this past weekend taught me many new things. among them are: 1. having spontaneous friends who love to experience new things is the best, and 2. it's always worth saying yes to cheap round-trip tickets. as people ask how my trip was this past weekend, one of the things that continues to ring true is that I am so glad I went to DC as an adult rather than as a high school student. the high school version of myself would have looked at this stuff like it didn't mean anything, but the adult me knows better.
we did DC in 4 days. well, more like two full days & two half days. here's a rundown of the things we did:
Thursday - fly from Little Rock to Baltimore, took a shuttle with a new friend (Joan), checked into our hotel in Arlington, navigate the Metro rail system, & went to an area called "Georgetown" for a late dinner at numo **read: amazing**
Friday - leave hotel, quick breakfast, holocaust museum, later lunch, museum of natural history, national art gallery, hotel to get ready for dinner, Marvin's for dinner, & different patio bars that night.
Saturday - slower breakfast at a new place, walk around national mall while a protest was going on, museum of American history, the capitol building, botanical gardens, nap-time & ice cream truck time on the national mall, bus tour of monuments, late dinner at Hamilton's.
Sunday - best breakfast ever at Le Bon café on our way to church at Capitol Hill Baptist Church, lunch at Le Bon café, check out of hotel, shuttle to airport, fly from Baltimore to Little Rock.
this past weekend was so full, but if you're only going to spend a couple of days in DC that's the only way to do it. above are pictures from the national art gallery, which I wish we would have had more time in. the feeling of seeing a Degas, Monet, Van Gogh, & Picasso in real life was surreal. **note: do not even try to go here with only an hour until they close** this is one I will be re-visiting. another of my favorites was the holocaust museum. we spent three hours going through their main exhibit, & I still feel like we were rushing. I wish that there were words to describe how it feels to go through that museum & see what these people went through, but there aren't. there were videos at the end of the exhibit from real people who survived those terrible years, and I kept thinking "how do those people continue to live with those images and memories?" directly after the videos is a beautiful memorial room where people may sit & reflect on all they have just seen. beautiful people, mistreated & lost. reminds me of a sermon I recently listened to: "whenever a culture devalues something God has declared valuable, the outcome is catastrophic."
some (ten) trip highlights **there are a lot**
1. Le Bon Café - anytime you have to stop somewhere twice, you know it is good. we were those obnoxious girls who ate outside & told everyone who ventured by that they were missing out if they didn't stop here. to die for egg strata, melt in your mouth French toast, out of this world chocolate croissant, fresh fruit galore, and a big bowl of coffee... I mean how could you not go back?
2. The Hamilton - this is where we went for dinner on Saturday night. things that blew us away: their service was phenomenal, massive wine list, still seating people well past 11:00 at night for dinner, incredible fresh tuna sushi appetizer, & each of our meals.
3. eating lunch outside: that weather. those patios. district taco was the bomb. not to mention the art sculptures that we could enjoy while eating! spoiled much?
4. ice cream truck + nap time on the national mall... you know you're living well when you can stop & enjoy this moment. as I was laying down I could look to my right and see the Washington Monument, and to my left was the Capitol building. can I do this everyday please?
5. Capitol Hill Baptist Church - a traditional service with hymns that I actually enjoyed. why? because normally a traditional service like that is full of shallow teaching & not much challenge, but that could not be farther from what we experienced this past Sunday. everyone we ran into was authentic and welcoming, the prayer throughout the service was incredibly real straight from the people's hearts, the teaching didn't hold back any punches, and it was full of young people who live in DC. if that doesn't speak volumes about a church & the young people in America, I don't know what else will!
6. Marvin's - great little restaurant known for their muscles & fries. if you don't get one of their many different muscles & fries plates, you're wrong. also, bartender's choice beverage with bourbon, just do it.
7. the parks - a big city with tons of beautiful parks full of people running, biking & walking on their lunch breaks?? when can I move here?
8. meeting random people - another reason I'm so thankful for my friends, they enjoy talking with people as much as I do, if not more! from the very beginning of our trip (sharing a shuttle with "joanie"), we decided that we had to keep our "interesting people quota" up each day. yes, these are my friends. yes, we may be obnoxiously loud, ask you many questions about your life, laugh with you at fun stories, but we are loving life!
9. The Metro - again, meeting random people, best. not having to drive in crazy traffic, also a win. getting to see what real life could be in DC, love.
10. walking everywhere - since going to school at the University of Arkansas, I have yet to live in a city where you walk miles upon miles every day. I miss it.
I believe that I fell in love with a city this past weekend. if I don't pursue living here for some period of my life, I would be shocked. when I've told people that over the past few days, the reactions I get are somewhere between shocked, confused, and surprised. most people would maybe say that about Chicago, New York, or Dallas, but it happens to be Washington DC for me. to say that I'm excited to live 3.5 hours away from here might be an understatement. to have the opportunity to maybe spend a summer or a semester there makes my heart beat fast. here's to the future, as exciting and unknown as it is.
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