I have been recovering after being gone the last few weekends. I cleaned my apartment one weekend. I am trying new recipes using the Engine 2 website. I went to Epcot and completed the Wine & Dine Scavenger Hunt. I also went to the Iowa watch party. I also went back to play tennis one night.
I also hosted a Russian Delegation of young entrepreneurs.
I went home this weekend for the wedding of my college roommate, Casee. Casee and I first met in 5th grade in VAPA. We really became friends later at Oak Street Middle School, then at BHS and SCC, and finally at of the U of I. Casee is one of those friends who I will not see for months, but when we get together, it seems like yesterday we were hanging out. It was an amazing wedding with my other U of I roommates. The rehearsal dinner at Martiniās started the weekend and Taco Johnās ended the weekend.
During the weekend, I was able to enjoy Fall with family and friends in the area. We went to a friendsā house to watch the Iowa game. It was nice to enjoy Fall watching an Iowa game and eating my dadās chili. I also was able to see my two aunts and uncle for lunch on Sunday and Monday. We went to Pizza Hut with my aunt and uncle and then, on Monday, I went with my aunt to the new Hy-Vee on Dodge Street in Iowa City. I hope Burlingtonās Hy-Vee gets re-modeled. It would be the talk of the town. They are really nice.
The wedding party thanked Taco Johnās by tweeting a picture. It brought back memories from the Coralville stripās Taco Johns.
For more pictures, see below. (Pictures include the beach at Melbourne (I had an event the night before I flew home), a trip to SCC, a hike at Geode State Park, a visit to the Mississippi River, and a lizard crawling out of my hood while I was driving to work yesterday.)
Shereta and I went to Epcot tonight to see the band, Smash Mouth. I ate a lot. I have completely fallen off the wagon as I havenāt been to the gym since Chicago!!! ā Well, maybe once. Yikes. I better go tomorrow.
I had sushi in Japan, carrot cake with a lot of icing in the U.S., and a sweet and spicy shrimp dish in Australia.
It feels like I have been backpacking for a month now. I am at the airport waiting for my flight in about an hour. (My hostel roommates last night were from Southern China. Their English was not as good as the Beijing students. The Russian was from St. Petersburg.)
I woke up around 7:30 a.m. and left for Arlington National Cemetery. I saw the eternal flame at JFKās site and I saw the Tomb of the Unknown solider. Then, I walked over to the Lincoln Memorial, the Korean War Memorial, the MLK Jr. Memorial, the FDR Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the WWII Memorial, and the Washington Monument.
I saw the rally to stop addiction. I guess there is a major concert there tonight. Dr. Oz and Sheryl Crow are supposed to be there.
I walked to the metro taking a slight detour to the White House. By this time, I think I had walked over 4 or 5 miles.
I went to the Smithsonian American Art Museum/ Portrait Gallery. I saw a few more impressionists and the Presidential portraits. The portrait is only moved in there once the term is over.
Fortunately, Chinatown was on the way back to my hostel. Chinatown was nothing like Chinatown in San Francisco, but it was still neat. I bought a Washington, D.C. Starbucks mug and walked back to the hostel. I picked up my luggage and made my way to the airport. I was through security before the 2-hour mark.
I should have realized it earlier, but it doesnāt look like the three cameras are time-stamped the same, so some of the pictures are out of order. Oh well. I guess that includes the pictures above as I went to Arlington before the Memorials. Oh well.
I donāt know the last time I was so happy to return to Orlando.
D.C. was fun, but it was cold and rainy and a city. It felt gritty and tough. The subways had carpet in them!
Anyways, I am back in sunny and warm Orlando! If you canāt see the pictures, try using a different browser.
It continues to rain. Also, it is around 50 to 55 degrees which is freezing to me. I had a lot on the schedule today, but at the last moment, I went to look for rain boots. Mike and I didnāt find any cheap ones yesterday. People donāt really wear boots too much in Florida, so I didnāt want to pay $80 at DSW for pair I will not use much.
I went to Wal-Mart. It didnāt have any boots. They told me to go to Ross 2 miles down the road. Ross didnāt have any boots either, so I ended up buying a 6-pack of socks. At this point, I wasnāt in a great part of town, but I survived the adventure. Everyone was extremely nice to me, but they probably knew I was lost.
Around 10:45 a.m., I made it to the Holocaust Museum. I think it is hard to show the massive/overwhelming lost of humanity compared to Dachau or Auschwitz obviously, but the museum was well done. The United States should have opened immigration quotas for that time period and let more people in.
Afterwards, I stopped by the Smithsonian Native American Museum. The museum had a nice place for lunch, but it didnāt have many exhibits. The one on treaties with the Native Americans was interesting. Next, I went to the U.S. Botanic Garden. The rose garden outside is probably nice in the Spring.
I went to the Pentagon to see the 9/11 Memorial. I listened to the audio tour. The benches facing the air means the person was on the airplane. While the benches facing the Pentagon means the person was in the Pentagon on 9/11. There are other meanings too. You can listen to the description if you call 202-741-1004.
Next, I went to Old Town Alexandria. I saw the George Washington Masonic National Memorial as I was getting on the trolley to go down King Street. The 18th century architecture was really cool. I saw Christ Church. The home church of George Washington and Robert E. Lee. FDR visited with Churchill for the national day of prayer after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. I went to the Torpedo Factory Art Center which was actually a torpedo factory. Now, it is an art center of artists working and selling their pieces.
I saw Gadsbyās Tavern which was Alexandriaaās five-star hotel of the 18th century. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson were there as it was the center of political, business, and social life in Alexandria. It was really close to 5 p.m. and that is when the museum closed. Nearby, I went to an Irish pub around the corner, sat by a fire, and ate a crab cake.
I am getting tired. Life in D.C. is much different than in Orlando. I will be happy to be back in Orlando tomorrow night around 7 p.m.!! I think Mike and I were both troopers seeing as much as we did in the rain and cold. It has rained continuously for 5 days.
(I have had some trouble with logging in while I have been here. Jonathan got it figured out today which is why there are three new posts. Fortunately, I have been uploading the pictures each night. It takes about 4 hours as the internet is slow.)
Today (Friday), I went to the Cannon Office Building and went to Representative Mia Loveās office. It is so weird. Once you get through security, you can walk to any office.
A front desk person gave me a tour of the Capitol. I was surprised to see so much art work. Some of it is being refurbished. The Capitol rotunda is where Presidents and other people have lain in state.
I was also able to go inside the House of Representatives. I walked through a tunnel to the Library of Congress. I saw the Gutenberg Bible there and Jeffersonās library.
Around 1 p.m., I met Mike at the National Zoo. It was a horrible day for the zoo. The pandas were not out. The mother and childās exhibit is closed, but I guess there are two other pandas that could have been out. The entire trip has been rainy and cold.
Later, we went looking everywhere for boots. We found this neat sushi, Thai, Chinese place.
Jerry left this morning. I left the Hyatt ($300+ a night ā no breakfast) for a hostel in D.C. ($37 per night including breakfast). I checked into the hostel around 9:30 a.m.
I posted on Facebook the agenda from yesterdayās meeting. Well, Mike responded that he is in D.C. for the week too! I met Mike at the Smithsonian stop this morning at 10:30 a.m. We went to the National Air and Space Museum. We saw a lot including the Mars Rover, Sputnik, the Columbia capsule, the Spirit of St. Louis, the Wright Brothersā Plane, etc. There were many highlights of the day, but I really liked the National Gallery of Art. I actually loved it! There were so many impressionist paintings! Van Gogh, Monet, Manet, Cassatt, etc. etc. I made Mike circle back to look at them once more. I might even go back. The security was so lax I was concerned for the paintings.
Went to a taco place to eat lunch and then, we saw Fordās Theatre and went inside there. We saw where Lincoln was assassinated and the gun that Booth used.
Finally, we went to the National Museum of American History. The Star Spangled Banner was there. It is huge ā probably 1/4th the size of a football field. A lot bigger than I ever imagined. I could see how it could be the inspiration for the national anthem. We also saw the First Ladies Inaugural Ball gowns. There were a few more sections of the museum we didnāt get to that I would like to see including the U.S. involvement in different wars. You could spend hours in these.
I came back to the hostel and went to Safeway nearby for some groceries. I am in a four person dorm ā all girls. Two are from Beijing and other Russia. I met another girl from Brazil. There is a refrigerator in the room. There are some hassles about hostels, but nothing to justify a hotel room in D.C. The hostel is about 2 to 3 blocks from the metro. Oh yeah, the metro. I know so many people who love the D.C. metro. I am not one of them. Beijingās metro is so much nicer, cleaner, and easier to navigate. Rush hour in Beijing is quite a bit busier though.
Tomorrow, I am going to take a tour of the U.S. Capitol. Jerryās friend, who we had lunch with on Tuesday, his wife works for Rep. Mia Love from Utah. So, I am going to her office tomorrow to take a tour at 10:30 a.m. Afterwards, I might go see the pandas, go to the Holocaust Museum, visit Old Alexandria, or to the Botanic Gardens. The cold rain is making miss Orlando, so we will see how much I can see before I leave on Sunday night.
Today, I woke up and had breakfast. I think my face isnāt used to so much salt. It seems really large in the multitude of pictures. Anyways, around 10:45 a.m., Jerry and I headed to the Eisenhower Executive Office Building which is next to the White House. We stopped by a White House tour gift shop. If you purchase $10 worth of items, you can take your picture behind the āOval Office Deskā and Press podium. We did that.
We headed to the White House grounds, showed our licenses, went through some security, and we were in the building. We heard from a variety of representatives talking about the TPP including the Ambassador to Singapore, the EXIM President and others from the DOC, USDA, USTR, Budget, etc.
If you are using Mozilla Firefox, some of the pictures might be missing/broken. Try using Internet Explorer and all the pictures will appear.
Jerry (my boss) and I flew to D.C. today. We are going to the White House tomorrow to discuss the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Today, we had lunch with a friend of Jerryās. Then, we went to Newseum. It is a museum all about News. I liked seeing all the newspapers from specific dates. They have a wall with todayās newspaper from around the country each day. I liked seeing the Berlin War area, the 9/11 area, and the freedom around the world map.
Later, we went to the National Archives where we saw the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. The Declaration of Independence was so worn I could barely see the signature of John Hancock.
For dinner, we went to Elephant & Castle close to the White House. Then, we walked over to the White House before returning to the hotel.
Washington doesnāt seem as overwhelming as I expected. I think Beijing was just so big.