A more perfect union

As Pete looks forward towards our weekend plans (or lack of plans, or confusion over plans, or whatever it is he's doing), I'm going to look back several weeks to the celebration of our anniversary.

Way back on the 10th of September, we celebrated four years of being husband and wife. (*waits for a smattering of applause*)

It's a long-standing tradition (or four-year tradition now) to make an anniversary activity out of the traditional gift for that year. (Does that make sense?) For example, we both agree that the best was the second year, when we bought each other t-shirts at a Bob Dylan concert. (Cotton is the traditional gift for year 2.) This was the fruit and/or flower anniversary.

For a year, we tried to come up with something creative to do, without much success.

Finally, we had the idea of going to the National Arboretum. We figured, it's not exactly flowers, but trees are plants, and that kind of works.

After a thoroughly fantastic lunch at The Diner in Adams Morgan, which might be among the greatest places on earth, we changed our plans. Realizing that we didn't really know how to get to the Arboretum, and that I still wasn't really sure how to pronounce it, Pete suggested we take a detour to the National Zoo instead. I gladly agreed.

Here's a quick background on me and zoos. When I was a very small child, we lived near the zoo in Birmingham. Close enough that we could hear the lions roaring and the sea lions barking (which made for some interesting dinner parties). The peacocks would sometimes leave the zoo and hang out on our street, which was not so fun when they built nests and screamed, but was very cool when one decided he'd rather become the neighborhood pet than stay at the zoo. (His name was Henry. He ate cat food. Yes, really.) We didn't really live near a park, but because the zoo was so close and my parents had a membership, we went all the time. Probably once a week, at least in the summer. I'd been to the National Zoo once, when we came to Washington on a family trip when I was about 11. I loved it then and had been dying to go back ever since we moved.

Something you may not know about the National Zoo: it's part of the Smithsonian, which means it's completely free! It's also not a bad walk from our apartment, so we've been back several more times since this first trip. I'm only going to post pictures from the anniversary outing, as that's my subject for the day, but I'm sure there will be many more zoo stories in our future.

Without further ado, here are a few shots from our day:

My sandwich at The Diner. Plymouth Rock grilled cheese-- roast turkey, swiss, and cranberry sauce. Mmmmm.

Pete's lunch. Barbecue chicken sandwich and sweet potato fries.

One of the Giant Pandas! We got there right at nap time, it seems.

In the bird house. This bird had some cool feathers!

We stalked one of the peacocks, who seemed to enjoy posing.

Me with one of the elephants. No, he doesn't live in that cage-- this is inside the elephant house, and he was eating. They're in the process of building a huge new elephant habitat, so their space is a little limited just at the moment, but they do have a nice big outdoor area as well.

We took the obligatory self-portrait before heading home. See, there are flowers in the background! The way we see it, that's good enough. Plus, there's not a panda anniversary.

Be brainy; don't B negative

What is our flavor of undead? This Saturday there are two events. On one end of town is the Vampire party, but on the other there’s a Zombie Walk!…or is that shuffle?...lurch?...dance? Anyway, we now face the peril of choosing our undead fates.


Before we found out the party was vampire themed, we’d planned on going as Clue characters—ala Tim “Antici…pation” Curry—but the idea was nixed as sadly, Miss Scarlet, in the Billiard Room, with the fangs is not and official part of Clue canon. *hinty hint hint, Hasbro!* So, there we were, idea-less and uninspired. I know I’m not the only one who thinks vampirism is a little too attached to the jugular of pop culture. That aside, if we could find something to dress as, it could be fun.


Around the same time, we found out about the Silver Springs Zombie Walk. We’re no strangers to this, as Macon had its own little homage to choreographically inclined brain connoisseurs. However, this one features the best zombie comedy of all time at its fantastic conclusion. We love our Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.

We stand at a precipice, having to choose between an eternal hunger for blood or brains/flesh. Either way, this should be a lot of fun.

Elsewhere this weekend, Boo at the Zoo!

The Enchanted Museum

We all know that one place that all our friends want to go see when they come visit. You've been there an untold number of times, and frankly, the shiny has worn off. You could recite the salient features and trivia in your sleep. You'd rather be strapped to a chair and forced to watch Manos: Hands of Fate on repeat for a day than go back. Under normal circumstances, your very same visiting friends would do the same thing to avoid an extended inspection of the topic, and yet... like a dark, unseen foe, it sneaks into their heads and lies in wait. It waits, ever so patiently, for the one question--"What do you want to do while you're here?"--and then it strikes. Black tentacles shoot forth, wrenching control of the vocal cords and jaws from they're owner's sane minds. Unable to control themselves, these unwitting victims utter the same sentence as so many before them. "Let's go to the Air and Space Museum."

The transformation is complete. Sane no longer, these zombies must submit to the necromantic summons and complete their ebon pilgrimage to the aeronautic ziggurat. Only then will the enchanted museum relinquish its control, but for how long?

Now the museum broods. Its obsidian mask frozen in dark contemplation. It waits. It waits for its next tragic victim to feel its icy compulsion, and to welcome them all to its splintery, steely maw.

_____

If you ever come see us, we don't want to go to the Air and Space Museum. Its fun for tourists; but only ONCE. We're done there. It was fun, but note the "was." If you want to go, we'll be glad to show you the way. We understand. The place has an enchantment. If you want to go someplace with us in tow, please consider the Museum of Natural History or the Zoo. Those are just plain fun.

In the Beginning

Yes, we're both aware that we've already been here for about 2 months.

Several weeks ago now, we went for a late-night exploration to the Lincoln Memorial. (Did you know it's open 24 hours? Neither did we! I was sitting on the couch reading a tourist magazine around 10 p.m. one night and saw that there was a park ranger on duty until midnight. Thinking that was odd, I investigated a bit, and discovered that the place never closes! We jumped up and went right then, figuring that was the first time in our lives that we wouldn't have to catch a plane to go to the Lincoln Memorial. Anyway.) We had so much fun wandering around at a National Park in the middle of the night that we thought we should share the story.

Neither Pete nor I did a study abroad program in college, but several of our friends did. A few of those friends started email lists or blogs to share what they called the "photo of the week." It is in that spirit that this blog came to be. We have no formal plans about how many pictures we'll share per week (or per time that we get around to writing), or if this will become mostly a forum for sharing stories of our wacky antics. Likely, it will be both. (Other pictures will be posted on Facebook, or if necessary maybe we'll start up a flickr account or something. Details to come, once we figure them out.)

So much of Washington is worthy of being explored, and Pete and I are so excited to have a whole year to see it. We're trying to do one touristy-type thing per week, which is really quite easy since so many of the great things to do are free! We're both big fans of getting to know our community, wherever it may be, and it's great to have such a fun place to do that. I think you should do the same in your own town, but that's only my opinion :).

I'll leave you now with a few shots from our first adventure.

Pete waiting to catch the train

Lincoln Memorial. This photo doesn't come close to showing how gorgeous it is at night. Seriously, if you ever get the chance, go.

Reflecting pool and Washington Monument. Again, I don't think there's a camera good enough to show how pretty this is.

On the way back to the train, we ended up going through the World War II Memorial, which is breathtakingly amazing. Up close, it kind of reminds me of the cathedral ruins I walked through in England.

Photographically, I think this is my favorite. Clearly, this is the Washington Monument. It's also our last photo of the night.

That's all for now, people. 'Til next time!

~Kate