The final DC trip in my every-two-weeks DC trip routine that I had maintained for almost three and a half years happened on May 8. On that final trip, it was highly appropriate that I tied up the final loose end in my DC trips. That was that I finally took my friend Katie Shapiro to Washington with me. You may recall that we were originally going to go on February 2, 2005, but I had an unexpected issue and had to cancel at literally the last minute. Now, we finally pulled it off.
You may be wondering why it took me this long to do this little exposé about this trip. After all, it’s May 31 now, and this trip occurred on the 8th. The reason is because two days later, I signed the lease to my Silver Spring apartment, and finally moved out of my parents’ house. So there was a bit of a disruption in my Internet service and my whole media collection, since all my stuff lives on my real computer rather than on the Lappy.
So let me take you back a little bit. I was in the last week of my “extended vacation”, and Katie and I planned to go to Washington right before I moved.
It was a fun trip, too. Since I’d gotten fired from Wal-Mart, every DC trip was related to either getting a job or getting an apartment. This trip would be different. This was a classic DC trip.
I did get to have a little fun with Katie right off the bat, though. We occasionally poke some good-natured fun at each other, and I had fun with her outfit. One of the big employers in Stuarts Draft is McKee Foods, which makes Little Debbie cakes. They have a strict dress code – khaki pants and white shirt. Katie, without realizing it, was wearing Little Debbie’s uniform. I asked her, “So how was Little Debbie today?” She was like, “Eh?” until I explained that she was wearing their uniform.
The trip up was good. We made all the usual stops – Mt. Jackson and Manassas. We got to Vienna. At Vienna, they were rehabbing the escalators. In the fenced-off area, it was surprising to find this:
Yeah, it’s Patrick Star from Spongebob. Sitting on the bus transfer machine. Go fig.
Later, at Rosslyn, we encountered this:
This would be a bomb-containment trash can, unattended with its lid up. I found it pertinent because it was brought up in the May 4 LunchTalk Chat with John Catoe, where he said he would pass the information on. Of course, the lid is there to further contain a potential explosion. The lid left up somewhat compromises this…
After Rosslyn, we went into DC. We went past the White House…
As it happened, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom was visiting Washington, and so Pennsylvania Avenue was done up with the British flag as well as the US flag, as well as the flag of Washington DC on all the lampposts.
After the White House, we caught the Red Line at Metro Center and rode over to Union Station. We didn’t spend long there, and soon took a walk past the Capitol. But first, Katie stopped for a pose in Columbus Circle.
Arriving at the Capitol, I immediately commented that they did a really good job getting the graffiti up from the protest in January. You couldn’t tell that it ever existed. Katie also got to experience the phenomenon known as “school groups”.
Of course, many school groups can be distinguished by matching clothing and/or ID badges, and the fact that when you put all these children in a space together, they all share one brain amongst the lot of them.
After leaving the Capitol, we reboarded the Metro at Federal Center SW. This was an opportune time for a pit stop, so we got off the train at L’Enfant Plaza and went up to La Promenade, which is a little shopping mall just off the Metro station. We got soft ice cream. That really hit the spot, considering it was a warm day.
Following this, we rode up to the Infoshop, and Katie got to see the place. Then we rode into Pentagon City, and went to dinner at Champps. There, we got into a conversation with the couple at the table next to us. They were moving out of the DC area, and we discussed about how I was moving in. Nice people.
After Champps, we got back on the Metro. And I got to interview Katie for the camera.
Here, Katie and I discuss what we did all day. Note, however, that we got interrupted by the English version of the Transit Police announcement. Basically, you see something up, call Transit.
On this second video aboard Rohr 1257, we discuss knowing the difference between your Rohrs and your Bredas. To the casual rider, as Katie demonstrates, the difference isn’t noticeable. Of course, to the serious rider, i.e. me, we immediately can spot a Rohr from a Breda from a different kind of Breda.
At Rosslyn, we transferred to an Orange Line train to Vienna, but not before first getting a memento of our trip.
Katie smiles for the camera at Rosslyn.
By the way, the Orange Line train we got here is my last Orange Line train to date. Since moving to the DC area, I haven’t touched the Orange Line at all. I’ve been on Green, Blue, and Yellow, but I’ve not touched Orange.
And then from Vienna, it back to Waynesboro, where I dropped Katie back off at her house. Then for me, from there I returned to Stuarts Draft.
All in all, it was a fun trip!