On the Road: D.C.

This will be one of those “a picture is [hopefully] worth a thousand words” posts. Although unfortunately, you end up getting nearly a thousand words as well. My little digital camera must have been near capacity when we got home last week from five days in Washington D.C. I can’t resist sharing some of the favorite sites and best bites of the week.

We hit the Dupont Circle farmers market on Sunday, which was a big treat. This proved to be some of the most springy color we saw all week! A bit early for all the blossoms. I was thrilled to find YARN for sale at this market. And yes, I bought a bunch.

Sunday afternoon we spent time visiting a few of the monuments in town. I’d never been to the Lincoln Memorial, which is really impressive and moving. This is the view from the steps, looking back down the mall toward the Washington Monument.

We spent a few hours in the Natural History Museum, particularly enthralled by the amazing stones, minerals and gems. There is a special butterfly exhibit there now, including a live butterfly pavilion (which requires advance tickets and timed entry). It was amazing. This butterfly really grabbed my attention, looking every bit like an owl’s eye sitting there. Its interior wing coloration is brilliant blue. So cool.

Walking down Pennsylvania one morning, we happened upon the Navy Memorial. My dad was a career Navy man (which in large part explains why three of us four kids were born on Pacific islands), so this was a touching connection for me. Particularly seeing the bronze panel devoted to the “Sea Bees” — the “can-do” Contruction Battalion division that my father was in.
Any place we vacation, I’m always interested in checking out local
botanical gardens. It’s the frustrated gardener in me, I guess. I love seeing lush, colorful, inspiring gardens. (This is one of my all-time favorites, on Kauai.) I was surprised to find that the US Botanic Garden was just steps from the front of the US Capitol. It features an amazing orchid display right now, went nuts shooting many of the flowers.

Papayas growing in the botanic garden. I’ve always been jealous of the years my family lived in Hawaii before I was born. Apparently there was a papaya tree in the backyard. I’m still not over it. I don’t really care to live in a tropical climate, but the idea of walking outside to pluck a papaya is mesmerizing.

Here’s a sample of our lunch at The Source, a new Wolfgang Puck restaurant in town. It’s connected to the Newseum, a news-focused interactive museum that will be opening April 11. (A cool feature out front is print-outs of that mornings front pages from a newspaper in each of the 50 states, plus a handful of international papers.) Anyway, this lunch started with a plate of Crispy Suckling Pig with Black Plum Puree, Pickled Cipollini and Sweet Bean. Really, really delicious.

We stopped in to Zola a couple of times for a drink and a bite. These are their Shrimp and Lobster Sliders from the bar menu. Very tasty. Zola’s next door to The International Spy Museum which we went to one day. Tons of memorabelia, information, background, interviews with former spies, etc. Slick, busy, more commercial than many DC museums, but a fun option for culture of a different kind.

This photo barely does justice to this delicious dessert at Central. A most perfect banana split. I already can’t wait to return to DC just to have that dessert again.

In the National Gallery of Art’s sculpture garden, this was my favorite: an optical illusion of a house created by Roy Lichtenstein, the perspective shifts visually as you move from side to side.

One of many photos I took in the Library of Congress. What a stunning interior, so much craftsmanship, beautiful materials, interesting stories to be told by the figures and designs. The ornateness of every detail–mosaics, columns, lighting, color, statues, inlaid stonework–it was nearly sensory overload. I could have spent another hour or two in there.

Lunch at Oyamel on our last day was a treat. I’ll definitely return here for dinner sometime, particularly for a dose of that delicious-looking tableside guacamole they whip up. Here’s my “gaspacho estilo Morelia” which is a sort of chunky salad with jicama, mangoes, cucumber, jalapeno and orange. Wonderful.

Oh, there are so many more shots to share, bites to recount, museums and other experiences to regale you with. But I simply have to call it a night! There will be other travels, other meals, other adventures to share with you soon enough.