Weekend!

Well it has been an interesting two days because I’ve had the chance to explore A LOT more of this town.

On Friday, I got out of work early because of the Memorial Day holiday so that gave me the time to finally get groceries! So far, I have been eating at Chili’s for dinner every night, but that has gotten old pretty quick (seriously, take a look at that menu. Can anyone find anything healthy to eat?) Anyway, so I walked about two miles to the nearest Harris Teeter (in Pentagon City) to do my shopping. I proceeded to buy about 50 pounds worth of groceries and needless to say I was horrified at the thought of carrying them the 2 miles back to my apartment. So, off to the metro I went. However, finding the metro in that area proved to be a lot trickier with a 50 pound load, however people on the streets seemed to be more than willing to point me in the right direction…maybe it was because I looked so haggard and out of breath. Anywho, I finally made it to the metro with my bounty and toted it all the way home. My conclusion: shop with one reusable bag to prevent such a thing from happening, again.

Today was a really nice day. It started out fairly lazy, but by 1:00 I felt the urge to sight see. So, I decided to head to the Mall and check out the Smithsonian Museums. Well, its Memorial Day weekend so you can just imagine how many people had the same idea. After walking through 1/5 of the Museum of Natural History, I decided to spend the time walking around outside instead.So, I made my way over to the Washington Monument, the WWII Memorial, the Reflecting Pool and the Lincoln Memorial (Pictures at the bottom, as well as a picture of the Rolling Thunder). I’d have to say that it was probably the most amazing sightseeing I have ever done. The structures were much more than I had ever imagined they could be.Pictures just cannot describe how massive and impressive they are. I have never felt more like an American, it was just amazing. My favorite, by far was the Lincoln Memorial. I’ve read a bit about Lincoln and I have a soft spot in my heart for him, so seeing that just made me tear up. I’ll definitely be spending some more time in that area, hopefully sans the tourists.

After my touristy jaunt, I walked over to the area where I work to check out some of the restaurants there. I was really craving some chips and salsa, so I read the menus until I found a place that quenched my thirst. I ended up at this cigar bar/restaurant which provided me with my chips+salsa, some good beer and some good conversation with a guy who works at the National Archives. Although I smell like a cigar, it was a pretty good place that I might go to after work some day. The only disappointing thing about today is that I still haven’t gotten my first movie from Netflix, and because of the holiday it won’t get here until Tuesday. Sigh.

Plans for tomorrow: Put on some better walking shoes and head back to the Smithsonian once it opens. After that…who knows!