ZEN-DEN NEEDED TO be in D.C. for his work, so we wrapped a couple of days around his business travel– and went to Washington, D.C. for a fast little vacay.
We figure that it must have been 15+ years since we’d been there together, which surprised us. At one point, Z-D’s job in the midwest took him to D.C. about half of the year, so I’d meet him there on the weekends.
D.C. was our favorite vacation playground.
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Cherry blossoms were past their prime, but tulips were everywhere. I snapped these photos at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel.
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FROM A TOURIST’S point of view much has changed for the better in D.C.
What amazed us was how much cleaner, easier, prettier, friendlier the city has become. No snarly people [I’m looking at you, Boston] or people with superior attitudes [I’m looking at you, NYC].
Instead, hotel employees, nice. Cabbies, pleasant. Museum employees, helpful. Restaurant wait staff, attentive. TSA, patient.
Who would have thought that while the jackweasels in the U.S. Congress can’t agree on which way is up, the rest of Washington is buzzing along like cooperative little bees making honey while the flowers grow?
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I took all of these tulip photos with Zen-Den’s iPhone, which is something that I’ve never done before.
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WHILE MOST OF our time in D.C. was taken up with business events, we did manage to do a few things.
- We had a delicious lunch at the Omni Shoreham Hotel, which is a gorgeous old-fashioned hotel in Adams Morgan that you may remember from scenes in The Pelican Brief.
- We rode the metro which made me feel like a young twenty-something fresh out of college, assuming I’d end up in a big east coast city. [That didn’t happen, now did it?]
- We went to the National Gallery of Art, toured it, then ate lunch in the cafeteria in the basement by the waterfall because… well, that’s what we do when we’re in D.C. together.
- We wandered around the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden which was pretty even if we were a week late for the cherry blossoms.
- We saw the Navy Yard, the Watergate Complex and Rock Creek Park from a taxi.
- And while waiting at Reagan National Airport for our flight home, we saw an Honor Flight of WWII & Korea veterans arriving in D.C. At their gate a live jazz quartet playing pop standards from the 1940s & 1950s met the group, while a crowd gathered round and applauded.
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While the flowers were glorious, these iPhone photos don’t do them justice. Next time I’ll bring my real camera with me. 🙂
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IT’S BEEN A long time since I’ve been anywhere that I felt as comfortable as I did on this Washington D.C. trip. We’re both ready to return soon.
Next time I’d like to focus on seeing more of the presidential and war monuments; take in a few more museums; perhaps go to a concert; and breakfast each morning on fresh east coast bagels with a schmear & a coffee regular.
How have I lived without them?
THE SPECTACLED BEAN 