Time for an update:
We had a great time in Columbia visiting Emily's cousin Laura who's engaged to be married in September. So now that I've met he I'm excited about the wedding. Then we had a great homecooked dinner at Laura's sister's house. After going to bed at 10:30 pm, we slept in and headed out to the highway around noon. A surprisingly short 7 hours later we arrived in DC.
On Tuesday we slept in late again and then went for a driving tour of some important locations in Fairfax such as my high school and my old house and the Tavenner's old house and my old apartment off West Ox and our church and where Joe died. Then we spent the rest of the day planning out what we wanted to see in DC the next couple days and just lounging around the house. A great salmon dinner topped it all off before we went to go see The Last Samurai with Chris and Matt and then went back to Chris's to see some footage from our ill-fated movie. It's been so long since I'd seen any of it that it had me in hysterics. We got home around 2:30 and went straight to bed so we could get a good start on our activities for Wednesday.
We awoke to snow flurries with some nice big pretty flakes which gradually shrunk and then dissipated entirely. We took the Metro downtown to go to the Holocaust Memorial and the Botanical Gardens near the Capitol. The Holocaust Museum was sobering, but I think it was an important thing to do, especially knowing how close my grandmother came to being a victim. She's never been and will never go, although I think she should. The entire museum is very tasteful, but some of the atrocities are just really hard to take. Especially the children's dolls and drawings near the end of the exhibit. They look like they could have been from 5 years ago, and yet these poor children were sent to death camps like Auschwitz. The Botanical Gardens was a nice uplifting activity after the somber Holocaust Memorial and the orchid exhibits were fantastic. Being a man, I can't really claim much knowledge about flowers, but I know what things are pretty and interesting to me and most of the flowers on display there were quite fascinating.
Thursday started off with my alarm clock going off at 7 AM to head downtown with my mom for a very very long day. After dropping off a change of clothes at her office, we went down the the Jefferson Memorial and walked all around the Tidal Basin through the FDR Memorial. We saw the new WWII Memorial which looks absolutely amazing and I can't wait to see what it looks like when it's complete. Then we walked up to the Corcoran to see the American Impressionist exhibit and saw a fabulous senior thesis art exhibit as well featuring some really fantastic photography. By then our stomachs were grumbling so we headed over past the White House to the the Ellipse and ate our lunch at the Boy Scouts of American Monument with a great view of the Washington Monument in the background. Then we walked down the mall to see the National Gallery's sculpture garden in front of the Archives and took some fun pictures (they'll be posted eventually, maybe). Then we took a deep breath and just sat on a bench on the Mall for a while and rested before heading back to my mom's office to change clothes. We then went to the Spy Museum which was fascinating but was information overload for me by that point. There was just so much to see and interact with that I felt like I just couldn't take it all in. We spent about 2 hours there, but we probably could have spent 4 instead. Then we went down to the Reagan Building for the opening of USAID's photographic exhibit of the women of Afghanistan. It was a great exhibit, but it was put in way too small an area for the number of people that showed up for the opening. I mean it's great that so many people were interested, but for that much interest, it should have been in the main atrium of the building, instead of hidden in the back room of USAID's press office. Then we went out to the brewhouse across the street for dinner and then came home and collapsed.
Today we slept somewhat late and then got up to have lunch with my grandmother. Now we're "watching" the GT/UNC game. We're refreshing ESPN and fighting with OCSN's Gametracker because Cox cable are a bunch of fuckers who aren't showing our game on ESPN2 here, because, like I said, they're a bunch of fuckers. Instead an ESPN+ game was on and now it's ESPNews. Grrrr.... I know I'm not the first to say it, but FUCK COX. Tonight, after the game, we're going over to Tommy and Steph's for dinner followed by a relaxing night here at home alone. Then my brother gets home tomorrow evening and we're planning to go to the zoo in the afternoon. And then we'll be heading home on Sunday. :( It's been a great vacation so far and it's been great to have Emily here to spend it with. :)
We had a great time in Columbia visiting Emily's cousin Laura who's engaged to be married in September. So now that I've met he I'm excited about the wedding. Then we had a great homecooked dinner at Laura's sister's house. After going to bed at 10:30 pm, we slept in and headed out to the highway around noon. A surprisingly short 7 hours later we arrived in DC.
On Tuesday we slept in late again and then went for a driving tour of some important locations in Fairfax such as my high school and my old house and the Tavenner's old house and my old apartment off West Ox and our church and where Joe died. Then we spent the rest of the day planning out what we wanted to see in DC the next couple days and just lounging around the house. A great salmon dinner topped it all off before we went to go see The Last Samurai with Chris and Matt and then went back to Chris's to see some footage from our ill-fated movie. It's been so long since I'd seen any of it that it had me in hysterics. We got home around 2:30 and went straight to bed so we could get a good start on our activities for Wednesday.
We awoke to snow flurries with some nice big pretty flakes which gradually shrunk and then dissipated entirely. We took the Metro downtown to go to the Holocaust Memorial and the Botanical Gardens near the Capitol. The Holocaust Museum was sobering, but I think it was an important thing to do, especially knowing how close my grandmother came to being a victim. She's never been and will never go, although I think she should. The entire museum is very tasteful, but some of the atrocities are just really hard to take. Especially the children's dolls and drawings near the end of the exhibit. They look like they could have been from 5 years ago, and yet these poor children were sent to death camps like Auschwitz. The Botanical Gardens was a nice uplifting activity after the somber Holocaust Memorial and the orchid exhibits were fantastic. Being a man, I can't really claim much knowledge about flowers, but I know what things are pretty and interesting to me and most of the flowers on display there were quite fascinating.
Thursday started off with my alarm clock going off at 7 AM to head downtown with my mom for a very very long day. After dropping off a change of clothes at her office, we went down the the Jefferson Memorial and walked all around the Tidal Basin through the FDR Memorial. We saw the new WWII Memorial which looks absolutely amazing and I can't wait to see what it looks like when it's complete. Then we walked up to the Corcoran to see the American Impressionist exhibit and saw a fabulous senior thesis art exhibit as well featuring some really fantastic photography. By then our stomachs were grumbling so we headed over past the White House to the the Ellipse and ate our lunch at the Boy Scouts of American Monument with a great view of the Washington Monument in the background. Then we walked down the mall to see the National Gallery's sculpture garden in front of the Archives and took some fun pictures (they'll be posted eventually, maybe). Then we took a deep breath and just sat on a bench on the Mall for a while and rested before heading back to my mom's office to change clothes. We then went to the Spy Museum which was fascinating but was information overload for me by that point. There was just so much to see and interact with that I felt like I just couldn't take it all in. We spent about 2 hours there, but we probably could have spent 4 instead. Then we went down to the Reagan Building for the opening of USAID's photographic exhibit of the women of Afghanistan. It was a great exhibit, but it was put in way too small an area for the number of people that showed up for the opening. I mean it's great that so many people were interested, but for that much interest, it should have been in the main atrium of the building, instead of hidden in the back room of USAID's press office. Then we went out to the brewhouse across the street for dinner and then came home and collapsed.
Today we slept somewhat late and then got up to have lunch with my grandmother. Now we're "watching" the GT/UNC game. We're refreshing ESPN and fighting with OCSN's Gametracker because Cox cable are a bunch of fuckers who aren't showing our game on ESPN2 here, because, like I said, they're a bunch of fuckers. Instead an ESPN+ game was on and now it's ESPNews. Grrrr.... I know I'm not the first to say it, but FUCK COX. Tonight, after the game, we're going over to Tommy and Steph's for dinner followed by a relaxing night here at home alone. Then my brother gets home tomorrow evening and we're planning to go to the zoo in the afternoon. And then we'll be heading home on Sunday. :( It's been a great vacation so far and it's been great to have Emily here to spend it with. :)
