Paul's 36 Hours in Washington, DC

When Paul found out that one of his good friends from Columbus would be in Washington, DC, for a soccer game, it didn't take him long to decide to meet him there. After all, DC is a lot easier to get to than Ohio. Instead of driving, Paul took Megabus, a discount bus service that runs between several cities in the Northeast and elsewhere. All in all, it was a whirlwind trip -- he left Saturday morning and was back at our Brooklyn apartment in time for supper Sunday night. Here's Paul's account of his weekend.

My friend Ryan is in a Columbus Crew backer club that gets together at a bar to watch home games and travels to various cities to watch away games. I met him in Washington, DC, for a game between the Crew and DC United.

The game was at 7 p.m., so I had plenty of time to get there that Saturday. Spending the four hour trip sleeping or reading sounded a lot more pleasant than driving, so for about $30 I got a round-trip Megabus ticket.

The bus left right on time from Midtown on the far west side of Manhattan, and the seats were surprisingly comfortable. As a bonus, I was able to get all my fantasy baseball draft research done during the trip.

I arrived at the hotel -- in a Virginia suburb of DC -- just about the same time as Ryan and the Crew backer club. We soon left for the stadium.

I've always liked watching soccer, but I've never really followed it and probably never will. Living in Columbus, I'd always go to a game or two a year. Part of the charm was that it was a laid-back scene. There was a decent crowd, but it was mostly families and kids and it really felt like no one took it too seriously. It seems that the MLS now has real fans to rival any other sport, if the level of douchery at the game is any indication.

After the game we headed to some local bars, and it was confirmed for me that DC has just as many hipsters as Williamsburg and Park Slope.  If anything, they're more dedicated to the hipster ironic lifestyle if the vintage clothing and fedoras were any indication.

The next morning we drove around and did some sightseeing. My friends dropped me off at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, where I was able to view Rick Flair's actual wrestling robe (WHOOOO!!!!).

The return bus ride was a little longer than the trip to DC, owing to some bad traffic.Still, it was much more relaxing than a drive, and there were no intrusive pat downs or security lines to deal with. I will definitely take Megabus again if I need to go somewhere in the Northeast.

Read Paul's blog, Presidents by the Book.

Washington, D.C.: More Questions Than Answers

Our visit to Washington, D.C., left us with a lot of unanswered questions. For example:

Do I have what it takes to become an old-timey airline stewardess?
(At the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum)

Does Paul have a stronger grip than Abraham Lincoln?
(At the Smithsonian National Museum of American History)

Could Paul become the first beer-brewing banker astronaut?
(At the Smithsonian National Air & Space Museum)

When's our next trip home?
(At the National World War II Memorial)

The 8-Mile Washington, D.C., Tour

Eight miles.

That's the distance Paul and I walked Saturday in Washington, monument to monument to museum to monument.

I'd been to Washington, DC, four times before, but the last time was in the summer of 1999. (I completely missed the Bush administration. Too bad.) I remembered that the main attractions were within walking distance of each other, but I forgot that going from one to the next in a single day is quite a hike.

We did it anyway.

The morning was gray and chilly, but that didn't stop us from getting up bright and early to take some photos at the White House and Washington Monument. We planned our trip waaaaaaay too late to get tickets to go inside either. No matter. We had too much planned to do anyway.

Later in the day, when the sun was actually shining.

Next up: the Lincoln Memorial. As we inched closer, I increasingly felt like I was walking into a penny.

Paul read Lincoln's addresses on the walls of the memorial while I took photos.

A few cherry blossom trees bloomed around the Washington Monument, but most of the ones we saw surrounded the Tidal Basin near the Jefferson Memorial. That meant the trek from Lincoln to Jefferson was beautiful, crowded and slow-going. The huge crowds got me thinking: Is any man (or, yes, woman) really worthy of such huge statues in such ornate buildings -- works of art, really? I mean, these are people we're talking about, not gods. And is such propaganda-in-marble really needed to keep alive the memory, the dream, of the founding fathers? I don't have an answer, but I can appreciate the architecture nonetheless.


We spent the rest of the afternoon at a couple of Smithsonian museums and taking a peek at the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights at the National Archives. But we made it to the Capitol Building in time to watch the sun set over the distant Washington Monument. It had been a long, lovely day.

Washington, D.C., in Bloom

How much can two people see -- and how far can two people walk -- in Washington, DC, in a day and a half?

Too much and too far, as Paul and I found out during our getaway last weekend.

OK, so I don't actually think we saw too much, but we did cram in pretty much all of the major attractions in our 40 hours in the city. But the focus of today's post is the reason we went to DC in the first place: the cherry blossoms.

Washington is all abuzz and abloom each year for the National Cherry Blossom Festival, this year from March 27 to April 11. More than 3,000 trees were a gift from Japan in 1912, and now the cherry trees line the Tidal Basin and other spaces near the Washington Monument and Jefferson Memorial.

Jefferson Memorial

No doubt the trees are beautiful. We got to DC at nearly the perfect time-- in fact, the peak bloom was only three days before we saw them. Even better, the weather also was nearly perfect -- warm and sunny.

Unfortunately, that combination meant that we were far from the only ones there. Very far. In fact, I highly doubt there's an infant in the DC metro area without a photo of them in mommy's arms, flowers in the background. The crowds didn't detract from the beauty, but they sure compromised the peace.


But no worries. A few thousand people here or there certainly wasn't going to ruin my weekend. And I could always take solace in a pint of something else that only comes around once a year: Capitol City Brewing Company's special Cherry Blossom Ale.