Let's start with Saturday.
Up late and off to the Metro to get to "the Mall". It didn't take me long to realize "the Mall" isn't a mall at all. But the general area where all the "cool" DC stuff is. I still can't get over how sterile it all looks. Uber clean and almost fake feeling.
The Mother Unit and SLSIL wanted to walk through a *yawn* art museum. Okay it was the National Gallery of Art which houses some amazing masterpieces, but still. Not my style. Not when I can walk around outside and take photos of some very sterile looking buildings that have been here for a long long time. Besides, my pal JC and his wife were in town and I wanted to spend some quality time with them.
I met up with them and we proceeded to walk our way up to the White House. According to the theory that I was told about in London with regards to the flag flying means the Queen is in residence, the US flag was flying so Mr. President must have been in residence. That and the two Marine One's flew over a couple of times maybe bringing or taking the President away.
From there we walked and walked and walked through George Washington University. JC and his wife are both alums and so they had fun taking a walk down memory lane.
We left from there and walked the Mall from the Lincoln Memorial at one end of the Mall, to the WWII memorial and the Washington Monument at the other end. Then back to George Washington University to get to the car. Phew! What a day. I was exhausted, and I still had to summon enough energy to be perky and happy and successful like at the class reunion that night.
The reunion turned out to be a lot fun then I thought it would be. A few classmates don't seem to have changed much. Some changed so much I didn't even recognize them. One gal in particular, I didn't really like in high school, nor did she like me (I wasn't in the "IN" crowd). She came up to me and greeted meas if I was a life time friend. I had no clue who she was. I asked JC, and he had no idea. It wasn't until later someone told us and we were both stunned. Completely different looking. Probably the most physically, and in a good way, changed.
My LEAST favorite boy was there - a young man who in high school I literally hated. He was a jack*ss with a capital J. I didn't know he was going to be at the reunion and I took great pleasure
in finding out he's really not amounted to much in life. (insert evil laugh here). Evil XBF was there of course, oh goody. And my three roommates from my Junior year in school - Susie, Vicky and Patricia. It was great to see them again and to get caught up on most things. Interestingly enough, I don't feel I have anything in common with these folks outside of being in the same graduation class. I came to see JC and get caught up with him, and I did. So check mark in the 20 Year Reunion Over box.All in all I'm glad I went. People do seemed to have grown up. Every single person asked me if I was still working for Geeksoft. I tried to explain my company and my job, but I got mostly blank stares. We have people who are doing almost nothing and loving every minute of it, to a anchor woman for the NBC channel in Miami (my former roommate Patricia). We had several guys who were VPs now and several women who are stay home moms. Two classmates have died since graduation, one in a car accident and one in Iraq. So we had a toast for them. Below is a photo of everyone who came.
Today the MomUnit, SLSIL and I took off to Alexandria. Alexandria is an old, very old, colonial town. We took a water cruise up the Potomac river to Georgetown and back down to Alexandria. It was nice, but not overly exciting. I got sunburned, so at least I look like I've been somewhere tropical.
We walked up and down Alexandria streets, pointing and exclaiming at the beauty and the "oldness" of it all. Charming little town that has definitely embraced it's heritage. We started the walking tour that took us past all sorts of old historic houses and buildings including George Washington's town house ( see photo of the hose to the left) and his pub. We tried to have a drink in the pub, but the current pub owner was an ass and snapped at us that they weren't open yet. I'm sure George would not approve of such behavior.
Back on the walking tour trail, we realized we were thirsty and a bit hungry, so we ended our tour early at a Tapas bar. What? Surely the colonial folks had tapas too.Now full of tapas, beer and some water to rehydrate, we walked, barely, back to the King Street Metro station. We got back to the hotel and crashed...oh well, not before SLSIL and I walked past Starbucks on our way from the metro station, we needed a pick me up.
Tomorrow we're off to Arlington Cemetery. I've been having camera issues and have been quite disappointed with how some things have turned out, or not turned out is better stated. I'm hoping those issues are now past and I can get some excellent shots in Arlington. Of course, now I have to go back to the Mall and retake a few photos which I'll likely do Tuesday morning before my flight.
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