East Coast Vacation Part II: Washington DC

Jesse's neighborhood on T Street in DC.

Instead of taking the train from NYC to DC, I opted for a Bolt bus from Penn station as the train option was much more expensive than I had hoped for. Taking the bus wasn't so bad since they provided internet on board and only took 45 minutes longer than the train would have. Not to mention, Jesse (my good friend I was visiting) was going to be at work until 7pm that evening and I had plenty of time to kill in getting there. Jesse is one of my oldest and dearest friends from Minnesota and has stayed that way for 16 years now (whoa!). After getting his Master's at Purdue, he floated around a bit and eventually ended up in DC searching for work. He landed a great job at Bloomberg and is now professionally focused on his career in our nation's capitol. I decided since I was heading to the East Coast, it would be silly of me not to visit him at his new digs in DC.

Here's a pictorial review of my trip there (and if you'd like to see more photos from this trip, visit my new photography site HERE):

Jesse lives in a neighborhood that back in the 60's was predominantly a Black neighborhood. There are historical markers everywhere you walk telling you of the famous people who grew up there.

Jesse relaxing in his living room.

I really dug their ultra futuristic Metro stations -- they were enormous and made me feel like I was in Total Recall.

I've never seen a cleaner and more corporate conglomerate Chinatown than here in DC.  I almost didn't find an authentic Chinese food restaurant one day while craving it for lunch. It pales in comparison to the SF or NY Chinatowns.

The famous half-smoked chili dog at the infamous Ben's Chili Bowl near Jesse's house. Only the Obama's and Bill Cosby eat there for free. It wasn't the best thing I've ever eaten, but a place you check out because of its history.

This is me after eating that heart attack of a hot dog!

My last day is spent lurking around a few famous memorials as an inconspicuous tourist. The weather was gorgeous and sunny for a late Fall afternoon and very few people were in the park. This is the reflecting pool leading up to the Lincoln Memorial.

A view of the Washington Memorial and the reflecting pool at Lincoln Memorial. 

Yours truly creeps around to the back of the Lincoln Memorial building to find only herself  -- guess the other tourists didn't care about what was behind the building except me.

And on the very last night of my visit, Jesse and I took a cab to an up and coming area on H Street, which reminded me of a tiny version of 16th & Valencia in SF. We decided to see the artist Aloe Blacc play at the Rock and Roll Hotel. Here's a little video I captured of his performance that evening: