I landed in D.C. Thursday afternoon and met Marissa at the D.C. Court of Appeals where she is interning for the summer. I had every intent of doing a bit of exploring while I waited for her to get off work, but a monstrous thunderstorm had other plans for me and I ended up waiting it out in nearby Cosi. Luckily, the storm passed right when Marissa got off work and we were able to stick with our game plan of going for a row.
Bob, an MSU Crew alum who I met by chance in a bar in Boston once, coaches at Capital City Rowing Club and he had kindly offered to take Marissa and I out for a practice when he heard that I would be in town. The row was short but sweet and I'm glad I'm able to say I've coxed on another body of water - plus I got to cox Mar!
After another freak thunderstorm, we headed to Molly Mallone's, a local Irish pub, to meet Bob and Eric (another MSU Crew alum who I met by chance in Boston) for a couple of beers.
Friday Marissa had to work but I took the opportunity to explore all the "touristy" parts of DC. I started off walking part of the National Mall and ended up sneaking my way into a tour of the Capitol. I had never been to DC before and really wasn't sure what to expect from the Capitol - in my head I imagined it to be more of offices but in reality it is a magnificent piece of architecture. Unfortunately, the Capitol is currently under construction so many of my photos include ugly scaffolding and tarps.
I met Marissa for lunch outside of her office and it was a pleasant break from all the walking I had been doing. After lunch, I headed back to the Mall to visit the monuments. I completely underestimated the size of the Mall and just how hot it would be and I didn't get to see quite as much as I would've liked. I did get to see the Washington Memorial, the World War II Memorial (twice because it was a good spot to cool off!), the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial and the Korean Memorial. I really wanted to see the Jefferson Memorial and the Smithsonian, but unfortunately time did not permit.
Friday evening Marissa and I went to Jazz in the Garden, an event held every Friday night in the National Gallery of Art's Sculpture Garden. The band playing rotates but there is always wine, beer and pitchers of sangria!
After deciding we'd just had too much of the heat, we met back up with Eric at the Biergarten Haus, a German style beer garden with great outdoor seating and pretzels.
Saturday was by far my favorite day for so many reasons! Marissa and I kicked off the day with a run to the Capitol with stops at the Supreme Court and the Library of Congress.
After quick showers and getting ready, we headed to The Heights for brunch and to meet Val!!! I cannot explain how excited I was for this. Val has been my best friend since fifth grade but I hadn't seen her in almost 10 years. It was SO good to see her and we picked up like no time had passed at all. Plus, the food and bloody Mary's were phenomenal.
Post-brunch, Val, her fiance Lauren, Marissa and myself decided to spend the afternoon walking around Georgetown. The campus is so pretty and the main street has some really great shopping. Again, I totally underestimated how hot it was going to be and complained about the heat quite a bit.
We had a tasty homemade dinner Saturday night - asparagus salad with egg and bacon, bruschetta, and of course, wine and cheese - with one of Marissa's law school friends. Another thunderstorm had rolled in and squashed our plans a viewing the Monuments at night but we made the best of it and headed to Nellie's, a gay sports bar, with a few of Marissa's other friends. This place was so much fun! Plus, I had potentially the strongest margarita of my life.
Sunday was a short day since I had a plane to catch. But we did have enough time to head to the Historic Eastern Market. We started off with heading to Ted's Bulletin, an old-fashioned style diner with a modern twist and homemade pop-tarts and boozy milkshakes - what's not to love? While we didn't sample the milkshakes, the pop-tart was delicious and so was the turkey club.
We walked through a bit more of the market, lingering in the cooler air conditioned portion, before we decided it was time to head back to Mar's apartment and hit the airport.
As great as DC was and as much as I enjoyed my trip, I highly recommend NOT visiting in the summer. Things would have been 100x more enjoyable if I wasn't covered in a constant layer of sweat. But I shouldn't complain, I had a great weekend seeing so many great people!
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