Herb Garden

We spent part of Monday shopping for and planting our garden -- cilantro, basil, rosemary, and two kinds of chili peppers for containers on our balcony! In six years of home ownership, I planted mums two different times in a front flower bed. That's it. In six years. But, I'm cautiously optimistic that our lovingly planted herbs will flourish! Wish us luck!

Arlington Cemetery and Mount Vernon Trail

We dusted off our bicycles on Saturday for a beautiful Memorial Day weekend ride. In honor of the holiday, we wanted to go to Arlington Cemetery, as well. We combined the two by taking the Metro to the cemetery and bicycling home on the Mount Vernon Trail.

Arlington staff place small American flags in front of each gravestone for this weekend (and only this weekend according to the guide). It was amazing to see all the flags fluttering along the rows and rows of historic markers. We visted the grave of JFK and saw the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns. We'll have to make a trip back someday, because we arrived too late to tour Arlington House, which has been restored as a monument to its former resident, Robert E. Lee. (Update: We went back on 6/1/08 and toured the house which was under restoration. I took this view of Washington from the front yard.)
Geographically, Arlington is across the Potomac from the Mall, so the views are amazing. The cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial are connected by a bridge, which is what we stood on to watch fireworks last July 4th. We picked up the Mount Vernon Trail at the bridge and rode south the approximately 11 miles home. The entire trail is around 20 miles long and winds all along the Potomac - past the Mall and Monuments, past various marinas, next to the airport, through Old Town, and ends in Alexandria at George Washington's Mount Vernon estate. (Update: Here's a picture of the bridge with the Lincoln Memorial at the end that I took on 6/1/08 on our second trip.)

http://www.nps.gov/archive/gwmp/mvtmap.html

Let Them Eat Cake. . . and Chocolate!

Jason treated me to any early wedding anniversary celebration on Friday night with an incredibly well-planned evening out. He executed his surprises in superb fashion.

All I knew was that he was meeting me at my office after work for dinner downtown. We dined on the enclosed patio at Chef Geoff's Downtown and watched as people arrived across the street for Lewis Black's "Let Them Eat Cake" stand-up show at the Warner Theatre.

After dinner, we left the restaurant in search of dessert (or so I thought), when he pulled out our tickets to the show! The seats were fabulous and Lewis Black was hilarious. I was thrilled to learn that Jason planned this whole surprise over two months ago by ordering the tickets the minute they went on sale!

After dinner, we once again went in search of dessert. My suggestion was for the newly opened Co Co Sala, and well, he'd already planned that out, too! (Strangely, as far as I know I had never mentioned this place to him.) We chose one of their 5-course chocolate dessert tastings, which I coupled with a chocolate martini for good measure!

The whole evening was quite a treat!

Houston, Texas

After many weeks of traveling for work and hosting tourists to our city, we had our own weekend holiday. We traded in the cold and rain of Washington for a quick trip to tropical Houston, Texas! I don't recall having been to Houston before but we kept remarking how it reminded us of Florida - palm trees, heat and humidity, and sulfer-smelling shower water. But, it was a great trip, because we just relaxed!

Highlights:

• Sleeping/resting/lounging and then doing that some more.


• Drinking margaritas and eating guacamole every day.


• Eating at Goode's Texas BBQ which I saw featured a few months ago on the Food Network. Not as good as Oklahoma Joe's, but better than Arthur Bryant's. Next door at their sister restaurant is where I found this armadillo with longhorns!


• Visiting Space Center Houston (aka Johnson Space Center/NASA Mission Control).

Spring Visitors: Vol. 4

I believe this is my last installment of the Spring Visitors series. This weekend would have also been appropriately titled: Planes, Trains and Automobiles. . .and a Water Taxi. Friends Kelli from KC and Danielle from NYC traveled in for a girls weekend.

Here are some highlights from Friday (note: all pictures are credited to Wikipedia, as my camera was on a business trip this weekend):

On Friday, Kelli and I took in two art museums that were new to both of us. We started at the Hirshorn modern art museum. Kelli had an 'alarmingly' upclose look at a giant display of dry cleaner hangers seemingly floating in the middle of the room. We were glad to get a chance to see all of the interesting artistic visions, but enjoyed our next stop more.

Hirshorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

The Phillips Collection is appropriately referred to in my guidebook as a "comfortable museum." It is housed in a former home in Dupont Circle and is very pleasing the the eye and the feet. Duncan Phillips collected what he liked, and the collection includes works from Renoir, Degas, and van Gogh, as well as American Modernists such as Georgia O'Keeffe.

Renoir's Luncheon of the Boating Party from the Phillips Collection

On Saturday, Danielle joined us as we switched our focus to people watching and shopping downtown in the Cleveland Park, Woodley Park, Adams-Morgan and Dupont Circle neighborhoods.

But, the big highlight was our evening trip. We boarded a water taxi in Old Town Alexandria for a 45-minute trip to Georgetown via the Potomac. Along the way we saw the Alexandria waterfront, planes taking off and landing at National Airport, monuments on the Mall, the Kennedy Center and Watergate. I would say we went at sunset, but it was cloudy and looked like it might rain as we embarked. However, it was completely dark by the time the bright lights of Georgetown's harbor welcomed us. It was an awesome view!

We had dinner at Mie N Yu, which according to their website "combines Contemporary American cuisine with flavor from Asia, the Middle East, North Africa and the Mediterranean." The decor and music (and the belly dancer that we noticed earlier in the evening) added to the exotic theme as well.

Spring Visitors: Vol. 3

We had another fun weekend with visitors -- this time our good friends Keith and Desiree from Kansas City. We've missed hanging out with them and were happy to show them our new city!

Friday's highlights were trips to the Spy Museum and Georgetown (and Dunkin' Donuts, if you ask Keith). This picture is on a foot bridge over the C&O Canal in Georgetown.

Saturday included walking around Union Station, the Capitol and the Mall - with quick trips into the Botanical Gardens and the National Gallery.

Later, the guys were in aviation heaven when we drove out to the gigantic Smithsonian Air and Space Museum - Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Dulles. My favorite was seeing the space shuttle Enterprise orbiter. Other unique items were the Enola Gay and an SR-71 Blackbird.

Happy Birthday Rachel!

Today is Rachel's 7th birthday! She got a birthday card and tasty treat in the mail from Grandpa Roger yesterday, so we let her indulge a little early. Here's the sequence of events:

What did I get? What did I get?

It's a pup-sicle! My favorite!

Can't. . .quite. . .get it.

Better just get these last crumbs. Mom hates a mess. Wonder if I get more if I clean my plate? Thanks again Grandpa!!

Popemobile

I caught a quick glimpse of the Popemobile as it left the White House today! In a last minute decision, I walked over there in the few minutes that I had before a lunch meeting.

I was still 2 blocks from the "viewing" area that was recommended when I saw everyone else had their cameras out. I realized the procession had just started, grabbed my camera and turned to look.

You'll need to click on the picture to make it larger in order to see the back of the Pope inside the vehicle. It's obviously hard to see the Popemobile - much less the Pope - in this tiny version.

Istanbul, Turkey

Jason went to Istanbul, Turkey last week. I haven't heard many of the stories yet, but I have downloaded a few pictures of things that I knew from the tour book.

This must have made him feel like he was still in Washington! The Dikilitas was moved from Egypt in approximately 390 A.D. Part of the obelisk was lost in the transition, so it used to stand even taller.

The Blue Mosque gets its name from the blue ceiling tiles in the interior. This mosque is practically brand new - built merely 400 years ago between 1609 and 1616.

Hagia Sophia was built between 532-537 A.D. and served as a cathedral, then a mosque, and now a museum.