PLAYING TOURIST: WASHINGTON DC

We're in Virginia this week for work. Well rather, Alan's here for work and I tagged along since my best friend lives here. Since I already work remotely from my team, it's not a huge stretch to work remotely from across the country. My boss is currently in India, so the three hours I gain over the west coast actually helps since I can respond to his messages quicker than I would at home. My company also has an office here so I'll be going in there later this week to record some videos.

The absolute best part about this trip, however, is that our hotel is literally next door to my friend's condo. I'm not exaggerating when I say it's less than a 30 second walk from the front of our building to the front of hers. We spent Saturday night in the hotel restaurant and hanging out at their place, and then yesterday we played tourist in the nation's capital. I'd been here before, but it has been at least ten years since that visit. I remember walking around DC with Alan, my feet screaming at me because I was an idiot for wearing heeled boots (way back when I only wore heels - every. single. day). I remember the Library of Congress, and I remember standing in front of the FBI building nearly in tears because my feet hurt so bad. I don't really remember any of the monuments, although I imagine we saw them.

We started out parked along the tidal basin, across from the Jefferson Memorial, and made our way around to several others: George Mason, FDR, Korean War, Lincoln, Vietnam, WWII, the White House, Washington ... and a few others I'm sure I've forgotten. While walking along the JFK hockey fields we saw Marine One and its decoys fly directly overhead. We thought it was Biden, but learned later that night it was the Obamas returning from their trip to Hawaii. All told, we walked six miles. Since it's all flat, it wasn't too hard, but somewhere along mile five, my rickety old knees decided to wreak havoc on me. The last mile I was limping around with a hyperextended right knee. As it got worse, my bursitis decided to kick in so I had a bum knee and hip. To hear me describe it, you'd think I was an 80 year old grandma. Alas, I am not. I just have the body of one. (You should have heard my doctor trying not to laugh when he diagnosed me with bursitis and said that most cases are in the elderly.)

It was a great day, and the weather was lovely. We didn't even need our jackets. BFF and her husband report that this was the best weather they'd had on this particular walk (they do it every year), so I like to think we're good luck charms.

While my heart is with the Pacific Northwest, there's something about DC that I really love. It's not necessarily a beautiful city (some of those government buildings look like communist-ear apartment buildings), but it feels so vital and alive. They say NYC is the city that never sleeps, but I have the feeling that's very much true of DC too. There's an energy here, and undercurrent of being the center of the world, but maybe that's just the political junkie in me talking.