So I flew out to visit my favorite chica, Rachel, in DC this weekend. Little did I realize that I would be in DC the weekend before elections, so I’ll admit I was a bit overwhelmed by politics, but luckily, I’ve been keeping such a distance from them in general that my tolerance was high.

Spent saturday afternoon roaming around the monuments on a gorgeous but chilly fall day. I’d seen it all before but this was really how it was meant to be experienced…no running around snapping photos, following maps, trying to see everything…just simple strolling along the reflection pool, sitting for a chat atop the steps of the Lincoln memorial, walking along the tidal basin trying out jokes (admittedly wishing i had a camera), and ending up at my favorite spot, the jefferson memorial. And there, we sat for a bit and I roamed around exploring the views, reading the words engraved around the ceiling:

I have sworn upon the alter of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.

Genius. The man was genius. It’s not tyranny against americans or man in the physical sense but over the mind of man, and for that, I truly wanted to give the man a hug. That was my historical moment for the weekend.

From there we met up with Ben and had some burgers at the infamous 5 Guys, which were pretty damn tastey. Then we got a stellar tour of NPR, including the studio that was setup for election night and the stacks of CDs being considered for well…“All Songs Considered” :) The lady at that desk, Vicky, I think she has my dream job. Listening to snippets of new music all day. I spent a fair amount of time rummaging through the shelves of free books & cds that had been sent in. I got sooo many books that will take me years to read, including “What would Jefferson Do?” which might end up being too political for me. My music picks weren’t too strong but I got one fantastic album (Paul Brill - Harpooner) and another almost awesome one (Laura Veirs - Year of Meteors). That made me feel cool.

We did some bar hopping and pool playing that evening and scored ourselves some pastries for breakfast. The rest of the day was spent down at old town Alexandria, which was absolutely lovely. We stopped in a townhouse that was having an open house. The realtor greeted us and let us know it was listed for $2.2 million. I took a flyer. Had a lovely but expensive lunch of fresh seafood. My crabcake sandwich was yum! From there we ventured to rachel’s new workplace, which kicked ass. Their gameroom was the size of our production area (pictures to come).

We closed the day at georgetown which just didn’t feel like the US. In fact, the entire weekend, I felt I was in a foreign country. It was a strange sensation. That area was amazing though…a canal that just runs through everything. I could have spent a day taking photos.

And my weekend closed with a semi-stressful, running filled airline experience but I made my flights by some twists of luck.

And in other news, my best friend from back home called me yesterday. She’s engaged and it’s super weird. I may well have a complete freak-out when I encounter physical evidence of it…like the wedding. She didn’t ask but told me I was her maid of honor which should be very interesting. We’re quite the pair of non-carer’s about such conventions like weddings.

And lastly, you may remember way back in the day when I posted a song by my boy johnny slack & his friend john moulder. Well, i now i have a face to put with a name for the latter and he has his own band now. I got tipped off to some youtube videos with some embarrassing close-ups. Check out this one with my new favorite song of theirs.