Fun in the city

Normally when I travel for business, it's pretty lonely.  I go to my work conference and then either eat somewhere by myself or order room service.  But this most recent trip, I was lucky in that I actually knew people in the city where I was.  Both my cousin and one of my good friends from law school live in the D.C. area so when I knew I was heading to D.C. for work, I had to make plans to see them both. 

 

 

My cousin cracks me up in that he is such a city person.  He comes strolling into my hotel to pick me up all dressed in his suit, brief case and all and is a complete natural in the city.  Here I was just following him around, looking like a deer in head lights as we navigated the Metro.  We didn't have a ton of time for any tourist type activities, but we did have to make a stop to see this: 

 

It was so cool to see it at night, and it's as beautiful as I remember it from high school.  It was also cool because they were setting up for the inauguration so the pavilion was partially constructed.  After stopping at the White House we went to dinner at a place across the street called Ebbitts Grill (I believe this was the name, but honestly, I could be wrong).  Crazy busy place with really good food and totally a city atmosphere.  And the place had Secret Service everywhere, so I'm not sure who was there.  I was hoping it was Biden, but my cousin assured me if it was Biden, there would be a lot more Secret Service there.  Damn.


The next day I met up with a good law school friend of mine and headed to Chinatown.  I've never been to New York City so I don't have a good comparison, but I thought it was pretty cool. 

 

 

We ate at a really cool tapas restaurant and consumed a pitcher of Sangria while catching up.  I hadn't seen her in over four years so there was a lot to talk about, and it was just really nice to see her again.  Plus, I have to admit, I enjoyed this work trip a great deal more having people I knew to hang out with while there.  A lot less lonely. 

 

 

 

 

Of course, I was so ready to head home by the time Friday night hit.  I missed T and Aubrey so much, and I couldn't wait to see them on Saturday at the airport.  I'll have more about my trip in later posts about some of the "oh shit, I have no idea what I am doing" things, too.  I had a lot of those, trust me!