Livin' la vida D.C.

Andrew came to D.C. this weekend, which means Sam morphed into a crazy tourist again. I made a fun-filled agenda for the weekend, going so far as to print out the agenda and hand it to Andrew upon greeting him at the airport.

We took the Metro to our hotel to drop off our luggage – my cute Vera Bradley and Andrew’s ridiculously large rolling duffel bag, carrying four pairs of jeans for his three-day weekend in D.C. We walked into Georgetown and had dinner at a trendy pizza place, where we ate at the bar and totally looked like locals.

When we left the restaurant, Andrew quickly spotted D.C. Cupcakes and decided we had to go. I had not foreseen this, and I struggled to accept such a drastic change in our agenda, but Andrew convinced me. I also had never seen such a short line at D.C. Cupcakes before, so I figured I should take the opportunity. I became even more convinced when the guy at the counter gave us two extra cupcakes for free.

We then hailed a cab and headed to the World War II Memorial, where we nearly froze to death. From there, we walked to the Lincoln Memorial, then the other memorials nearby, including Martin Luther King.

We walked home from there, which felt longer than I had expected, probably due to the 30-degree weather. We decided that for the rest of the weekend, we would splurge on a cab instead of huffing it.

Saturday morning we headed to Arlington, where I assumed we would see the basics and then scoot. Andrew, however, acquired a map at the Visitor’s Center and thwarted my plan. He instead wanted to mosey about and see things like the Battle of the Bulge Memorial.

Next we did the Pentagon Memorial and then a quick lunch at Union Station. We toured the Capitol and then took pictures at the White House. We had dinner at Old Ebbitt Grill, and after that, we stopped at the Boy Scouts Memorial nearby, where I read from my agenda some history and facts about it that I had found online. (Go ahead. Tell me how impressed you are.)

(Also, please note that Andrew is an Eagle Scout. That is the reason for our trip to the Boy Scout Memorial.)

We then had some time before our 7:30 show – a political satire/ musical – but we headed there early so we could have some time to relax. And good thing we did because it took forever to go through the security line and then to find the actual amphitheatre in the large building. You’d think an amphitheatre would be easy to find, but it’s not.

By the time we found the theater, it was 7:30 and Andrew and I both needed a quick restroom stop. He ran toward the Men’s, and I toward the Ladies’, only to find that the Ladies was closed for cleaning. Flabbergasted at the inconvenience of this, I instantly darted into the Men’s. It was the only way.

We spent Sunday with my Virginia relatives. They picked us up for Mass at the Basilica of the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, and then we toured the FBI training center in Virginia. For dinner they took us to Macaroni Grill, where I ordered a pizza and took the rest in a to-go box.

On the box, I wrote, “SAM’S PIZZA. DO NOT EAT.”

(These community refrigerators at my place are dangerous.)

My little cousin then elaborated my threat: “SAM’S PIZZA. DO NOT EAT … or death,” the latter part of which was clearly written in a young boy’s messy handwriting, giving it a nice creepy flair.

Andrew then finished it off: “SAM’S PIZZA. DO NOT EAT … or death … will find you.”

(Thanks to my sweet cousin and boyfriend, my pizza survived the community refrigerator and was waiting for me Monday night. I feasted on it while watching The Bachelor.)

As the weekend came to a close, I asked Andrew what his favorite part of the weekend was.

Andrew: I really liked the cupcakes … and the Capitol.

I question whether Andrew really liked the cupcake experience or just the fact that we got free cupcakes.