New Thing #84 - Celebrating 35, 'Merica & Friendship - Day 6

July 6, 2014

Today is the final day that the three of us will spend together for a very long time. Megan and I fully plan on going to see Brenda in Sarajevo, but with Megan's teaching schedule, and the fact that I don't want to go when it's cold, means we won't actually go over there until next summer. It's going to be a long year.

We spent most of the day lounging around Brenda's apartment, doing little but eating and watching movies, including The Goonies and Jumanji. I can't believe Megan had never seen Goonies. That was a staple of my childhood, and it was unreal to think of people near my age that hadn't seen in.

After a delicious Mexican lunch that helped to cure some hangovers, we started the unpleasant task of packing and saying our goodbyes. Not going to lie, it was difficult to keep it together. Brenda decided to stay at her apartment and not go with us to the airport, and I think that was the best idea ever. There really was no point, and a teary goodbye is best in a quiet hallway instead of a crowded Metro platform.

Seriously though, when Megan and I got into the elevator, we both lost it a little bit. It's never easy saying goodbye to a friend, knowing you won't see them in person for a very long time. I also realize people do it all the time, but still. We had all the feels at that moment. All of them. Every single one, all trying to escape at once.

We managed to pull ourselves together and get to the airport with time to spare. Since we no longer had any use for them, we paid it forward to people arriving at the airport by giving them our Metro passes. There was only a little bit of money left, but at least it kept people from having to purchase one for their own.

Our flight ended up being delayed, which wasn't all that terrible. I already knew I'd be coming in late to work the next day. (Dammit, I knew I should have taken the day off!) We ended up with another small plane, so we gate checked our bags (hello to no baggage check fees!) and quickly realized there would be a baby and a toddler on board.

And wouldn't you know it, they sat right next to us. Great. It wasn't bad though. It was a woman by herself with her two small children, and I could already tell she was incredibly nervous about flying. She did a great job keeping the baby from getting fussy - in fact, the little girl slept for the majority of the trip. The toddler on the other hand had a bit of a difficult time using his inside voice.

What was terrible is when we landed and he threw up. All over himself. And then we got stuck on the runway. While, yes, I felt terrible for the little guy and his mother, smelling vomit from two feet away in an airplane that is no longer circulating air is a pretty good way to end up with more vomit. The mom was great, and she was able to hand off her baby to her sister a few rows back, and had her little boy cleaned up in no time. She deserves a medal. Not only for cleaning him up, but doing so quickly to avert any further mess from the rest of the plane.

Well, that concludes my trip to DC. I had a blast with my friends, and they made this birthday very memorable. Despite the fact that 35 isn't all I envisioned it to be, spending time earlier in the year with Meredith and Lisa, and then my actual birthday with Brenda and Megan, it makes a girl feel pretty special about herself.

Big thanks to Brenda for her hospitality and Megan for going with me, and to the both of them for just being hot bitchez. I'm going to go have a good cry now that they're both gone, and then I'll be fine. :)

Bingo update: So, I wasn't able to complete some of the bingo squares. :( But, it wasn't for lack of trying. We figured there would be plenty of people demonstrating, protesting or forming some sort of march, but oddly enough, we didn't really see anything. Except for a little old lady sitting at a table with lots of posters about Israel. She wasn't talking or doing anything, so we didn't think standing next to her table really counted. Also nowhere to be found were people asking for petition signatures.

They kind of made it hard by adding "Go to the Macedonian Embassy" on the list, especially when Brenda didn't even know where it was. We did look it up, and it was nowhere close to any of the places we went. I totally would have gone though, if it had been closer. Although with my luck, Costa would have been waiting outside for me! (Read my Italy/Rome blog to find out about Costa!)

I didn't end up buying a drink for a veteran, though I absolutely would have done so. As hard as it is to believe, people didn't have the word "veteran" tattooed on their foreheads, so unless I was going to ask every single person I met if they were a veteran, this one was a bit difficult to accomplish.

And the final one on the list was to find currency from my birth year. I may not have accomplished it, but it wasn't for lack of trying. The three of us checked every single coin we had between us, and asked additional people wherever we went, but 1979 was very elusive this weekend. One girl even found a pile of pennies on the ground near a parking meter and checked every single one of them. Brenda's friend Ryan sent her a picture a few days after we left of a coin he had found. Although it was from 1978 (whoa buddy, don't age me an additional year), I appreciate the gesture of him continuing to look after we left!

New Thing #84 - Celebrating 35, 'Merica & Friendship - Day 5

July 5, 2014

Another lazy morning and a late start. I love these kinds of vacations where I'm not rushed to go go go. Today we would be sightseeing outside and hitting up some more monuments to enjoy the nice weather.

First up was a trip around the Tidal Basin. Megan's friend from college, Denise, now lives in DC, so she met up with us for some sightseeing. We started with the Jefferson Memorial, and let me tell you, they didn't skimp on it. Don't get me wrong, he's one important dude, and if anyone deserves that memorial, it's definitely him. But, I guess I wasn't expecting it to be as large as it was. (That's what she said.) I'll just let the photos do the talking.

Across the Tidal Basin. Doesn't look too spectacular, eh?

Boom!

We thought about renting paddle boats. But, then we didn't.

Cherry blossom trees around the Basin. Sadly, they bloom in the spring, but I bet they're gorgeous. Brenda said when they were in full bloom that the Basin was packed with people trying to get the perfect engagement or senior photo taken.

Across the Basin.

This thing is massive.

Group selfie!

That's a big Jefferson.

Panorama!

It's a shame Truman didn't have an architecture major, because I kind of wish I had dual majored. I love architecture.

This gives you an idea of how big this place is.

Zoomed in to get a shot of the White House through the trees. This is taken from the top step of the TJ Memorial.

Next up around the Basin was the FDR Memorial, and I LOVED it. It wasn't just one building or one area. It was spread out into different areas, all including rocks and waterfalls, and it was really cool.

More at the FDR Memorial.

Don't go chasing waterfalls.

Sad to leave this memorial, b/c I really liked it. 

This might be one of my favorite photos.

I like this one a lot too. I just need to Photoshop out the crane.

Basin geese!

There was quite a bit of discussion about this monument. While we were all very happy to see such an impressive monument to an important figure in our history, we felt like this made MLK look like a really angry unapproachable man. When, in reality, he was about peace and equality. Still impressive though.

Entrance from the street.

This wall and another like it flanked the entrance behind the statue.

Since we didn't really spend much time at the Korean War Memorial yesterday (we kind of walked right through it), we spent a bit more time here today.

These guys still make me uncomfortable, but it's a pretty powerful image.

Not sure if you can see it, but there are images of individuals etched into the memorial itself. Try to look past the colorful people walking by as well as me taking the photo.

Last up was the Vietnam War Memorial.

I didn't realize it started so close to the ground.

The sheer number of names on this memorial is unbelievable and sad.

This is how high it was in the middle.

When we were walking by, we noticed a man around my dad's age running his fingers across one name over and over again. Perhaps a family member? Or a friend? Or a fellow soldier? Whoever it was, it clearly meant a lot to that man. And I lost it. That simple gesture of love pretty much undid me, and I had to walk away to compose myself.

After an emotional day of seeing these memorials, we headed to lunch at an eclectic restaurant called Busboys & Poets. Not sure what that means, but it was a cool place. The burger I had was phenomenal. We were fairly close to Chinatown, so we ended up perusing that area, as well as Ford's Theatre. We didn't want to pay to go in, but at least I can say I was there.

Our restaurant.

Awesome sculpture at the entrance to Chinatown.

All of the restaurants, shops and buildings had Chinese characters as well as the English equivalent on them. I thought this sign of the Verizon Center where the Wizards play was pretty neat.

Found Ford's Theatre.

As close as we came.

This was also as close as we came to the building across the street where the President actually died.

We stopped at a souvenir shop, and I hit the eagle mother load. So many to feed! This was better than the coozie shot from last night. Feed an eagle: check!

HAD to stop for gelato. This placed was very highly rated. Raspberry and lemon, yum!

Stopped in a park to eat our gelato next to this. It looked like an abandoned building, but it's actually a bank.

On our way back to the Metro, we passed by the Navy Memorial. We had walked by it a few days ago, but I hadn't stopped to get any photos. It was pretty cool.

We wanted to spend a little more time at the pool, so we headed back to Brenda's for a bit, and then made our way to Georgetown for dinner. We tried out the new Uber app, which is like a taxi service, but regular people pick you up in their own vehicles. You schedule the pick up on your smartphone app, and the closest driver is dispatched to your location. You also pay, tip & rate the driver all through the app, so there's no need to carry cash or swipe a card. It's actually pretty cool, provided you get a decent driver, which we did. She was very nice, and helped us navigate our first Uber experience. There are a few other companies like this around the country, and currently St. Louis's taxi companies are fighting the use in St. Louis. Clearly, they don't want to lose the business. But, considering how terrible some of the taxi services are in StL, I welcome the competition.

Brenda took us to her favorite Thai restaurant for dinner, and it did not disappoint. I got the Pineapple Fried Rice, and they actually brought it out in a pineapple. No joke. The dish had rice, egg, pineapple, tomatoes, pork, onions, scallions, dried cranberries and cashews in a delicious sauce. I always thought Thai food was spicy, but since meeting Brenda, I've gone to more Thai places, and realized that not everything is coated in spice. I'm definitely a fan.

Hands down, my favorite meal of the weekend. Absolutely phenomenal. And I may or may not have eaten just about everything inside that pineapple, and I'm not even sorry.

Fried corn. This was actually little dollops of corn kernels, battered and fried. So. Damn. Good.

We tried to grab a drink in Georgetown after dinner, but it was just super crowded and crazy, so we headed to a club back in Clarendon towards Brenda's apartment where a few of her friends from the area joined us. Spider Kelly's (interesting name) was massive with lots of pool tables, darts, shuffleboard and a dance floor. This was more to our liking. Brenda's friends were cool, and I think just like us, they were going to be sad when she leaves.

The guy on the left was doing some close up magic for us. Clearly I was amazed.

Piggy-back ride. Check!

This is Brenda's friend Ryan. He was very excited to give me a piggy-back ride, and proceeded to carry me around the bar until the bouncer told us to stop. I think he was jealous.

Brenda started taking selfies with her friend we call Fire Beard (due to his gingerness). I had to include them because her selfies are usually spectacular, and I think she's neat. She also has an impressive frown. 

Happy!

So, over the course of the past few days, Menda has been constantly reminding me that I need to say the Pledge of Allegiance with a child. I kept avoiding it, not because I didn't want to say it, but because the thought of asking a random child to say it with me made me uncomfortable. If I was a parent and some random chick asked to do something with my child, it would freak me out. Fortunately, they allowed me to get the guys from the bar to say it with me (they're just essentially large children, right?), and I wouldn't have had it any other way. This was all done at closing time, and by the time we finished our speech, lots of other people leaving the bar started saying it with us. Absolutely perfect. So, Say the Pledge of Allegiance with a "child". Check!

Our night wound down, and while some of the folks wanted to go get burritos, we opted to head home for some sleep. This old lady needs some quality sleep. But, it was a super fun night, and we made some new friends that reside only a half a country away. No big deal.

I can't believe I have to go home tomorrow. :(