it was unbelievable. amazing. incredible.
and really, really, cold.
and if i didn't want to savor every moment of it, i would leave it at that.
but i do, so i won't.
so here we go.
matt and i took a red eye from los angeles on sunday night. we had a [very very brief, due to a delay - think home alone style] layover in cleveland, and neither of us slept. we arrived in dc around 9am to an empty reagan national airport, and headed straight to ben's apartment, where we were staying. we dropped off our bags and immediately trekked over to the rayburn building, where we would pick up our tickets from howard berman's office. we found a long mass of people [surprise, surprise] and found our way to the end of the line, where we waited a little under an hour to get into the building. we met a nice woman in front of us from massachusetts, whose sons go to the same high school that matt's uncle teaches chemistry at. small world.
we made it inside rayburn and easily found our way to rep. berman's office. we figured we would come across a secretary, be handed our tickets, and leave. however, after receiving our tickets [from a woman who informed me that after living in california for a year, i "really should have gotten a california id already." whoops.] we were told that if we wanted to meet mr. berman, he was in his office. really? cool!! we waited while he finished talking to another couple and then headed in. he asked us if we wouldn't mind holding on just another minute ["you know how it is. you've waited so long already, what's another 3 minutes?"] so we took it upon ourselves to take a seat on his couch. oooh, look at us. fancy valley villagers on our congressman's couch. he came back into his office and chatted with us for a few minutes. we found out that he lives within walking distance from our apartments in valley village, and that if we ever have any issue we'd like him to bring up, to please contact his office in van nuys. wow. does our government ACTUALLY work like that? it was really reassuring to see that it does. i had already succumbed to the idea that nobody really cares what i think. glad to see i was wrong. thanks, howie.
half wanting to go pass out and half wanting to make use of this beautiful 30 degree day in DC, we decided on the latter, and took a stroll down the mall, stopping in the botanical gardens, the air and space museum, and the american history museum. i don't quite know how we did it. we were running on no sleep and hot dogs and nasty ass pizza. not the most ideal combination for being a tourist, though i suppose those are what make these trips memorable.
while in the air and space museum, i stopped for a pee break. i came out to find matt sitting on a bench outside the restrooms, talking with a girl. i came over and she just SHUT UP. it was amazing. i have never caught a girl red-handed hitting on my boyfriend and then had the power to stop her in her tracks just by walking up. i couldn't believe it. so good.
i bought sarah palin condoms.
after the history museum [in which steven colbert has indeed managed to hang a portrait of himself] we stopped at an organic food stand and bought a barackwurst [clever. veeeery clever.]. matt and i had the grossest burps until we woke up the next morning.
after the museum fest, we headed toward the washington monument, which was under construction the last time i was in dc [dcs '99, anyone??] so it was exciting to finally be able to get all the way up to it. the only obnoxious part about this monument is that it is impossible to take a photo of the entire thing. this makes for a limited number of photo ops unless you're willing to get creative.
we finally made it to the lincoln memorial [from the capitol to lincoln is 2.7 miles, i have just learned] but there was a line to get up there, and it was getting late, so we decided to leave it for another day. we found a nearby trader joes, got us some dinner and some snacks for the am, and headed back to ben's around 8.
longest. day. ever.
[i shall break this entry up into 3 separate ones to spare your eyes and your attention span.]
untitled (Matt and Barackwurst)
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