Date Day

There are a lot of things to do in the city.  But one of the things I have noticed since I've lived here is that "natives" just...don't.  This hit home for me on Friday evening when I was driving back from a conference with a colleague who grew up in DC (a real oddity).  And as we were driving through downtown, we were talking about sightseeing, etc.  And she had no idea what some of the buildings were that we were passing.  And it's simple stuff like the Executive Office Building next to the White House. 

There are a lot of times where I feel like I don't do enough around this city, I don't take the opportunity's while I still have them.  It's a lack of time, or lack of desire to fight the tourists, etc.  And once I actually had some time, I decided that I needed to fix that situation.  I was taking myself on a date.

The plan was to wake up sans alarm, drink coffee, read, and eventually get dressed and take the bus down to the Mall.  Walk the entire Mall, eat lunch at the Smithsonian of the American Indian, and then hit up the Zoo lights.  But really, just to meander around, without set plans and enjoy the day.  It's December, and not nearly as much of a tourist trap that warmer months are, which makes it perfect for a native to wander without dealing with too many annoy tourist.  It also means that it's cold. 

Saturday morning, I woke up, far earlier than expected, but still without an alarm, so I made the best of it.  I drank an entire press pot of coffee, and watched a little TV.  I'm in the middle of re-watching all of the West Wing.  And once it got to be light out, I decided it was time to stop looking at a fake version of the White House on TV, and go see the real thing.  I checked the weather, and saw that it was in the 40's and sunny, which was good.  Sun is definitely good when it's cold.  But I still bundled up (still being uber sensitive to cold weather since the whole hypothermia thing), packed some snacks, and headed out the door. 

One of the great things about The Mall is that everything is so close.  Within the first hour, I was able to see The White House all decked out for Christmas, The WW2 Memorial, which is currently undergoing a bit of construction, and the recently opened MLK Memorial. 

I then continued my walk through the FDR Memorial, which is one of my favorites, but failed to take any pictures of.  And then it was on to see my Revolutionary boyfriend, Thomas Jefferson.  Seriously, let's face it, he's definitely the hottie of the Revolution.  I mean, he could write too, which is really just an added bonus. 

Poor photo quality, which I blame on the light, and the annoying tourists who wouldn't get out of my way so I could get the good light.  Not that I'm bitter or anything.

By this time, it's 11am, and I'm getting hungry.  Not to mention the fact that I've been walking for an hour and a half.  So I start meandering over to the Smithsonian.  I walk in, and hear drum beats, and for a moment think it's just music being piped into the intercom system.  But then I realize that they are having a demonstration from a tribe visiting from Wisconsin.  I peak over, but screw it, I'm hungry.  I head to the cafeteria.  I've eaten at the Smithsonian of the Native American 3 times.  Each time is a unique and lovely experience.  And all three are on my list of top meals I have eaten in DC.  And each time I eat there, I wander around for far too long trying to decide what to eat, because everything looks amazing.  This time, I settled on beef corn tacos, butternut squash drizzled with cranberry sauce, and applewood smoked bacon, and corn pone with mushrooms. 

Uh-may-zing. 

It may look like your normal, average food.  But it's not.  It's so much more than that.  It's good quality, and the flavors are incredible.  It's actually a little sad that eating here can make a good day utterly amazing.  So if you haven't eaten there, I highly recommend it.  To everyone.  And if I find out that instead of eating the food that is made from original, Native American recipes, you ate chicken fingers and fries, I will find you and beat you senseless.  So once I was full, I went back to the lobby to watch the rest of the demonstration, which was very interesting.  And one of the things that I do love about living here, you can stumble across some really interesting opportunities just by walking around. 

So then it was back down to the Korean Memorial (which I still find a little disturbing), Mr. Lincoln, and the Vietnam Memorial.  There is something about going to see Mr. Lincoln that I love.  Standing in front of his statue, looking into his eyes, and just taking a moment to listen to him.  And then of course, walking to the right and finding the mistake.  I always go see the mistake. 

As I was walking between the Korean Memorial and Mr. Lincoln, I heard sirens, which, let's face it, isn't that unusual.  But then I heard someone mention a motorcade, so I look over, and at first think it was the President.  But later events lead me to believe it was actually someone else.  Like the VP, most likely.  Again, if you don't work downtown, not an every day occurrence. 

One of the things that I'm not such a fan of right now is all the construction that they're doing to the reflecting pond.  I mean, what they're doing is great.  But you're ruining my view.  Again, with the reflecting pond, there are things that I always remember.  And for this, I always think about Forrest Gump, and Jenny running through the reflecting pond to get to him.  Awww...but I doubt we'll be remaking that any time soon.  Apparently, they completely dug out the old pond, and are replacing it with a new one, but this time instead of being stagnate, they're adding drains, etc.  All in all, a good thing to do.

By the time I get through the Vietnam Memorial, I have cried (seriously, who can get through the Vietnam Memorial without crying?), and my legs are beginning to get sore.  That's what you get for walking around for hours and hours (after not having worked out for a few weeks).  So I head over to the White House again to see the horrid Christmas trees.  One would think, it being the National Christmas Tree that they would take some effort to make it beautiful, but it's consistently the ugliest tree, ever.  And now that it's a new tree, that hasn't been growing there for 30 years, it's deformed looking, and still just plain ugly. 

But it's one of those, you still just one of those train wrecks that you have to go see. 

As I was walking over to the White House, I see a helicopter that looks suspiciously like Marine One.  And then I see it fly towards the White House.  And land on the lawn.  Again, if you don't work down town, not a site you see every day.  So I snuck in with all of the other tourists and took a picture.  Because I'm a nerd like that.

A quick walk back to the bus stop, and I realize that it's only 2:30pm.  I doubt the Zoo lights are going to be on.  But maybe.  As the bus gets to the Zoo, I realize that they aren't on, so I would have to come back to enjoy them.  I ended up taking a nap, and realized that 4 hours walking around the city has worn me out a little, so I was going nowhere that night.  But before I leave for Christmas, I will. 

So I've basically laid out what I did, what I saw, what I ate.  All the boring stuff.  But what the day reminded me of is one of the things that I love most about this city.  I mean, I started running because I kept seeing other people running through The Mall, and I wanted to be one of those people.  And when I first moved to DC, I spent a lot of time just walking around The Mall.  It holds a lot of memories for me, and it was just a lovely day.  Plain and simple.  And the fact that I did it for myself meant even more.