Monday, July 6, 2009

DC for the 4th!

I spent the July 4th weekend in Washington DC. My weekend got off to a slow start with the airport backed up by a fog that had lasted for the last 3 days. Once my plane landed the public transportation to the city was no longer running. I had to shell out an extra $30 to get to the city, but I was ready to hit the town. I went to Clyde's in Chinatown and got a crab cake minutes before they closed the kitchen. I also ordered a #9 beer, which I just then realized tasted like apricots. The pints certainly seemed bigger in DC, I was ready for a good time. I slept in late, and did some work the next day on an iPhone App. I had some tasty Indian food from the restaurant across the street from the hostel, and the hostel had a fridge full of red-white-blue cupcakes that I feasted on. I went out to the Brickskellar for drinks after loading up on sushi at the only happy hour sushi place I have ever been to. I had a $5 spicy tuna roll and $5 spicy salmon roll. They were pretty awesome. I had a few belgian triples at the Brickskellar along with a russian beer at The Russian House. I drank too much and that night the air conditioning didn't work at the DC HI hostel in my room. It was miserable.
After I recovered I had a tasty burger at the "5 Guys" burger joint, and went to down to the national mall. I stopped at the portrait gallery, and saw the famous Obama picture with "Hope". It is a very compelling picture even though I am not a fan of Obama and his policies.
I then walked through the art gallery and found a spot on the capital lawn for the evening concert and fireworks.
The next day I went to see the Smithsonian Folklife festival on the national mall which features cultural exhibits from African-Americans (Chicago?), Wales, and Northern Mexico. I thought the rappers and Mexican artists were cool.
I walked all over the mall, went in many of the museums, and went to the washington, lincoln, jefferson, mason memorials. I didn't realize George Mason had such a strong influence on our nation. It seemed worth looking into. I went over to Georgetown for dinner, but was really too tired to do much.
I fly back to Boston on the 10:30 am flight, and headed back to work.

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