Traveling Orangecat

Hello, everybody! (in Simpson voice)

I got back from DC today. It was a light, lovely trip and exactly what I needed. Jess' new condo is super cute and it was fun to stay with her. I caught dinner with Laura, old Cal friend, which was good, too. She helped enlighten me on why she likes Obama and her reasons made sense and somewhat swayed me. Perhaps more on that later...

But to talk about my trip without writing too much bc I'm tired from the 10 hours of traveling today plus the jet lag, I will summarize my thoughts in 10 bullet points. One for every hour of travel today.

1) Cherry blossoms are really pretty even if you visit after they're gone and you only see trees that your good friend Jess kindly says, "They look like cherry blossoms" and you take pics together by them. Faking it is almost as good as the real thing.

2) Washington DC seems freakin' obsessed with super high escalators including the Rosslyn Metro stop one. Info from Wikipedia on it:

It features the third longest continuous escalator in the world, at 205 feet 8 inches; an escalator ride between the street level and the mezzanine level takes 159 seconds.[2]

OMG. Third largest in the world?!? Jess picked me up from the metro last night after my dinner with Laura and she told me to go to a diff station than the one she lives by, to the Rosslyn one. I had been telling her scary stories of the high escalators all over DC (including the one she uses twice a day in her daily commute) and she kept telling me "You should see the Rossly one." So getting off, I rode the escalator and couldn't look back after the first third. It was too high. My muscles started cramping as I tightened my stiff posture and leaned forward to decrease my fear of falling off or down the entire 205 ft. How many stories is that? 6 or 7? It's really really high people. See here for the pic but it doesn't do it justice. Think of being on an escalator for 3 MINUTES and how high that has to be. Anyways, I got out and accusingly told Jess, "You switched stations just to make me do that escalator, didn't you?" She laughed but really didn't answer me. Hmm... So there, Jess, now you know the true extent the escalators scared me and the impression they left as this is #2 in my list! Even when I was in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, these high school kids pointed to their escalator and said, "Wow, that one is like super big." Which is was bigger than normal non-DC ones, but nothing compared to the Court House or Rosslyn monster. I scoffed under my breath at them.

3) The National Museum of the American Indian is really cool and not boring like I thought. And I actually like Native American culture so i have to think they're not highlighting the best part of their museum in the Smithsonian guide. The building itself is rounded and inside the exhibits are rounded and inclusive, no right angles. And how they approach presenting history from their view (which all museums present history from some view) including quoting ppl and sources in the "all-knowing" info placards in front of an exhibit, is just so different and refreshing and felt authentic. See this Wikipedia article for info and a pic of the building.

4) The postal museum is cool also though the whole time I was wondering if the stamp increase paid for the delightful interactive stations. And I could not stop laughing at the section describing the dangerous job of postmaster. They tried to make it look like the postmaster carries around a tommy gun and works everyday under the threat of extreme violence. Uh, go ask a Marine if your job is dangerous, Mr. POSTMASTER. Paper cuts, lately??

5) And on the military topic, I watched the PBS Show Carrier at Jess' place and am so addicted. I watched about four hours over three days and just watched more online. I dare you to tell me this isn't interesting! And full episodes here.

6) Ppl really like to run in DC. It felt like a city of determined type-A's and even in recreation, they were all marathon runners.

7) The National Portrait Gallery's exhibit on the Presidents in the American Art Museum was interesting, again more interesting than expected. I really like the excerps of radio recordings of FDR's Fireside Chats including three during WW2. He was an impressive speaker.

8) Sometimes it rains and storms in DC but it's ok. Sorry southern Virginia ppl who got their houses blown to bits by the storm :(

9) Reading Jess' paper every morning, I've been learning more and more about the food crisis in the world. It's really bad, not since WW2 bad, they say. I feel somber and have been thinking about the food I take for granted.

10) Pomegranate margaritas from Rasika just taste like lime margaritas. And they seat horribly, and yes, I yelped about it!

*Curtsies* Thanks for reading! It was fun and easy, with plenty of time with friends and alone for prayer and reflection with God speaking. With that and the learning/seeing new things, it was a perfect short trip before I start the new job. Thanks God :)