DC Trip

Well . . . we're back from the DC trip. Very happy to be warm and at home in TEXAS.

The Foreign Service just didn't work out for us, but that just means there is something else out there at this time. Trey's not upset but pretty sure he doesn't want to try again. The interview/test was extremely time constrained, very competitive and tough.

We were all pretty sick until Sunday night/Monday morning and it was cold and WINDY, so it may have tainted some of my feelings of our Nation's Capitol. We met some very nice people that but for the most part I found it a quite depressing place. For the source of our power and where our laws are made there is so much expense, opluence, waste, smoking and trash. The real estate is outrageous so every middle class person whose occupation is obviously not law or lobbying lives in Maryland or Virginia and ride the trains in. However, those million dollar townhomes in DC are all owned by politicians and LOBBYISTS. Then there was the night tour we did and looked at all the Federal buildings (our tax money) with NO ONE working in the office (you could not even see a cleaning staff in the windows) but EVERY light was on; what a waste of energy and what light pollution. Everywhere we turned people were smoking. I asked a cab driver about it and she estimated that 80% of the population in DC area smoked. While that didn't surprise me much, since our early heritage was a lot of tobacco farming, I was surprised that so many ignore the things we know today like the health risks & costs and still choose to smoke. Finally, the trash was depressing. Our route from hotel to Metro station was three blocks from our Capitol and right across the street from the Democratic National Headquarters. There is just a lot of trash--empty Coke cans, plastic bags, paper--strewn everywhere. Especially under bridges. In fact the cleanest areas were the places filled with out of town tourists who SOUGHT the trashcans--the Mall, Smithsonians and the BWI airport. The BWI airport was the only place where I could find recycling bins.

For the things I enjoyed: I did find the Smithsonians nice. Especially the Museum of Natural History, where I thought I would be incredibly bored but wasn't. The Monuments at Night tour was nice--especially the Korean Memorial. The bird houses at the National Zoo were beautiful and we especially liked the live flight houses there. The National Botanical Gardens were incredible--probably my favorite thing about DC. The Metro system was great & practical; if Texas was not filled with rock and we could do some type of underground subway system I would be all for it. But we're not. We went to two great food places--at the suggestions of two locals-- and they were great. An Italian place called Filipinos in Georgetown and a Mediterrian place in Woodley Park but I can't remember the name.

Danielle's favorite things were "playing with mommy and daddy" and the "hippo at the Zoo." She also enjoyed the first night at the fancy-schmancy hotel Mandrian Oriental and their indoor pool. I enjoyed the gigantic bathtub that I soaked in after she went to bed that night! Danielle was amazing good on the trip. Especially for visiting a lot of places where she was not allowed to touch anything.

Anyway--now we have a ton of dirty clothes so I'm off to do laundry!