Werewolves of DC

For the purposes of this blog entry, I'm going to refer to my husband as The Werewolf or variations thereof.  It's a nickname that's come from twitter and we kind kinda like it. :)

I had never been to DC, but The Werewolf had been several times.  Why were we there?  For a job interview.


For anyone who doesn't know, The Werewolf is looking to change jobs from a small scenic railroad to Amtrak.  There are a lot of reasons why, but I don't need to get into those now.  This is about our trip!

We got on the road an hour late, with me driving the first leg.  We ran into some construction and traffic but made good time and when we stopped for lunch we were on schedule again.  The Werewolf took over driving somewhere on the PA Turnpike and that's when I started snapping pictures.

 

On the PA Turnpike in the mountains. Neat cumulonimbus clouds forming ahead.

 I used to snap pictures all the time on road trips with my sister and picked up my camera again since I was in the passenger seat.  We listened to music, watched the scenery (including an amazing valley that you can see from I-76) and prepped for the interview.

Cruising with eyes on the road and hands on the wheel no matter what silly thing I was up to.

It was sunglasses weather the whole trip, though some of the convective clouds did give us some shade from time to time.

It had been a long time since I'd been on the PA Turnpike and I'd forgotten just how pretty that state is between the cities.  I'm sorry but I've rarely found a PA city pretty.  The mountains, farms and small towns are beautiful, though.

A neat house on a hill and more puffy white clouds.

 We got on I-70 in Breezewood PA.  Finally we crossed into Maryland, a state I had never visited before!  For some reason I got really giddy.  I couldn't stop smiling.  Maybe it was because we were really headed for D.C. then.  Maybe it was because we were going to be seeing friends.  I don't know, but I loved driving though Maryland.

Almost immediately I started seeing signs for the Western Maryland Rail Trail.  Near where we live there's the Towpath trail - it follows the path that the mules walked along while pulling boats up and down the Ohio and Erie Canal.  This was similar in that it was an old rail bed!  I could see it through the trees.

The Werewolf commented that there must be a railroad nearby.  I asked why and he pointed out the telegraph poles running next to the interstate.  There was no railroad anymore, it was the rail trail.

One of the telegraph poles running between the rail trail and I-70. Some of them still had glass bulbs on them and others still had wire!

Another shot of the telegraph poles.

The drive through Maryland was beautiful.  If things work out, I'd love to live there for a while.  The roads were well-kept, too.  We only stopped once for gas and pop on the way home.  I wish I could have seen more.

Then we crossed into Virginia, another state I'd never visited.  As we neared D.C. traffic got worse and worse.  Thankfully our friends had warned us to stay off the Beltway, and the directions I got from Google did just that.  There was a lot of exit-watching so I didn't see Virginia the way I saw Maryland and Pennsylvania but it was prettier than I'd imagined.  Until our friends moved to VA, I'd never had any desire to visit the state.  And, honestly, my political awareness made the idea of visiting Washington D.C. both exciting and kind of disgusting.

But we got to our hotel, peeked in at the pool (that unfortunately had crummy hours), freshened up and headed over to see our friends and their adorable kids.  We were treated to delicious Chinese delivery and caught up on stuff - especially the looming interview.  If we're lucky we usually only get to see Ben, Melissa and their rug rats twice a year.  This year it will hopefully be three or more visits!

It got late, Ben had to go to work protecting and serving the people of Virginia, so we said goodbye and went back to the hotel. The Werewolf and I considered swimming but were just to wiped out from the drive.  Seven hours in the car isn't as easy as it was when I was younger!  I think Werewolf was out before the light was and I wasn't far behind.

The next day we both woke up early.  Much earlier than we needed, actually.  But it worked out because we had a leisurely breakfast, didn't have to rush getting ready and checked out an hour earlier than originally planned.  Werewolf was very nervous about the interview by the time we got in the car and headed to the Metro station.  I was nervous for him and excited about my plans to go to the Smithsonian while he was interviewing.

Having been on two other subway systems before (Toronto's subway and the London Underground), I was curious to see how the DC Metro compared.  What can I say? It's part of my travel nerdiness.  I wish I had taken pictures of the station and the train, but I was pretty wired by the time we got going.  The train was cleaner than both Toronto and London, and better ventilated, too.  Toronto is a better deal than London or DC, and it's worth taking the time to add up the price on the Metro because you might not need an all-day pass when visiting.

I was amused in every station because, presumably to conserve energy, most of the DOWN escalators were turned off and people just used them as stairs.  I kept hearing Mitch Hedberg in my brain saying "An escalator can never break, it can just become stairs." and "Sorry for the convenience."  Anyway, the insides of the Metro stations looked like the insides of the Death Star, but they didn't smell, were clean, and were easy to navigate.

We got to Union Station (another place I wish I'd taken more pictures) and had a quick lunch at some burger joint in the food court. Flamers, I think?  Then we went up to the ground floor so the Werewolf could figure out where he was going for his interview.  I saw the Amtrak ticket counter and just geeked right out.  I think that's when the possibility of the Werewolf going to work for Amtrak really hit me. This time I was excited in stead of scared.

  We had some time to kill and I wanted to do some shopping so I went into a souvenir store called America! (with the exclamation mark).  They had all kinds of neat DC touristy things.  I wanted to buy a dozen things for all my friends and family.  I did find a bike license plate that says AUDREY on it. They had pretty much no other names of people I know. No Laurie, Karen, Nikki, not even Bob!  Since no one could ever find anything with my name on it when I was a kid, I had to get it. I also got some postcards for my collection and an Obama2012 bumper sticker.  You have no idea the restraint I used.

The Werewolf couldn't take the waiting any more so he decided to head to the interview a little early. I wished him luck, gave him a kiss and then headed back to the Metro to go to the Smithsonian.

A very nervous (and slightly blurry) Werewolf right before he left for his interview.

A short Metro ride and train switch later, I walked up the stairs out onto the National Mall. I got my bearings, saw an information stand map of the area and headed to it.  Then I looked left.

The Washington Monument

I wish the Werewolf could have been with me to see my reaction.  I know I had some kind of dopey open-mouthed grin on my face when I first saw the Washington Monument.

It always looks whiter in most pictures but it's a sandy color in person.

I watched a helicopter fly around the monument and the Mall and saw some planes going to land at Dulles.  Then I turned around.

The Capitol Building.

From far away the Capitol Building isn't nearly as impressive as I would have thought.  Or maybe it just stank like the current House "leadership"....

I walked across the National Mall toward one of the zillion Smithsonian buildings.  No one mentions that when you "visit the Smithsonian" it's broken up into different areas of geekery.  Time was limited since we were heading home that night, so I went to the one I wanted to see the most - The National History Museum.

The National History Museum

I freaking loved it.
I'd go back tomorrow if I could.
First of all it's free!  I wasn't sure about the picture policy until I saw other people taking pictures.  In fact, there was only one exhibit I went through where we couldn't take pictures.

The Scarecrow's hat and boots from The Wizard of Oz

I didn't see the Ruby Slippers anywhere, but I don't think I even saw half the museum, so they could have been somewhere else.

The one on the right is a Paul Reed Smith. The one on the left is a Gibson.  They're both specially made jeweled guitars.

I spent a bunch of time wandering into other exhibits looking for the entrance to the First Ladies exhibit.  I could find the exit but not the entrance!

I found this beautifully decorated harpsichord from the 1600s while looking for the First Ladies.

Finally I found it!
I'll admit to being a bad feminist here.  I didn't know much about many of the First Ladies until going through the exhibit.  And I mostly went through it to see what they had of Dolley Madison's as she is my favorite historic First Lady.  They have something from each First Lady but not all are on display.  I don't know that I saw anything belonging to Martha Washington.

Dress from the 1800s

Flapper style from the 1920s

Mrs. Eisenhower's Inaugural Ball gown, shoes and purse.

All the information about the dresses and the First Ladies were below the displays.  I should have taken pictures of those too, so I could remember who belonged to what dress but I didn't want to hold up the line.  I have NO IDEA why I didn't take a picture of Michelle Obama's gown.  It was in a case out in the open so you could walk around it and see it from all angles.  It's so beautiful!

Then I got to Dolley's section!

Two of Dolley Madison's gowns.

For anyone who doesn't know, during the War of 1812, the British invaded Washington DC and burned the White House.  Dolley Madison stayed behind to save things like original documents from the revolution, a portrait of George Washington and other items from the invaders.  Again, I don't know why I didn't take a picture of some of the things she saved which they have on display.

Mary Todd Lincoln's stuff pretty much chased me out of the exhibit.  It was just a purple dress, an evening bodice and a silver tea-set but for some reason it gave me the jibblies.

I still had time to kill, so I went  through about half of the President's exhibit before nature called me to the impressively clean bathrooms.  I did see election buttons from the election of George Washington.  I had no idea they went back that far.  There was also a neat little porcelain tray painted like a change of address card announcing when the Kennedys would be at home at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

I went through one last exhibit while waiting for The Werewolf to meet me after his interview.  It was about a colonial era house that had been relocated to the Smithsonian to save it and tell the stories of the five families that lived in it.  I was so busy reading and looking that I only took one picture.

The wife of the second family that lived in the house was very active in the anti-slavery movement.  A popular movement within the Protestant faiths tried to put women back in the kitchen and keeper family sphere, keeping the public life for men.  This had an unintended side effect because women who took it to heart saw it as their duty to stop slavery, which broke up families.

I'd kept my eye out for anything Ohio-related through my visit and this is what I found.  It surprised and delighted me.

You go, Ohio ladies!

Once the Werewolf arrived we really only had time to do one more exhibit.  He was in a very good mood after a very good interview.

We went and saw The Star Spangled Banner together.  We've both become War of 1812 nerds over the years (visiting Perry's Monument every summer for years might have something to do with it) and it was truly awe-inspiring to see the flag that flew over Ft. McHenry and inspired Francis Scott Key to write his poem.  There were no photos allowed in that exhibit to help preserve what's left of the flag. It's chopped up a bit and threadbare in places but beautiful.

We said, "See you later," to the Smithsonian and walked back to the Metro station.  We got caught in Beltway traffic on the way home since we were just using the Google navigation on my phone.  But it got us to I-70, which is where we needed to go.  It was a pretty but tiring ride home.  The Werewolf drove the whole way which impressed me since he's not a fan of long drives.

We did get some more scenic views before the sun set and I got one last picture from our trip.

The sun setting in the mountains of Pennsylvania

Whether the Werewolf gets hired or not, we'll be back to visit DC.