May 28, 2018
dc photo diary [part 2]
Where we left off, the rain caught us hilariously off guard. After our stint at the national mall, we decided to do more touristy things, but with a nerdier twist. When the destination for this trip was still an idea among ideas, I told him that if we were to go to DC, the Smithsonian Air & Space museum was all I wanted out of it. It had been my dream to visit the Stephen F. Udvar-Hazy center. But to be completely transparent, I was dreading it the night before. The two days we’d already spent around the national mall proved to be incredibly stressful. As much as I enjoyed the actual sights, the amount of schools there on field trips was overwhelming. We had children running into us from all angles, pushing anyone in their way and grabbing whatever they wanted, even if someone else was holding it. I know this probably isn’t what you guys would like to hear, but I’m being honest. I think it’s important to be realistic about what vacations are like sometimes. It’s not always as dreamy as it comes off in the pictures accompanied by pretty words. It absolutely broke my heart that I wasn’t able to fully enjoy my time at the museums that I had dreamed of visiting for so long.
Friday morning was another grey and rainy one. This actually gave me hope because the Udvar-Hazy center is out of the way, near Dulles, and I didn't see any busses making the trek up there in the inclement weather. The universe was working in my favor, because the crowd that day was small— all adults and families. Everyone was able to appreciate the museum’s offerings in their own personal space and at their own pace.
It was on this trip that I realized how much I prefer shooting on my DSLR. My iPhone 7+ is great for general photography, but I’m easily distracted with the notifications that come in. I’ll also become overly-concerned with editing and uploading things in real time. Shooting with my camera allows me to stay immersed in the moment. As spoiled as I am with being able to depend on my phone for everything, it was nice being away from it. I got to really be present.
...
The days that followed really focused on the local haunts. Andrew had a list of breweries that he was slowly checking off his list, and we frequented local thrift stores. And did I mention that a really good friend was in town at the same time that we were? It’s as if the stars were finally aligning. We weren’t able to meet up when I was down in Texas this past December, so the fact that our time in DC overlapped was perfect. We met up for an afternoon of pizza, shopping, and experienced the terrifying roller coaster of northeastern traffic.
On our final full day, we decided to take a drive into Virginia where we met up with some friends that live in the area. We took a nice little tour of their town, then headed over to a brewery which was soon to become our (or at least my) favorite place in the world. Stable Craft Brewing has got to be the most beautiful brewery I’ve ever been to.
Our drive home was much like our drive up. I let Karen and Georgia of My Favorite Murder take over most of it, laughing and learning over the hundreds of miles we covered. We stopped in Virginia one last time for lunch with our friends, and then we were on our way.
May 23, 2018
DC photo diary [part 1]
Let me preface this post by saying that we knew it was going to rain before we left. The amount of rain, however, we greatly underestimated. I had to convince Andrew to bring his rain jacket because, "it'll probably rain at least once." I didn't even bring my rain boots or umbrella. (Though I did bring my vintage Dooney All Weather Leather, so there's something to be said for that.)
We decided to spend the first day of our trip in Baltimore. We had tickets to an Orioles game that night and thought we'd spend the morning and afternoon exploring. Charm City was everything it was promised it'd be. We had been recommended seafood at Mo's and it did not disappoint. Andrew had the jumbo lump crab cakes and I had a pound of the best snow crab legs I've ever had.
After lunch, we decided to do a little exploring. We ended up on the inner harbor, where a boatload of boats were harbored (pun fully intended). The day was beginning to really warm up, but the cool breeze kept everything balanced. I was perfectly comfortable in my rolled up long sleeve and jeans.
The sky went pitch black shortly after this and it wasn't yet nighttime. This was the beginning of what was to be a very rainy week. |
The baseball game ended up being rained out and postponed for July, but we stuck around while the storm weakened and to soak up what we could of Camden Yards.
On our second day, we decided to head into the district. I opted for olive green leggings, a matching olive tee, and my favorite Adidas because we knew we’d be doing a lot of walking. I took my rain jacket “just in case” and because “it’s kiiinda drizzling.” I didn’t even switch my glasses for contacts. I’m kicking myself at my unpreparedness as I write this. We knew we didn’t wanna drive, so we opted for the metro. Then… we emerge from underground to find that somewhere along our ride, a torrential downpour had begun. All of a sudden, my leggings and tee are dampened and have adhered to my skin. My rain jacket is doing what it can, but the humidity is making me sweat underneath it. We didn’t think this amount of rain was in the forecast, so I didn’t even bring along my all-weather-leather bag. And arguably worst of all, my glasses are both fogging up from the humidity and being pelted by rain drops constantly. Everything is not okay. I feel icky and I can’t even see anything, but we decide to push forward. I ignore my sticky clothing and wipe my lenses off as often as I need to.
Our attitude about everything that day |
"I’m down for renting bikes if you are.” And with that, we headed over to one of the Capital Bikeshare stations and rented a couple of bikes. I know it was an odd decision in lieu of the weather, but it turned out to be the best thing we did. We sped from monument to monument, got in a good workout, and saw so much more than we could have hoped to see had we been on foot. Even with the rain coming down like it was, I would definitely do it again.
Near the end of our journey (which was about 15-20 miles of biking), I ended up wiping my makeup off because it was melting despite my best efforts and added to my ick. At this point, keeping my glasses dry was impossible and I couldn’t see a thing. I wasn’t comfortable taking my camera or phone out of my bag with the heavy amount of rainfall either, so we decided to call it a day for sightseeing.
Coming up later this week -- I tweak my outfits to accommodate the increasingly wet and cold (!!!) weather and made the rest of the trip one of our favorites yet. Stay tuned for part 2 of our road trip where we explore, eat, and drink.
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