Before I tell you about the days events.. I just wanted to take a moment to say Happy Father's
Day to my poppa. I feel pretty darn lucky to call him my poppa. Thanks poppa for loving me no matter what, for supporting me in both good and bad times, and for being a good friend to me. Oh, and thanks for picking such a great step mom!! :)
I flew out of Seattle Saturday night @ 10pm. I was hoping to sleep on the plane but between the old married couple next to me talking very loudly and the bumpy plane ride, I think I got about 2 hours of sleep. When I was waiting for the flight out of Seattle, I ran into a fellow classmate who was taking the same flight as I was. He was going to see family. This made the two hour wait in Seattle and the hour wait in Newark go by faster. When we landed in Baltimore, the pilot announced that the current weather was 82 degrees. It was only 9am. I knew that the weather forecast of high 90s was going to happen. I had worn long pants, a t-shirt, and a zip up short sleeve sweatshirt. Eeck! Since I had checked my bag, I could simply slip into the bathroom and change. I then took an Amtrak from Baltimore Airport into Union Station in DC. The path I am staying at is about two blocks from Union Station. Those two blocks felt much longer due to the heat and my choice of clothing. I started dragging my duffel and ended up putting a small hole in it.
The place I am staying is really nice, super convienent, and the owners are super nice. If I come back to DC, I hope I can stay here again. After checking in, I took a quick 20 minute nap and then decided to hit the town. Though I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. I decided to just start walking. I first walked by the US Capital. I don't think I had been that close on my previous visit to DC. It is such a beautiful building. I am looking forward to my tour tomorrow. The grounds of the capital have several fancy water fountains. I uploaded pictures of a few of them. I then walked over and checked out the US Botanical Gardens. Very cool. Though going into the Jungle Room seems a little goofy when the weather was 90 degrees out.
I then walked part of the mall. I walked from the Capital to the Smithsonian. I stopped in at the Museum of Natural History. One of my favorite museums. They have several new exhibits. It was super super busy. I think people wanted to be in the air conditioned buildings. I checked out the new Human Origins exhibit, the new Ocean exhibit, and then went and saw the Animal and Dinosaurs rooms. A large tour group came in and I decided to move on. There is one more exhibit there that I hope to check out tomorrow if I have time.
After leaving the museum, I walked the outdoor Sculpture garden and enjoyed my 3rd bottle of water. I thought about heading back to the rental but I had dinner plans in Dupont Circle at 5pm which was only 2.5 hours away. I knew the National Zoo was close to the restaurant I was meeting my friend at so I decided to check out the Zoo. I love seeing the pandas, gorillas, and big cats. I think humans weren't the only ones trying to stay out of the heat as most of the animals were hiding indoors. I did get to see the cheetas, gorillas, zebras, and the sloth bear. The other great thing about the zoo was they had misters. It felt so great to walk through a fine mist of water.
After the zoo, I headed down to Dupont Circle to have dinner with a friend. It was great to catch up with her and dinner was fantastic. We both filled up on sushi for $25.. for both! Can't beat happy hour sushi. After dinner, we decided to take a little walk. She took me down to Georgetown. It was fantastic to talk a walk through this old neighborhood. Even the manhole covers were fascinating! We then took a walk down to Whole Foods (yum!) and got some goodies. I picked up a half cantelope filled with blueberries and some yogurt (the one currently in my laps know almost all gone).
She then walked me back to the subway and I head back to my lodging for the evening. I decided to take a little walk around the neighborhood before settling in. A lot of the houses are exactly the same townhouse style buildings. It is fascinting to see how people differentiate the buildings through paint, landscaping, and porch/yard art.
That was my day. I have uploaded pictures. I am up early tomorrow to go to a tour of the Washington Monument and then the US Capital. Still haven't decided what to do after that. Off to read the guide books. Oh.. and I only have about a 1 1/2 by 1 1/2 spot of sunburn on my back. Pretty good for being out in 95 degree weather for several hours. :) Talk to you tomorrow. Good Night!
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| East Coast Adventure 2010 |
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