Monday, July 20, 2009

Save the pork?

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted, but as you know, I headed to D.C. with LL to visit her sister and brother-in-law and see the Cubs play the Nationals. Though I could write for hours about what I did, maybe I'll just throw up some pics and let them do the talking. Tuesday I head for Albuquerque, but I'll have my computer so I should be able to post.






This is the Korean War Memorial. Absolutely awe inspiring and stunning. It really got to me, which is why I'm leading with it in the montage. A must see if you're in D.C.















The Washington Monument as seen through the WWII Memorial. The WWII is another great memorial; probably one of the few good things to happen under the Bush administration (and yes, his name is disrespectfully obvious).















Seinfeld's Puffy Shirt is in the National Museum of American History in the pop culture section. Just had to take a picture! All weekend we were all throwing out quotes from Seinfeld and many other sitcoms and movies. Good fun.











LL's sister lives near Dupont Circle and the Metro stop there. Our hotel was just 3-4 blocks away and there was a Starbucks there too. Look how nice the station is. Not to mention the trains were much quieter and more comfortable. The red lights blink as a train is approaching. Subtle, but useful. They also tell you how much time there is between trains.



























And here are our hosts for the weekend. Since LL was sporting her Cubs jersey, they had to go get some inexpensive Nats gear to wear. TJ Maxx did the trick with good values for women found in the boys section.













The garbage cans have these decorative helmets on them. A nice touch.













The Cubs won the game! Here's the view from our third row, club level seats. Pretty awesome. We were close enough for me to catch a shirt out of one of those cannons they use between innings to get the crowd going. A picture I didn't get was of the foul ball that arrived in the row in front of just after we sat down. While I was on the aisle, the brother-in-law (Greg) was on the far inside. The ball came down in front of him, unfortunately, just after we got back from getting shredded pork sandwiches. Gregg lost his sandwich and possibly other foodstuffs as he tried in vain to get the ball. Maybe because I'm used to playing softball it was apparent to me that it would take a lot of effort to get the ball, so I sat back and saved my sandwich (and beer). We didn't have any more close calls until the shirt came our way.

























Here's the crew!








We wondered through "China Town" on one of the days. All store signs have to be in Chinese at least (most use English and Chinese). It's a totally fabricated area of D.C. as not many Chinese actually live there. Obviously I got a kick out of the signs.




















On Sunday, our hosts let us borrow their car and drive 20 minutes or so to McLean VA and visit my aunt, uncle and cousins. There was a surprise party for my uncle's 70th birthday, so it was nice to stop out and spend a few hours with them. Below is the cake just after being cut and my uncle's back and my cousin Theresa.























LL is a huge Eric and Cathy fan (local radio show) and they have a contest whereby you take their cut out faces and get your picture taken in interesting places or with interesting people. We saw McGruff, The Crime Dog, while we were driving down M street and pulled over for a picture. The woman with McGruff, Marsha, is also one of the gals who dance on the dugouts at the baseball game and get the crowd cheering.

We had big plans for the faces as we were getting a White House tour from a Secret Service agent, but it turns out you can't take pictures in the White House. Damnit. Also, you can't wear jeans or generally look trashy. I kind of like that though.


It was a great trip and we ate a ton! Now it's off to Albuquerque where, I fear, it will be more of the same.

5 comments:

alexis said...

sounds like an awesome trip. I really liked the pictures of the subway, forgot how clean DC's transit is (in the center of town at least..)

stef said...

What a great trip. You have totally inspired me to go. We are going to try to get out there next month.

DogBrian said...

Sounds like an awesome trip. Good for you. Our hotel was on Connecticut Ave. near Dupont Circle when we were there and every morning we hit the Starbucks on Conn./R street. Too funny!!

terri said...

I see photo ops in that train station! Is it wierd that this is the reason I'd like to go there?

el supremo de nm said...

Do they actually get that many fans to a Nat's game?

No eating dude in ABQ - Work!