Friday, May 10, 2013

Washington Dee Cee, Baby....

The DC stories #1
Last week, I went to our nations capitol, Washington DC. I ate, I drank, I saw the arts, I went to a wedding, I drank some more, I caroused, I caught the 8am train to Baltimore on Sunday morning. Remember - be careful what you wish for kids, because sometimes you get it.


My plan was to go to DC for my cousin's wedding. And to see Sporty. Well, mostly to see Sporty, the wedding was just an excuse. But apparently asking someone to a wedding a month in advance is a little late. Well, that and Sporty already had tickets to go to Vegas for the Mayweather fight. And even my cousin said the plan was to catch the fight either at or after the reception...so her absence was understandable. So my new plan was to run through DC with family, and not get to see Sporty. I even know a bunch of DC people, but people my age work for a living...and my schedule in and out was tight. So, limited if any visiting.

Please note that despite my best intentions, I don't travel often. And when I do...well, there's not really much to say. I mean it's been so long since one of my trips has been to somewhere other than my parents house I shudder to think about it. Technically, I think I've been counting riding out to see my brother as traveling in some sense, but since we both live in Atlanta, that's just weird. Oh, Atlanta's a big spread out city, and its an at least forty five minutes there, so it almost counts as a day trip...but it's still Atlanta.

I caught a deal at bookit.com, so I managed to get a room maybe three blocks from the Capitol for less than I thought possible. Bonus, it was around the corner from the hotel the family was staying at...so I could ease out if I so desired. Nice hotel, nice room...though it did look a bit dated. But then I was probably expecting something unrealistic, although a suite with a private butler shouldn't sound crazy. 

Now, DC proper? The vibe I got is that Washington is a what I guess people think of when they think of moving to the big city. Nearly everything is in walking distance, or designed to be walked to, or there is a cab every fifteen seconds. There is the international flair and it has all four seasons. It even looks cleaner than NYC, and appears generally safer. There were street rallies, cute little shops, restaurants with couches on the sidewalk and it all looked so television urban. By comparison Atlanta feels like its just a series of suburbs with the occasional skyscraper thrown in for flavor.

I can see why Sporty likes it.

Now I have no pictures. I had both my actual cameras charging, and left them both on the kitchen counter. And the camera in my phone has slid down into the casing, so all those pics come out pitch black. So I went to bring a camera city - museums, architecture, arts - and left mine picture clickers at home. I may need a new phone.

But there's more. I made three noteworthy stops on the trip...two Friday, and one Saturday. I did run into Shade for brunch, which I'll chronicle shortly. There were some good moments, some bad moments. All in all it was a typical weekend in the neighborhood. Just that neighborhood was a plane ride away.

Barkeep, water. Keep it coming. Back to the grind.  

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