Ben and I went away to Washington DC for a long weekend, thanks to a lovely rate on a Westin hotel room from our friends at Travelzoo. I love Westin hotels. They have the best beds. Westin calls them Heavenly Beds, but whatever. Every hotel tells you their beds are comfortable. Westin
means it. Several years ago, I travelled to Atlanta for a work conference where I got to stay in a Westin. Every spare moment between meetings, I ran back to my hotel room, stripped down, and climbed into my (dare I say it?)
heavenly bed with a copy of Wally Lamb’s SHE’S COME UNDONE. Good times, good times. (And a great book.)
DC’s a fun city with LOTS to do. Here are a few of the highlights from our trip:
> The train. We took the train down, which was great (as evidenced by Ben’s expression below). A relaxing, easy ride that was conducive to writing and revisions. :)
> The International Spy Museum. This was the attraction I was most looking forward to, but it didn’t really live up to my expectations. We went on Saturday and it was overrun with pushy adults and ill-mannered, over- and/or under-stimulated children. Ew. There were lots of neat things in the museum and a fair amount of things to interact with (assuming I was able to elbow my way to the front of the lines), but a lot of it was spy-related memorabilia and trivia. I’d prefer to read it in a book or watch it in a movie than walk through it in a museum, if you know what I mean. We paid extra to do a one hour, completely interactive thing called Operation Spy or some such silliness. That was good fun. You (and the group of tourists you’re glommed together with) assume the identify of a spy working in the fictional country of Khandar and get to run through a scenario based on three real-life spy cases. All in all, it would be worth going on a less crowded day of the week or, perhaps, just for Operation Spy.
> National Museum of Crime and Punishment. This is one of the newest museums in DC and was our favorite. Determined to avoid the tourist-o-rama that was the Spy Museum, we went early Sunday morning. There is a ton of interactive stuff, like this cool, authentic police motorcycle:
And I found the memorabilia and trivia to be much more interesting and relevant. They also have a level all about America’s Most Wanted and one about CSI. I’d highly recommend it.
> The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Being a Smithsonian, the Air and Space Museum is free to visitors. Ben and I agree, however, that they should start charging an entrance fee if it will help them update the museum a bit. Yikes! Half the interactive touch screens were broken and many of the exhibits were outdated. We didn’t stay long, despite the fact that it’s the most visited of all the Smithsonian museums. It was interesting to learn, though, that in the early days of commercial flight you had to meet the following criteria in order to be a stewardess: 135 lbs or less, height between 5’ 2” and 5’ 5”, a well proportioned figure just below “Hollywood” standards, under the age of 26, single (divorced and widowed don’t count), white and, of course, female. Needless to say, I wouldn't qualify based on a number of criteria.
> The Freer and Sackler Art Galleries. These are also part of the Smithsonian collection of museums and we viewed some amazing pieces of ancient Asian art. I also snapped this pic of a bodhisattva, or “enlightened being”, demonstrating The Shocker.
Those crazy ancient Buddhists, they sure knew how to please the ladies!
> The Jim Henson Exhibit at the Smithsonian International Gallery. It was really neat to see some of his original sketches and ideas, as well as some photography of the early days of our beloved Muppets. We also saw Kermit, Rowlf, and several other well known characters. There is no doubt that he was a true genius and I still mourn his loss.
> The double decker bus tour. I heart double decker bus tours. We had a blast driving around in the beautiful weather, seeing all the sights while listening to the fact-and-trivia-filled narration of the pre-recorded bus tour.
I snapped a great picture of the Capitol Building from the roof of the bus, but I couldn't get it off my phone for some reason. I might’ve snapped one of the White House, too, if I hadn’t been so busy giving it the middle finger. I’m pretty sure we were too far away for W. to see me, though. Too bad. I did wonder what the foreign tourists seated behind us thought when I did it. It’s a sad day when I can’t be sure whether such a blatant act of disloyalty would raise or lower my esteem in their eyes.
> The Metro. DC has a great subway system, which Ben and I mastered quickly. Well, except for that time that we got on at Metro Center with the intention of going to Metro Center and rode the train all the way to our hotel stop before realizing what we’d done. But, you know. Other than that.
> Beer. We drank a loooooooooooot of beer. DC appears to favor bottled or canned beer over draft beer. Several of the bars we went to only had one or two (or zero!) beers on tap. In Connecticut, most places have 5 or more, I’d say. We both prefer draft beer and had a heck of a time trying to find a bar that we liked. But fear not! Find one, we did:
Yes, Gordon Biersch was happy to serve us a draft beer larger than Ben’s head. I have another picture, taken shortly after Ben finished The Giant Beer, in which I've captured him attempting (unsuccessfully) to hold up four fingers. But I've decided to spare his dignity and not post it.
All in all, it was a great little getaway.
It was a truly lovely, relaxing vacation. It's a beautiful place to go if you want to just hang around and relax. (Not so much if you're looking for activity of any sort!)
Yep. Gene Simmons from KISS. (And by "with" I mean "on the same plane as." He was in first class with his brand new wife and we were in coach.) Let me tell you, people: This dude is really, really scary looking up close in real life. Avoid the temptations of plastic surgery!! It does not wear well into older age!!!
