Although we left the state of CT over a week ago, for the past week we were in a magical limbo in the gravitational pull of the Mid-Atlantic metro areas. We spent a whirlwind week in Washington DC and Baltimore visiting friends, hanging out in a library and coffee shops, and walking around the downtown areas. Catching up from the last post, we had a lovely evening with Leah and Rob in Baltimore hearing all about the charms of their adopted city and indulging in a bit of Chapel Hill nostalgia. The next day we headed back down to Washington, DC and with seconds to spare met up with Laura, my friend from Carleton. We picked up Nicole, selected the makings for a picnic, and headed to Wolf Trap to see The Sound of Music. I love that there's a National Park of the Performing Arts, and I also love that it was a perfect evening of beautiful weather, good food, wonderful company and a great performance. It's been a looong time since I've seen the Sound of Music and, though I couldn't sing along with as many songs as Laura, it was great fun.
On Friday, after a lovely morning walk with them and their adorable little dog we headed downtown to do the museums. Really, one museum: the National Museum of the American Indian, the newest museum in the area, which was being built during my time in Bethesda many years ago. It was a great museum, stimulating (lots to see, read, think about), lovely and informative and, surprisingly, has a great cafe. We skipped that, though, in favor of a wonderful lunch with Teague in Chinatown. We then hung out in the National Building Museum before catching up with one of Becky's friends from years ago. Mikeala and Becky met at a music festival years ago and through the beauty of facebook they arranged to meet for a drink while we were in DC. We (Becky, Mikeala, Chris and I) met up at Teaism in Dupont to satisfy my craving for the salty oat cookie and a good iced tea, and then extended the visit at a nearby happy hour. We went straight from that to an evening with our friend Catherine and a group of amazing women that came to help her settle into DC. Catherine has been our dear friend and frequent dinner companion in New Haven, and has gotten a job in the DC area. When we found out we were going to overlap for a few hours in the same city we immediately made plans to meet up, and we had an amazing dinner (thanks, Ren!) and fun night out on the town in Adams Morgan.
The next morning we grabbed coffee, picked up my friend Nora, and then drove up to Baltimore. Yes, it was odd to willingly choose to drive on I-95 NORTH, but well worth the backtracking. It also should be said that Nora was a brave woman to take a ride in our car, given that it was a tricky balancing act to make a clear seat for her in the car. But we made it there without incident and then got to surprise Annie, Nora's and my mutual friend from Carleton. Two wonderful grad school friends of Annie's had planned a pre-wedding weekend of celebration for Annie, and after surprising her outside her favorite museum we had a lovely picnic and then a long water taxi rid to a great little houseboat. The evening was epic and delightful.
The alarm came more quickly than we had wanted, but we got up and said our (sad) goodbyes. We had an amusing search for a cafe that was immortalized in our memories of a previous wedding-related weekend in Baltimore over a year ago, but with the Droid's help we found it and grabbed some delicious coffee and breakfast. Thus fueled we headed west! Finally! Up into the hills of western Maryland and then West Virginia, with steep grades, beautiful views, and trees trees trees. It was a far cry from the metro area in so many ways; at one point we were trying to track down a Border's bookstore (we had a gift card and needed a Yellowstone map) and went to a mall listed on the atlas' map. It was a mall in the loosest sense of the word, filled with empty hallways, a few sad patrons, listless nail salon employees, and a general sense of despondency. We used the restroom (clean, thankfully) and then left, counting our lucky stars! About four hours later we finally arrived in Colombus, OH to the welcoming arms of Lisa and Nick. Becky and Lisa go way back to crazy-wonderful days at Mt Holyoke so we took the evening to admire their lovely house and catch up on recent history.
The next morning we headed out to explore Columbus, which is actually a lovely little city. We perused Grand View Mercantile ReVue, which is an amazing furniture consignment store with some great finds. It's a convenient thing that we aren't driving a Uhaul across the country, because there are some pieces or rugs that might have made their way west with us! If you're ever in Colombus, though, check it out. Also, you should go to the most amazing ice cream store I think I've ever been to. That's saying something; I do love ice cream! Salty caramel enchanted Becky, and I was really impressed with the Backyard Mint and Pear/Riesling sorbet. Not to mention the dark chocolate. And those were the relatively tame flavors! I had to leave a few more flavors for tasting during the next visit. Delicious. Once recovered from lunch and ice cream, we stopped by the lovely Columbus rose garden which was still in bloom. After picking up dinner ingredients in a remarkably big strip mall we headed home. Becky and Lisa pulled together a wonderful dinner of asparagus, crunchy garlic (ask Becky - I think she sprinkles magic in there), and a salad of spinach, pear, goat cheese, pecans and red onion. Now we're enjoying some wine and football - it's been a good Labor Day.
Tomorrow we head to Indianapolis to see Becky's family, which will be delightful. Tomorrow is also the day that our boxes get delivered to our apartment in Seattle! A wonderful friend has agreed to open the door for the movers, and that will complete the part of the move that we have been cheering and managing from afar. It will feel good to have our things at our new home, and it will give us some mental space to focus on the second half of our trip, which requires a bit more planning than will the first bit.
We've been a bit overloaded with the traveling and slow about posting, but hopefully posts will become a bit more frequent this week. No promises, though!
