SO! Here's some pictures from our trip to DC!! It was such a great trip, it was SO good to get away, and back East, too!
Of course we left from Intercontinental in Houston...OK, it's BUSH Intercontinental, but we try to leave the "B" word out, just like DC-ites try to leave the "R" word out of National. Can we call it the "L Word" Intercontinental Airport? Please? Anyway, look who we saw hanging out with Daddy!
Yes, Shrublette came with us! Here he is hanging out on the plane:
Upon arrival, we went out for a birthday dinner for V and SHG and many Manhattans, it was a lot of fun. Shrublette was naughty, though, and brought a lizard with him from Houston:
Then he got a little rowdy, I think the cap is too tight:
But, we were having too much fun to care:
Shrublette then got crazy with the cake knife and claimed dominion over the pub:
This is what the pub looked like when we left:
We got around DC about 1/3 on foot (ugh, SO not used to that) which made my delicate footsies hurt, especially since I wore boots with blown-out insoles (DUH!) and it was about 225 F in the sun. We got ferried around by car about 1/3 and had good parking ju ju, and rode the Metro about 1/3. What a great subway system! So clean! In fact, if you are a 10 year old girl and eat a French Fry, you will be arrested, although it's not clear if it's the eating part or the fact that it is not a Freedom Fry. But, that's for our soon-to-be new Supreme Court Justice to decide. Oh wait, he already did: It's on her permanent record.
Did you know that the Metro has sticks of butter on the fare cards?
SHG looks so cute in front of that building where they stomp on our civil rights!
Here's that building sans SHG:
Something I was really amazed at is how gay DC is, and how comfortable it is to be there, Hell you can hold hands on the street. Then again, it has the third largest gay population in the country behind SF and NYC, and we were mostly in Dupont Circle, Logan Cirle, and Adams Morgan. I think I saw more gay couples/guys/lesbians/lesbian couples in three days than in Houston three months. Just out and about, driving, walking, shopping, eating, holding hands here and there.
Anyway, back to pictures! We got way lucky at the Washington Monument - a ranger just handed us a ticket at 14.30, when you have to be in line at 08:30! He was only sorta cute, but we must have turned him on, we're so cute. Don't ask, don't tell.
At this point, Shrublette wanted out of the knapsack and his leather-pride "hand towel" swaddling:
I was really impressed with it. Did you know that it is the world's largest free-standing fully-masonry structure? No steel rebar or anything. Cool! The views are outstanding!
The only touristy thing I wanted to do was go to the Washington Monument, so I was all happy. It's impressive, the tour was great, and the information inside excellent. The only let-down was the security hut they pasted to the base of it. Here I am outside after we went in, looking oddly annoyed:
And here I am lactating, errr, sweating:
Then we saw the WWII Memorial. I thought it was very nice, well done. A bit cold in the feel, but I liked it. The stars are tough to figure out since there is no text with them...but there are 4000 of them, one for each 100 lives lost. I thought I counted 2500, but I guess the ducks distracted me.
Here I am being technology-challenged:
Finally, we stopped by Shrublette's pad:
Here are some other random photos.
Me with my new toy being a nerd:
And Condi at our hosts' house:
