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.

City Review: Atlantic City [Daytrip from Washington DC]

Greyhound offers the Lucky Streak® Service to Atlantic City, NJ Casinos from DC. The fare includes a cash-back bonus in the form of a voucher for casino chips. I gambled my casino chips at the nickel slots at the Trump Taj Mahal in order to win a free lunch buffet. I found the free lunch deal on the Fatwallet Hot Deals forum a bulletin board of great deals I have used on other occasions to buy cheap jerkey and computer parts. I had to keep playing the slot machine for an hour on my casino card, so I slowly inserted the nickels and hit the spin button at the slowest rate it would allow. The only annoying part about this plan was waiting inline for my free buffet coupon, while I listened to other people's stories about sitting through Time-share hard-sell pitches to get a $100 check. I stuffed myself with crab and desserts at the buffet before walking down the boardwalk.



The Taj Mahal had all sorts of carnival games on the pier by the casino. This seemed apropos considering these games are well-known for swindling the players out of their money. I spent the afternoon roaming the boardwalk.



That evening along the boardwalk there was a free jazz concert that I was able to watch before catching the bus back to DC.



After going to Las Vegas a few years before, I was pleasantly surprised with Atlantic City. Outside of the casinos, there is a busy boardwalk along the beach, where you can swim, shop, or just people watch. Atlantic City has something to offer besides blowing your money in the slot machines.

Note: I took this trip in 2003.