Washington DC - Day 4

So I just learned from my pal Diana that November is NaBloPoMo, or National Blog Post Month. Apparently one is supposed to post one blog entry a day for 30 days. Like Diana, I'm starting late. And, I'm kind of cheating. I had this post mostly written, I was just trying to figure out what to do with the pictures, because I have quite a few. If anyone knows of any good (free!) sites where I can create slideshows for my posts, please let me know! I know I can do it with a Picasa album, but that seems to just be a link from here to my Picasa page and I don't know if people would find that annoying.

Anyway, I hope y'all aren't too bored with the vacation stories yet . . .

Tuesday, October 14

Tuesday we went to the museum I was most excited about, but that ended up being our biggest disappointment, the National Museum of the American Indian. This is a new museum. I'm not sure it was even finished last time we were in D.C., back in 2004.

The building is gorgeous. The exterior captures the feel of a pueblo, the desert and the rolling prairies all at the same time.

There is also a beautiful fountain.

The rotunda, where you enter, is beautiful with a display of 4 different types of canoe. This is particularly striking viewed from above.

The exhibits, however, left a lot to be desired, at least the ones we looked at. First we visited "Our Peoples" an exhibit about Native history. Although I was impressed with the exhibition design when we first walked in, the more I got into the gallery, the more I disliked it. The majority of the exhibition consists of 8 small galleries highlighting the history of 8 different tribes , 4 from North America and 4 from Central & South America. The thing I didn't like about the exhibit was that it was a lot of information to read and videos to watch and not many objects to look at. If I want to read or watch a video, I'd rather do it curled up in a comfy chair than standing in a museum.

Next we visited the "Our Lives" exhibit, showcasing the modern lives of 8 tribes. Unfortunately, these were 8 different tribes than in the "Our Peoples" section, so it was very difficult to get a sense of how the tribes have managed to merge their history with modern life. Again, there was a lot to watch & read and not much to just look at. So, we didn't spend much time in that exhibition.

Finally, we spent a little time in the "Window on the Collections" area. We both thought this was very cool. Various objects from the collection (yay, stuff to look at!) were installed in cases along the wall. In front of each section was a touch screen computer showing a layout of the case. You could touch an object on the screen to get more information or zoom in on a picture of the object to see the detail. Under each case were drawers with even more objects. Opening the drawers and exploring them really gives a sense of exploring the collection. As much as we were enjoying this area, we'd already been there more than an hour, and overall were not enjoying our experience, so we decided to head out.

I'd pretty much used up Alec's museum tolerance for the day (at least his tolerance for museums in which he's not particularly interested) so we just headed to the Ballston Common mall to hang out until M.K. got finished with her day. We went over to M.K. and E's apartment, where E. was trying to organize the usual weekly volleyball game. But, not many people were around, so that didn't really work out. So, we all piled into the car to head for the thing Alec had been waiting for for months . . . dinner at his favorite restaurant.

Dinner was at Moby Dick House of Kabob. Alec really, really, really loves this place. Their website says "This could become an addiction." That is so true. Honestly, we're both addicted. We went there on our first trip to D.C. together and I've loved it ever since. We had our usual - Kabob-E-Joojeh - marinated chicken kabobs with rice & bread. It was so yummy. E. ordered the Falafel (basically a chick pea patty) as well for us to share. I had never had that before. It was okay. But, not as good as the Kabob!

We actually went to a location that I hadn't been to before (yes, this is a place that falls into CRC #1) and when we pulled into the shopping center, what did I see? A Krispy Kreme with the Hot & Now sign on! I said right then that if it was still on when we finished dinner, we were going there for dessert. (KK absolutely falls into CRC #1 - do you know how long it's been since I've had a hot Krispy Kreme donut? Well, now it's only been about 2 weeks, but before that, it had been forever!) Lucky for me, the light was still on after we ate. They didn't have any donuts on the belt when we went in, but they put a couple on just for us! The gal at the counter thought it was cool that I was from Winston-Salem, the home of Krispy Kreme. We at our hot donuts, plus took a couple home for later. I got the custard filled, my favorite next to a nice, hot original glazed!

All in all, it was a good day!

Washington DC - Day 2 & 3

The saga of our trip continues . . .

Day 2 - Sunday, October 12
This was a pretty low-key day with not a lot of activity. Alec was hoping to get to town in time to watch the Redskins game at 1 PM. But, he slept through his alarm and didn't even wake up until I called him around 10 AM. Since he was a good 4 hours away, clearly he was not going to make it!

J. and I had a nice brunch at the Original Pancake House. Though this is a chain restaurant, and I try not to eat a chain restaurants on vacation, this particular place falls into Chain Restaurant Rule Caveat #1: Places that are unique and that I don't have regular access to are allowed. I had yummy lemon crepes. J. had the croissant French toast.

After brunch, we headed to Whole Foods to pick up supplies for "Mom's Famous Chicken" which J. planned to fix for us that night (her her gorgeous new kitchen, I might add!). As we pulled in to the shopping center, I noticed an Ulta! As I posted back in May, we don't have Ulta here. I fell in love with it in Tulsa, and I miss it. Anyway, we decided to go in. As luck would have it, the liter size of my shampoo was on sale for $9.99 per bottle, so I stocked up again. I'm almost out of the bottle I bought on that trip in May! I picked up a few more things and then we headed to Whole Foods. I love that place. It's expensive, but so nice.

Alec got to the house about the time we did. We watched the end of the game and then headed out to Target to get a few things. The Target nearest the house is two stories, and has a special escalator you put you cart in to take it upstairs. Usually when we go there, we don't need a cart and I'm always disappointed because I want to play with the cart escalator. But this time, we were buying soda, so we needed a cart! Mind you, we didn't need anything from the upstairs floor, but I went up anyway. Just to play with the cart escalator. Yes, sometimes it's the little things that make me happy. One thing to remember, though. It's not a good idea to leave your purse in the cart while it's on the escalator. The escalator might break and your purse will be stuck and you'll be late for your nail appointment. (Disclaimer - this did not happen to me, but to a friend who told me the story after I shared my glee at finally getting to use the cart escalator.)

We went back to the house and ate the fabulous Mom's Famous Chicken. After dinner, we headed over to see Alec's best friend from high school (who was the best man at our wedding) and his family. We had an nice visit with them and made plans to hang out later in the week.


Day 3 - Monday, October 13
Monday was Columbus Day, and we'd made plans to meet up with my college friend, "Archer" (she works for the government, so she had the day off) and check out the Ansel Adams/Georgia O'Keeffe exhibit at the National Museum of American Art. Archer had been sick all weekend with the flu, but she came anyway since it was a rare chance to see each other!

We met at the museum, but were hungry, so we headed to the restaurant Archer had suggested for lunch, Matchbox, just a few blocks away. I had heard of this place from keeping up with Tom Sietsema's reviews and I was excited to try their pizza! The restaurant is a cool space - the original building (the recently expanded into the one next door) is only 15 feet wide! Each table has a different matchbox embedded in it. I wish I'd thought to take pictures. (Later in the week, my cousin Belle asked why I didn't take a picture of my meal for my blog - duh, that would have been a great idea to do all along!)

Anyway, about the food. We all had pizza. I thought Alec might try their other famous dish, sliders (mini hamburgers) as the only red meat eater in the group but he wanted pizza. Alec had the "matchbox meat" pizza, Archer had the "veggie" and I had the "chicken pesto." Besides mine, I did try a bite of Archer's and they were both fabulous! Alec really liked his as well. Even in the 10-inch personal size they were a bit too much food for me, but with Archer being sick, we didn't really want to share (and Alec wanted red meat). Half a pizza and a side salad would have been perfect. But, I'm still glad we went and I think it will be on our list of places to eat next time we're in the city!

After lunch we went back over to the museum. As I mentioned in the Day 1 post, I was an intern there in college. The museum has been totally renovated (it was closed I think for 3 or 4 years) since that time and it looks gorgeous. It is connected to the National Portrait Gallery and between the two spaces we saw 4 exhibitions: Ansel Adams/Georgia O'Keeffe, "Women of our Time," an exhibition of photographs of 20th century women, an exhibition of Herblock's political cartoons and the permanent exhibition of Presidential Portraits.

The Adams/O'Keeffe show was good. I enjoyed seeing the photographs juxtaposed with paintings, if not of the same subject, then of similar shape and layout. "Women of our Time" was interesting, but with a lot of wall text to read, as there was a short bio accompanying each photograph, so we kind of skimmed that one. We went through the Herblock show backwards, starting with the more contemporary stuff and going back to his cartoons from the 30's & 40's. What struck me about it was that while the presidents changed, the subjects were pretty much the same! Just goes to show that some things never change! We also ended up going through the presidential gallery backwards so it was funny to go from the first two rooms where we recognized everyone to the later ones where for the most part we were thinking "who the heck is that?"

After the museum, we headed to Macy's at Metro Center so I could purchase my cousin K's wedding gift. They didn't have anything from the registry that really caught my fancy so I didn't buy anything. We said goodbye to Archer after that. She was really not feeling well and we were going to Filene's Basement which is not one of her favorite places, even when she's healthy! It was wonderful to get to spend some time with her, though!

After Filene's, I felt in need of some caffeine so we walked up to the Dupont Circle area, where I knew there was a location of a coffee shop/restaurant I really like, Cosi (another place that falls into Chain Restaurant Caveat #1 - henceforth to be known as CRC#1). But, just as I spotted it, we also spotted a place that looked really intriguing, Hello Cupcake. It's a bakery that sells only cupcakes. I happen to love cupcakes, and M.K. had christened me with the family code name "cupcake" so we decided to go in. In lieu of a coffee, I had the "pick-me-up", a chocolate cupcake with espresso icing and a chocolate-covered espresso bean on top. Alec had the "peanut butter blossom", a chocolate cupcake with peanut butter icing. The were both awesome! Well, I guess they both were. It's not like Alec shared or anything. There was a photo shoot going on in the store, supervised by the owner, Penny, so we were able to chat with her for a few minutes. She was super nice, and her store is super cute. If you're in DC, you should go. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

After that, it was back to the house for "taco night." After dinner, we headed over to visit with Grandma A. for a bit and then went to another Macy's to try to get K's gift again. They still didn't have exactly what I wanted to get, but I found a good 2nd choice. (Sorry, K, I really wanted to get y'all the cream & sugar set and the butter dish, but neither store had the right color!) Then, it was back to the house & early to bed for me, as I was not feeling well and I didn't want to put a damper on the next day!

Coming Up Next: The National Museum of the American Indian, more quality time with M.K. and E. and a trip to Alec's favorite restaurant . . .

Washington DC - Day 1

We're back from our big trip to the east coast! It was so much fun, and so wonderful to see family & friends. We were there for about 10 days, so it will take me a while to blog about it all, which means I'd better get started!

I arrived in D.C. ahead of Alec by about 2 days. My boss scheduled me for a work trip the week before our vacation and the timing didn't really work out for me to fly home from the that and get here by the time we had planned on leaving for the drive out east. So, I flew from here to Alabama, and then from Alabama to Baltimore, where the intrepid M.K. fought Friday-night, holiday weekend traffic to retrieve me. That doesn't really count as Day 1, though, unless you want to hear about planes & airports. I did briefly return "home" to N.C. with a layover in the Charlotte airport!

I count Day 1 as Saturday, October 11.

I got up not-quite bright & early, and after my step-mom-in-law, J. (she really needs a more creative blog nickname) and I enjoyed a cup of morning coffee, she dropped me at the local Metro station so I could ride downtown & meet up with M.K. and her husband E. (yeah, he needs a better nickname, too). We met in the Gallery Place/Chinatown neighborhood, where I was an intern many moons ago at the National Museum of American Art. Boy, has the area changed. The new Verizon Center arena has brought all sorts of new restaurants & shops to the neighborhood and while it does seem to have lost some of the Chinatown character (at least on the main drag) it has a new vibrancy.

In need of some lunch, we decided to walk along 7th St. and see what restaurant struck us. We saw a few good options, and finally settled on a place none of us had ever heard of, Nando's Peri-Peri. It is a restaurant dedicated to my favorite meat, chicken! The menu sounded good, and the decor was intriguingly funky, so we decided to give it a try. As we were placing our order at the counter, M.K. noticed something unusual - a hand-washing station for guests in the center of the restaurant. She studies water sanitation, so she's always noticing those sorts of things! Then, she went to the ladies' room, where she was thoroughly impressed with the automatic faucet & especially the Dyson hand dryers. The manager came to our table just to say hello and of course she had to spend a few minutes praising him for the great facilities. He told us that the faucet doesn't run on a sensor, it actually reacts to the electricity in your body to turns on when you get near it!

Enough about the bathroom! The food was great. I had the Chicken Breast Sandwich with Lemon & Herb sauce. This is their mildest sauce, and it still had a little kick to it. I had mashed potatoes as my side & they were wonderful. E. I think had the chicken wrap. He had the Hot sauce which he said was quite spicy. He had fries on the side & tried a couple of their dipping sauces with them. M.K. had the Butternut Squash and Cous Cous salad, which she really enjoyed. Apparently, our love of this restaurant was well-founded, as the next day it appeared in the Washington Post's Fall dining guide issued by their critic Tom Sietsema! So, if you're in the area, you may want to hold off a few weeks before you try it - restaurants tend to get crowded after he reviews them!

After lunch, we headed over to the National Mall. Our ultimate destination was the National Museum of African Art, but we took a few detours along the way.

First, we wandered through the National Gallery of Art sculpture garden. In all my visits to D.C. I have never actually taken the time to go through it, though I've always meant to. It's a beautiful space. We actually spent more time talking to the guard about his nifty T3 Electric Vehicle than we did looking at the sculpture!

Next, we headed across the Mall toward the African Art museum. We detoured briefly thorough the Mary Livingston Ripley Garden, which I had not previously explored. The museum is located in the Enid A. Haupt garden, so we wandered in there for a bit before entering the museums.

The National Museum of African Art is one of the Smithsonian Museums that I've never been to before. One of my goals for this trip was to try to get off my beaten path and see some things I've never seen. I did manage that to some extent, but also couldn't resist visiting old favorites! I really enjoyed this museum. We saw three exhibitions: one of jewelry, one of textiles and one of various artifacts from the museum's permanent collection. It was especially interesting because M.K. and E. are about to move to the Republic of Congo, so we had a bit of a treasure hunt through the permanent collection looking for items from there. One of the first pieces we saw from the region was a rather scary guy with a spear in one hand and a head in the other! There were a couple of tamer pieces we saw later, though. The museum is also has interesting architecture. It's one of 3 (I think) Smithsonian Museums that are mostly built underground. You enter from the top, then work your way down through the exhibitions.

After the museum, we took a few pictures in the rose garden.

Then, we headed toward Union Station, enjoying the sights and the beautiful weather along the way. We had a good time checking out all the political memorabilia available in the Union Station shops, then had coffee and shared a piece of chocolate cake at a cafe there.

We concluded the day by driving out to the in-laws neck of the woods for a nice visit over Mexican food. All in all, it was a great day!