Whirlwind Washington Weekend …
Posted by Rick - 26/07/06 at 09:07:54 amBecause apparently we are masochists, we decided to do our most recent return to DC in the middle of summer. While we were there we squeezed in a ton of visiting with old friends. Below is the abbreviated version because I am still too tired to construct a narrative, and figured it was better to write something while it was fresh in my mind. It was a great trip, and we are so glad we got to see so many dear friends, but we were also reminded that we made the right decision to leave. We brought our camera, but neglected to have it with us most of the time, so hopefully I can add someone else’s photo later.
Thursday morning I dropped Sarah off at work and then drove to East Montpelier to drop the dogs off at “camp.” Ruby’s Run is a great place to board, and more importantly, the dogs seem to like it there. With Mickey still on his special diet of steal cut oatmeal and boiled pork (yum!) we had to send him off with a bunch of his pre-made meals too. We appreciate that the staff at Ruby’s are okay with folks bringing their dog’s own food. When I returned home, I finished cleaning the house in anticipation of our various house-sitters and completed the packing before heading off to pick up Sarah and get to Burlington International.
Naturally our flight was delayed a few times, but we eventually got in the air and landed at National Airport (I still refuse to call it anything else) a few hours later than planned. Josh had graciously offered to pick us up, but the delay meant we would have to take Metro to get to his and Lori’s house on Capitol Hill. It was on this leg of the journey that we were first reminded of one of the reasons we decided to leave DC; while we were on the platform at Gallery Place / Chinatown a barely intelligible announcement was made that no trains would be stopping at Union Station, which coincidentally was where we needed to be. So we exited the station, flagged down a cab, and took an expensive trip to our friend’s house. On the way, we drove past Union Station and it was surrounded by cop cars, ambulances, television crews and stranded travelers. The latter were waving desperately at our cab as we went by hoping to get a ride to wherever they were going. It wasn’t until later that night that we learned that there was a “suspicious package” alert. Once we arrived, we greeted our lovely hosts, and being hungry, ordered a late-night pizza before settling in for the night.
Friday morning, we had coffee and bagels at a shop around the corner before heading to Bethesda to see if we could meet up with our jeweler friend, Jason. It ended up that Jason was in the Outer Banks with his family on vacation, but the nice folks at Creative Goldsmiths cleaned our rings for us while we were there.
Next we took the Metro to Friendship Heights and visited with Sarah’s old coworkers at Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic. This would begin the near-constant repetition of how much we loved our house and lives in Vermont. Not that we mind talking about such things, but by Sunday I would be hoarse from telling and re-telling the story.
By now we were late for our scheduled meeting in Dupont Circle where we planned to drop in on my old coworkers at Urban Institute, so we hopped back on the Red Line. After saying our hellos and repeating our love of all things Vermont, we went to lunch with Ros at our favorite Chinese food place in The District, Mei Wah. It was really nice to catch up with Ros over a yummy meal of crispy tofu, eggplant and a delicious asparagus appetizer.
After saying goodbye to Ros we decided we needed to walk off that meal, and so we hoofed it to Adams Morgan so we could try out a mattress at Design Within Reach. The walk wasn’t very long, but it was a hot and humid day, so we appreciated the air conditioning and that they didn’t seem to mind us lying down for a fifteen minute nap while trying out a mattress. Luckily they had mats to lie on so we didn’t mess up the nice mattress with our sweat! The salesman was nice, but was a bit obvious in his eagerness to make the sale. We let him know we are motivated buyers, but that we were simply checking to see if the mattress lived up to what we had read online (it does!). He gave us a quote, his card and wished us a pleasant visit before we left.
Despite Sarah starting to develop blisters from walking so much in her sandals we walked from Adams Morgan to Cleveland Park to meet up with many, many, many beloved friends at the place where Sarah and I first met, Atomic Billiards. Thankfully it was like the old days, and was filled primarily with our group of friends and not the chain-smoking students that seemed to have started hanging out there shortly before we left for Vermont. We were able to talk without shouting over the jukebox, and we were able to shoot pool comfortably without having to wait for a table. The only downsides were that the Best Damn Bartender in the World, Rich, was on vacation, and that a few friends couldn’t make it down. The former was unfortunate, but since Beth did a great job of accommodating our silly crew it was not so bad. The latter was remedied later in the weekend when they returned from their unexpected trip to New York. The group—there must have been 30 of our bestest friends there—finally parted ways around 9:30 and we headed back to Capitol Hill exhausted but happy.
Saturday morning we again grabbed some bagels and coffee and then took the Metro to Grosvenor where our friend Ken picked us up and took us back to his place to jam with my old bandmates. Unfortunately a few folks couldn’t make it (sorry we missed you Barb and John!), but those that did were nice enough to let me sit in and sing a few numbers. We ran through Cold Rain & Snow and Viola Lee Blues before we had to head out in order to make it to our next destination, and Ken was sweet to schlep us to Forest Glen so we didn’t have to ride the entire length of the Red Line to get to the party in Wheaton.
The party in Wheaton was the reason we chose the weekend we did. Our friends Rick and Ed have thrown a party every summer—called Dawson’s Freak because of the street they live on—for the last 6 years. And they really roll out the red carpet. As is always the case when Ed is around, there was tons of food to be had, including the usual bushels and bushels of crabs. We chowed down on a variety of salads, gazpacho, shrimp, burgers, dogs, etc., etc. There were also two kegs—including one that was a Belgian tripel—and a band. Later on we had a quick passing thunderstorm, but nothing could dampen the spirits of this rowdy bunch. When the clouds had passed we all gathered to take photos under the rainbow that materialized and then went back to eating and drinking merrily.
It was at this party that we got to catch up with two of my oldest and dearest friends, Brad and Kelly. I have known Kelly since we both worked at Chi-Chi’s restaurant in College Park and went to the University of Maryland together. We reunited when I lived in Los Angeles (and she and Brad lived in Sacramento and now San Francisco), and I have treasured their friendship ever since. The travel distance has meant that our connections have been less frequent, but as I said, thankfully Rick & Ed’s annual party has made it easier to get together.
Somewhere around 8:30 p.m. Michael, Sam and Jonah swung by from a party they were attending nearby and took us to the next party of the day, Chris’ 30th birthday party at his parent’s place near Friendship Heights. There we caught up with two of our favorite people in the world, Chris and Nicole, as well as Chris’ awesome parents, Victor and Joan. Chris’ brother Matt and his wife Rebecca were also there, and it was great to see them again so soon. They had been in Vermont over the 4th of July weekend and we drove up to Elmore to visit with them. Nicole had baked two delicious pies (peach and I think sour cherry), and there was lots of other things to eat and drink. We played night bocci with a glow-in-the-dark kit in the the back yard and caught up with everyone. Somewhere after midnight, Sam drove us and Jonah to Dupont Circle where we caught the Metro back to Capitol Hill and crashed hard.
Sunday morning we jumped aboard yet another Metro train and hooked up with Amy & Liz and Michael & Sam at our favorite comfort food place, Mark’s Kitchen. We were hoping we would run into all of our old friends who wait tables there, but it ends up that Kate left to manage a make-your-own pottery place in Silver Spring, and Ann had taken a job managing a local singer/songwriter group. However, as much as we love them, we learned this all from the the best waitress of the bunch, Sarah, and she treated us like royalty even while the place was very busy. After a wonderful carb-loaded breakfast (always the best after a day and night of drinking) we all walked over to the farmer’s market, where we parted ways after helping Amy & Liz pick up some things for a potluck they were attending. We had a little down time before our next scheduled gathering, so we went back to Capitol Hill to walk the lovely Ginger and catch a short nap.
Somewhat refreshed, we jumped back on the train and headed to Silver Spring to have dinner with Brad & Kelly at yet another one of our favorite places, Mandalay, a delicious Burmese restaurant. It was an early dinner time so we had the place practically to ourselves. The meal was awesome and it was great to have some one-on-one time with our friends. After dinner we walked around downtown Silver Spring, grabbed some ice cream at the Ben & Jerry’s and said goodbye again before heading back to Capitol Hill to catch up with Josh and Lori.
Monday we got up early and took off for the airport only to have our flight delayed and then canceled. But it ends up that this worked out best for us because we got to Vermont at a good time to pick up the dogs, who were almost as happy to see us as we were to see them.
It was a fun—if not exhausting—trip and it was amazing that we got to see so many of the people we adore. Hopefully we convinced enough of them to come and visit us soon, and we’ll definitely be back for the next Dawson’s Freak.
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Sounds like a great trip. It is always nice to go back and confirm that you really did make the right decision. I’ve only been back once, for work, and though there are definitely things I miss, I am really happy to not have to go to Tysons anymore - what a nightmare.
And it is nice to see that Steve & I aren’t the only ones who call National by its rightful name!
Comment by evening — July 27, 2006 #
Ah! That’s sounds really wonderful. I haven’t been back to D.C. since 2002. I was never crazy about living in that city, but gosh how I *loved* visiting! I’m thoroughly envious. Your stories make me think that perhaps it’s time for another visit.
Comment by Jayme — July 27, 2006 #
You ate, drank, and beed merry…good job! J.
Comment by John Tischer — July 28, 2006 #
It was great seeing you guys again! It sounds like a very exhausting trip, but I’m glad you had fun.
Comment by Roz — July 31, 2006 #