This past weekend Kurt came to visit me for 4th of July and we had the best weekend ever. It started when Kurt arrived on Thursday night. We went to dinner in Adams Morgan, which is a neighborhood in the north of DC at an Ethiopian restaurant. DC is supposed to have really good Ethiopian, and it was delicious. They serve lots of little piles of curry like things all on an injera (a special kind of crepe-like spelt bread they make) with extra injera 
on the side. Then we went to this amazing jazz harmonica concert at the famous jazz/blues bar called Blue Alley in Georgetown (over in west DC). On Friday we had breakfast at a place that I had heard was good called the Tabbard Inn, but were not impressed. Although it was outside in a nice little courtyard. Then we walked down to the mall and went to the Museum of American History. 
My favorite part was seeing Julia Child's kitchen. They also had a really cool interview with her about her knives. They also had cool exhibits about the history of scientific discovery. There were of course many other parts of the museum, but by this time it was starting to get VERY busy, so we left and went to the Folklife Festival. We went back to the Welsh exhibit and watched one of the Welsh chefs prepare a rabbit dish. Kurt thought it was really cool and made him want to cook exotic food. Native American museum. I love the building, it is supposed to represent wind blowing across the plains, we went to the Universe part of the museum that had all their fundamental teachings 
and origin stories. They each had colors organized in a different way to talk about the four cardinal directions and what they represent. Then we went to the Eastern Market and bought ingredients for the water
melon salad I was going to make for a fancy party we were going to later that afternoon. The Eastern Market is a farmers market that burned down and was recently reopened, but it all inside and much smaller and less impressive than Pike's Place in Seattle or the St. Paul Farmer's Market. Then we went back to my dorm and made the salad. And Kurt agreed that my dorm is not a fun place to live, but atleast it makes you want to get out and explore more. Then we went a picked up a zipcar that I had rented. I rented a yellow mini convertible zipcar, which was really fun. The party was at this woman Emily's house who used to be affiliated with WISE. They lived in a really big, nice 
house in the Maryland suburbs. Emily's husband is a really big American art collector and gave us a tour of all his pictures, which covered every wall in the house. There was also a few of Emily and her husband's friends there and they were all very interesting people, one used to work PNNL and now lives in Malaysia running a new renewable energy program. She gave some advice about living in Richland. Then we went and pool and watched the Twins game. Saturday morning we got up and went to the zoo, which was really fun. It wasn't as busy and was fun to see all the animals. Seeing the pandas was cool of course, but our other favorite part was seeing the otters play in the river. If I was an animal I would be an otter, they always look they are having fun. Then we hiked through Rock Creek Park, a big park in the middle of the city, to the very northern part, which was really nice to get out of the city, or feel like it anyways. We went in search of a restaurant that was all organic and local that I had heard good things about, but it ended up being closed. So we had lunch across the street instead. Then we walked to Georgetown to go kayaking. I had rented kayaks for us to paddle around and watch the fireworks from. We had time to kayak all the way down past the mall and the memorial bridge before finding a good spot. 
There was an amazing number of boats in the water, but watching the fireworks in kayaks from the water with a glass of wine was by far my favorite part of the whole weekend. It was so fun. Sunday we got up and went to the Art museum. They had an amazing diversity of genres, from Monet, to Renaissance, to Roman sculpture. Kurt says of all the museums we went to, this one was the most engaging. We went in expecting to spend an hour or so and ended up spending more than two. Then we went to
lunch at a really delicious Spanish tapas restaurant and had sangria. Then we went to a concert in the Park in Georgetown. It was a stereotypical community party with lots of families and a Reggae band. Then went to a fancy last dinner at this seafood and Italian place. Kurt had lobster and I had a mixed seafood pasta made with squid ink, that was really interesting. We walked along the mall on the way back, which is always really beautiful at night. On Monday morning we played cards, and Kurt is the champion on July, unfortunately. I demand a rematch. The rest of today I got back into the swing of things and got some work done and went to the grocery store. And that's all for that chapter.
on the side. Then we went to this amazing jazz harmonica concert at the famous jazz/blues bar called Blue Alley in Georgetown (over in west DC). On Friday we had breakfast at a place that I had heard was good called the Tabbard Inn, but were not impressed. Although it was outside in a nice little courtyard. Then we walked down to the mall and went to the Museum of American History. 
My favorite part was seeing Julia Child's kitchen. They also had a really cool interview with her about her knives. They also had cool exhibits about the history of scientific discovery. There were of course many other parts of the museum, but by this time it was starting to get VERY busy, so we left and went to the Folklife Festival. We went back to the Welsh exhibit and watched one of the Welsh chefs prepare a rabbit dish. Kurt thought it was really cool and made him want to cook exotic food. Native American museum. I love the building, it is supposed to represent wind blowing across the plains, we went to the Universe part of the museum that had all their fundamental teachings 
and origin stories. They each had colors organized in a different way to talk about the four cardinal directions and what they represent. Then we went to the Eastern Market and bought ingredients for the water
melon salad I was going to make for a fancy party we were going to later that afternoon. The Eastern Market is a farmers market that burned down and was recently reopened, but it all inside and much smaller and less impressive than Pike's Place in Seattle or the St. Paul Farmer's Market. Then we went back to my dorm and made the salad. And Kurt agreed that my dorm is not a fun place to live, but atleast it makes you want to get out and explore more. Then we went a picked up a zipcar that I had rented. I rented a yellow mini convertible zipcar, which was really fun. The party was at this woman Emily's house who used to be affiliated with WISE. They lived in a really big, nice 
house in the Maryland suburbs. Emily's husband is a really big American art collector and gave us a tour of all his pictures, which covered every wall in the house. There was also a few of Emily and her husband's friends there and they were all very interesting people, one used to work PNNL and now lives in Malaysia running a new renewable energy program. She gave some advice about living in Richland. Then we went and pool and watched the Twins game. Saturday morning we got up and went to the zoo, which was really fun. It wasn't as busy and was fun to see all the animals. Seeing the pandas was cool of course, but our other favorite part was seeing the otters play in the river. If I was an animal I would be an otter, they always look they are having fun. Then we hiked through Rock Creek Park, a big park in the middle of the city, to the very northern part, which was really nice to get out of the city, or feel like it anyways. We went in search of a restaurant that was all organic and local that I had heard good things about, but it ended up being closed. So we had lunch across the street instead. Then we walked to Georgetown to go kayaking. I had rented kayaks for us to paddle around and watch the fireworks from. We had time to kayak all the way down past the mall and the memorial bridge before finding a good spot. 
There was an amazing number of boats in the water, but watching the fireworks in kayaks from the water with a glass of wine was by far my favorite part of the whole weekend. It was so fun. Sunday we got up and went to the Art museum. They had an amazing diversity of genres, from Monet, to Renaissance, to Roman sculpture. Kurt says of all the museums we went to, this one was the most engaging. We went in expecting to spend an hour or so and ended up spending more than two. Then we went to
lunch at a really delicious Spanish tapas restaurant and had sangria. Then we went to a concert in the Park in Georgetown. It was a stereotypical community party with lots of families and a Reggae band. Then went to a fancy last dinner at this seafood and Italian place. Kurt had lobster and I had a mixed seafood pasta made with squid ink, that was really interesting. We walked along the mall on the way back, which is always really beautiful at night. On Monday morning we played cards, and Kurt is the champion on July, unfortunately. I demand a rematch. The rest of today I got back into the swing of things and got some work done and went to the grocery store. And that's all for that chapter.
2 comments:
I definitely do not get out enough. I am going to take a boat ride and eat at a restaurant in July in your honor. Sounds like a very fun-filled weekend.
Thanks for the great run-down of events and the photos, Sarah! Cool way to get a front row seat for the fireworks, I must say. You are full of super ideas!
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