Washington DC: Pet Cemetaries, Monuments, and Family

As I was getting ready to leave the East Coast of Virginia, I stopped by the nearby town of Cape Charles for Sunday mass.  I noticed that the local parish was St. Charles of Boromeo parish, my confirmation saint.  I have never seen a parish dedicated to this saint before, so it made the decision of where to stop for mass easier.  It was definitely  a small town parish.  At the beginning of mass, the priest asked if there were any visitors present.  About 100 of the 200 people in the pews raised their hands.  After mass, one of the more active parishioners invited me to attend the church festival/sale in the parish hall.  She wouldnt take no for an answer.  So I followed her to the parish hall.  It was locked and no one had the keys, so I snuck out of the waiting crowd.  Close call :-)

I drove around the town to snap a few pics.  It had a quaint main street where a lot of people come to have Sunday breakfast. 

I hit the road and headed towards Washington D.C.  It was about a 5hr drive away.  

At one point, I saw a sign for a pet cemetery.  I have never been to a pet cemetery, and the only thing I knew about pet cemeteries was from the cheesy horror film of the same name.  I stopped by to take a look, and I was prepared for some cheesy pet memorials.  What I found was a interesting blend of heartfelt memorials, funny pet names, and some whimsical grave markers.

The remaining drive through the countryside was dotted was antique shops and a myriad of points-of-interest to cater to tourists headed towards the OBX: mini golf courses, terrain park for home made monster trucks, shops selling trinkets.

I made my way into Maryland.  Some of the signs were weird.  Like the "Bay Bridge Bound?" sign.  Does this really need to be stated as a question?  I crossed back over the Chesapeake bay towards DC.  

When I eventually arrived in DC, I knew I would have 2.5hrs max to see museums.  I decided to visit the Smithsonian Museum of Natural Science.  Surprisingly  (given that I am a scientist, and all), it is one of the few Smithsonians that I had not previously visited. 

After parking at a nearby garage, I trekked towards the National Mall.  I decided that I would spend my two hours of time at the Smithsonian Natural History museum.

I spent the first hour looking at all of the stuffed animals.  They have mocked up habitats found all over the globe and stuffed specimens to accompany the appropriate habitat.  It was just ok, not great.  I can go to Cabela's and see almost the same thing.  Plus all the animals are dead...not as cool as a zoo or something.  But they did have a coelecanth and a 20-something foot long giant squid.  Ya dont see that everyday.

Next I went to the large exhibit covering human evolution.  It was absolutely awesome.  This museum does an amazing job of describing our biological origins and what life was like for early humans. 

There were a couple interesting facts/ideas I really took away from the museum.  The first interesting idea was in regards to the evolution of the human species.  Apparently, a period of volatile climate change really drove the evolution of modern humans.  Increases in intelligence greatly increased the fitness of early humans.  Even then, climate change reduced the worldwide human population to around 10,000 people at some point.  We almost didnt make it!

Another interesting fact was about the size of the population.  Fun fact:  the population of the earth did not reach 1 billion people until ~1804.  Right now the population sits around 7 billion.  Thats pretty explosive growth.  We are able to accommodate this drastic growth because of improvements in agriculture that can feed that many people.  However, infectious diseases become more severe as a consequence. 

Finally, I found it intriguing that the first expression of intelligent humans was what we would call art.  For some reason, these newly minted human beings felt the compulsion to create paintings or sculptures.  Not surprisingly (or maybe it is a surprise, depending on how you think about it) the subjects of these paintings and cultures haven't changed much.  These early humans mostly produced images of women and animals.  But why art?    Why not simple math?  Its not super hard to grasp that one rock plus one rock equals two rocks.  Maybe the evidence of mathematics that predates a written language didnt survive, or hasnt been discovered.  Anyways, I think its neat that in present era people are still creating art of women and animals.  Obviously, this urge towards artistic expression and even the subjects of the art is hardwired in humanity.

Right before the museum closed, I popped my head into the gem exhibit to see the Hope Diamond.  Pretty neat.  Hope Kayley isnt looking at this blog and getting any ideas.

After some solid museuming, I took a walk around the National Mall and other nearby monuments.  The most obvious monument is the Washington monument.  If you didnt know, this monument has been encased in scaffolding for some time now (I had no idea).  The reason:  an earthquake in 2007 caused some cracking and shifting of the monument.  

Next, I set out to walk around the White House.  Its always fun to observe security. As I was walking by one of the entrances, I saw a sudden increase in the number of uniformed secret service.  I thought maybe there would be some movement like a motorcade leaving or something.  I had seen Marine One (that is, if the president was aboard...anyways it was that helicopter) heading outbound when I was filling up with gas in Annapolis, and it had returned when I was looking for parking.  I sat across the street for 10min or so to wait for something to happen....it never did.  They probably just beefed up security because there was a lot happening around the property.  Just east of the White House was some sort of central american hip-hop concert.  Obviously, on the north entrance, there are tons of protesters.  

As I was walking around the White House, I was amazed by the number of tourists who cannot correctly identify the actual White House.  The white house is flanked by two buildings that contain offices for the vice president among other things.  I guess they bear some similarity in architectural style, but really they look nothing like the White House. I saw lots of tourists asking each other "Is that the White House?  I think thats the White House."  It wasnt the White House.  I even saw one couple posing for pictures with the office building in the background.  The were referring to this as the White House.  As a fellow toursit, it was my duty to step in and inform them that the White House was a visible a little bit further down the sidewalk.  The funny part is that when I made it to the view of the White House from the north, I heard several tourists saying "I dont think that is the White House."  *facepalm*

As I rounded the North Portico of the White House, I walked around the nearby plaza called Laffyette Square.  I wanted to find a statue called Black Aggie.  Read about it further:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Aggie 

Long story short, I had heard of this statue in a couple trashy History channel documentaries on the haunted history of america.  This particular sculpture of a hooded figure sat atop the grave of some dudes wife (in NY i think).  People had supposedly witnessed the statue moving and apparently it crushed some guy to death.  Anyways, the statue became so infamous, it attracted tons of unwanted traffic to the cemetery.  It was donated to the Smithsonian and for some reason sat in the courtyard of a building in Lafyette square.  I had remembered this from way back, and I wanted to check it out on my next trip to DC.  It took me a while to track it down.  It was in a fenced off courtyard in a building housing the US Court of Appeals.  I am not sure if it was gated off because it was past business hours or if the public isnt allowed in that building.  Anyways, I was barely able to snap a picture of the side of the statue.  Not that scary from behind.

I looped back around the front of the White House and took in the sights. 

I wanted to check out George Washington University for dinner.  It is directly West of the Mall, and I had wandered through the area on a previous trip.  Campus has some really nice amenities. The main walkway through campus is very well lit and vibrant.  Restaurants and stores line the street.  They have a Whole Foods grocery store/food court!  They had tons of pretty delicious items for sale, and I was amazed at how cheap some of it was (they had a wall of wines on sale for ~$5).  The lines for the food court were long, and the automated ordering system was too complex for my patience.  I was already sticking out in the crowd of teenagers, so I decided to get my dinner elsewhere.

Ultimately, I settled on a place called Roti.  All the reviews online described it as the Mediterranean version of Chipotle.   Since I am a Chipotle fanatic, I was left with little choice but to check it out.  The descriptions were spot on.  The simple modernistic style of chipotle was replicated in Roti, but with a different menu.  The menu options and ordering scheme were also super reminiscent of chipotle.  That being said, everyone is confused the first time they go through the line at chipotle.  I had no idea what the meal options consisted of.  I asked the hipster bro behind me in line what I should get.  He gave me some pointers, and I ordered something totally different.  I am not sure what I ordered has a proper name, but it had a dollop of humus, some chicken, couscous, veggies, and was served with a giant pita.  Perhaps not as filling as some chipotle burritos, but I am sure with more experience I could find items that have more food.  Regardless, it was very tasty and affordable.  

After my dinner, I stopped in this dive bar on the outskirts of GWU campus for a beer and to work on the blog.  It had a pretty cozy feel inside.  There were a couple students watching NFL games and getting blotto on a Sunday night.  After the seating at the bar cleared out, I sat and BS'd with the bartender and regulars for a few minutes.  In a brief conversation, they brought up Johnny Football a couple of times.  I still think its novel to hear people far away from Texas talk about our team.  Hooray!

After the beer, I headed towards my hotel for the night. I got a crazy stupid deal on the Sheraton Inn in Crystal City through Hotwire...$60. 

On the way to the hotel, I passed by the Washington Memorial again.  I couldnt help but snap a few pics of the construction at night.  

The next morning I went on a quick jog through town.  Crystal City is a small enclave sandwiched between the Pentagon and the airport.  The two main thoroughfares in town are lined with high rise office buildings and hotels.  The jagged skyline of Crystal City is a stark contrast to the surrounding area.

After the jog, I met up with my cousin Laura!  I was very excited because I have not seen Laura in probably 10-15 years.  We met up at a BBQ joint for some lunch.  She brought her little girl with her, and she was so cute (I will try not to post kids names on the blog in order to respect peoples privacy).  Her little girl, who was around 2-3 years old is such a sweetheart.   She was pretty restless and would not stay put in the little booth that Laura and I were sitting in.  She wanted into the aisle and would run around the entire restaurant.  Her mischevious was forgiven due to the mile wide smile she had on her face the entire time.  In a restaurant filled with government types and working people on lunch break, it was comical to see a little girl sneaking behind the waist high walls.  I mentioned to Laura that her daugther's smile made her shenanigans endearing.  She agreed, but made sure I knew that underneath that smile was the potential to have a meltdown.  This has to be true for every kid.  When you dont have to deal with kids all the time, you forget that while they are cute at times, sometimes they can be overwhelimingly difficult as well. 

After Laura and I spent a good deal of time catching up on our lives, I headed back into the city to catch some more museums.  I made the mistaked of taking the DC metro back into town instead of parking on the street.  I may have saved some money, but it was definitely at the expense of time.  It took me 1.5 to two hours round trip to go from Crystal City to the National Mall.  Lesson learned.

Once back in DC, I had to stop by one of my favorite spots: the National Botanical Gardens.  If you havent been there, I suggest you put it on your DC to-do list.  The main facility is divided into different types of habitats.  The first area you walk into is a giant flower lined green area with fountains and pools.  All the while, very relaxing music is playing. 

Probably one of the most popular rooms is the tropical area.  It has a giant vaulted ceiling to accommodate tropical palm trees.  I stream runs through this area and tropical vines and flowers cover the grounds except for the catwalk.  Every few minutes the misters turn on to create a rainstorm that is necessary for the plants health.  

Right next to the tropical area is the orchid room.  This is one of my favorites.  They have so many different varieties in this room.

Right before leaving, I strolled a few of the art exhibits they have near the front of the building.  They have beautiful art and lush plants.  Since it is a weekday, almost nobody is in this part of the building.  The only sound is the very relaxing classical music playing over the loud speakers.  There was a girl reading a book in a plush chair in this wonderful room.  She has the right idea.  This is the perfect place to read a book.

After spending a few minutes strolling though the adjacent outdoor gardens, I headed back to the Smithsonian Natural Science Museum to check out the gem collection one more time.  This time I got a really good look at the gems.  They had some crazy impressive diamonds.  For instance, a necklace that Napoleon gave to one of his wives.  It has 234 diamonds weighing 263 carats; the biggest being over 10 cararts.  Nuts!

After a brief museum excursion, I hopped on the Metro (subway) to head back to my cousin Laura's house. 

I had a great time with Laura and her family that night.  We went to a local Indian food restaurant and ordered a bunch of to-go items.  We headed back to the house and spent a good deal of time enjoying the food.  Their two kids were a joy to play with.  Some kids are very shy, but they were very interactive right from the beginning.  They showed me some of their toys and were enthusiastic about giving me high fives.  After the kids went to bed, Laura, Af and I spent some time sipping a beer and talking about family, future aspirations, and DC. 

The next morning, I got up and sat with the family at the breakfast table.  Laura made a delicious breakfast.  I have to say though, for families with young kids, morning times are particularly hectic. I tried to be as gracious as a guest as possible and give them space to do their thing.  After eating, we all got in our cars and headed our ways....or at least I tried.  I left my damn dome light on the previous night, and my battery was dead.  To add to their hectic departure, I needed a battery jump.  Oops. 

I was on my to NYC!

Laura and Af:  thanks so much for hosting me at your house!  It had been so many years since I had seen Laura and it was my first time to meet Af.  The kids were a delight, and I had such a good time spending time with yall! Thanks again!  (Somehow I forgot to take a damn picture during my visit!! Blast!)