tour of her college, George Washington University. Cool Trip Factor #1 kicked in here when we got to see CNN's "Crossfire" which is being aired live from GWU. Yes, we were on CNN last Thursday, but only for a moment as the camera panned the audience. It was great for me because I finally got to see how a professional tv show is done with a live audience. It was also cool to see James Carville in person. After the show, Kara, Matt, Chuck, Lori, and I went for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. Heaven! The most amazing cheesecakes! I had Tirimisu Cheesecake. Matt had Turtle Cheesecake.

Friday: A trip to the National Air & Space Museum included an IMAX film (of course). We then met Lori at her place of employment (the office of Congresswoman Carolyn McCarthy) and got a tour of the Capitol with three families from Long Island. The father of one family is a NY Firefighter who was on vacation when the planes hit the WTC. Fortunately, he didn't have to go in until after the towers fell so he didn't experience that. Later that evening, Matt and I met up with Chuck & Lori again for Thai at the Star of Siam. Very, very good. I like Thai Food! (to quote Mike Zucca). We had a drink and then went to Xando's for S'mores. I'm serious! They bring out this round bowl that has a little fire in this clay thing and you roast marshmallows over it, eventually smooshing the roasted marshmallow between chocolate and two graham crackers. Mmmm!

Saturday: Matt and I slept in this day since we had been pushing ourselves to the limit with walking. We eventually had lunch at the Capitol City Brewery Company followed by a quick Metro ride to the Cherry Blossom Festival (Sakura Matsuri) by Federal Triangle. Since it was terribly cold, we ended up inside the Old Post Office where we heard a Japanese chior. I also got to eat some Ben & Jerry's ice cream. After this, we walked down to the Washington Monument, down to the Reflecting Pool, over to the Vietnam War Memorial, then to the Lincoln Memorial, and then back to the hotel. I'm not going to take a guess at how far we walked. After a long rest, we got ready for dinner. The earliest reservation we could get for dinner was 10pm, but we took it because we didn't want to miss out on experiencing The Melting Pot. This place is absolutely amazing! It's a fondue restaurant, so you can imagine the wonderful excess. Actually, it's hard to imagine. This was truely Cool Factor #2 for the trip. My mouth is watering in remembrance.

Sunday: We checked out and went for brunch to Tunnicliff's, which is where Chuck is waitering until he gets an awesome job in government. After that, we made our way back to Jamestown. These five days were a most lovely trip and I can't wait until we can get away again for an extended time.

So there you have it! Sorry it wasn't more descriptive, but this post would have gone for pages if I hadn't shortened it up a bit. You can't say I didn't provide any links at least *grins* Email me for any specific details.