Washington, DC

On Tuesday, Jack and I met up with Mandy and went to the Galaxy Hut in Arlington. It's a cute little bar with the nicest bartender ever and delicious beer on tap. Shortly after, Mandy and I headed to Dr. Dremo's for their endless draft beer selection and beautiful nightime view of the Capitol Building. Two pitchers and two hours later, we closed the place down and headed over to the Irish pub for last call. 1/4 of the way into our beers we made the adult decision to not drink our beers b/c we were already wasted enough. So it was off to Mandy's after a quick stop for nachos and ice cream at the "Arlington Sniper" 7-11.

I spent a good portion of the next morning walking around Arlington (I found an Apple Store, yay!) and then Mandy and I had amazing sandwiches at Whitlow's on Wilson (mine was a BLT with fried tomatoes, fresh mozz, and pesto...outta this world!) before heading into downtown DC for some museum action. We went to the Natural History Museum and saw some cool trilobytes before heading into the gem and mineral exhibition. AMAZING specimens they have there. I got to see the Hope Diamond, and it's beautiful, but not as grandiose as I was expecting. You know I'm a huge rock geek. From there we went to the National Gallery of Art where I saw a really cool Jackson Pollock (#17- it was a little different in style than his others and I really really liked it.) I also got to see works by Cy Twombly, Ross Bleckner (Birds Falling-really moving and breathtaking), and Jasper Johns before we headed to the Toulouse-Lautrec exhibit. I'm pretty familiar with a lot of his works, but actually knowing the history and names behind the people who appeared in them made a huge difference in my appreciation for them. We then did a quick scoot through the United States Botanic Garden just before it closed, then headed to Teaism to rest our tired feet and sip some refreshing Moroccan Mint iced tea by the Koi pond.

We then met up with Jack for some good old downtown DC barhopping. Our first stop was The Caucus Room, hangout for overly tanned and white-teethed politicians (you'd swear they were news anchors), then we headed to Le Bar (cozy chairs! I had the Cherry Blossom coctail) then on to Off the Record located in the lobby of the Hay-Adams Hotel. Another swanky politician bar, but it is by far the most beautiful bar I've ever laid eyes on and our drinks were served by John Boswell, famous for being the best bartender in DC. By golly I wanted to give him a kiss on the cheek, he was that awesome.

My last night in DC was a quiet evening at Jack's house dining on chicken curry and kumquat souffle pie.

I brought my sick ipod into the Arlington Apple Store yesterday morning and the drive has been officially diagnosed as dead. It is still under warranty, however they will not be able to have a replacement sent to the store before I leave. Fingers crossed that the store in Chicago will have the one I ordered in before Sunday. If not, then I guess my best bet is St. Louis. Looks like my 11-hour drive to Chicago today will get me pretty familiar with local radio, so please pray I don't fall asleep at the wheel from boredom.