Washington DC Area

Wednesday I went down to Delaware to see Matt & Nicole. First time in Delaware! Holy crap is there a lot of insane traffic between Philadelphia and Wilmington. Had a good time there, though later I found that my feet had been feasted on by all manner of small insects. Itchy.

Thursday we drove into Delaware again, this time to visit Dogfish Head. We barely made the tour at 11; had to run back to the car to get our close-toed shoes. Delaware must have some really strict OSHA laws because we've walked around breweries that were a lot more cramped, wet, and dark than Dogfish wearing only sandals. Ah well. So-so tour, we stood way too long in the room with the kettles where it was just a bit hot and humid. Only 4 beers on tap there too, so we decided to drive to Rehoboth to the brewpub after our tasting was finished. Excellent decision, they had all sorts of cool stuff on tap there. The Midas Touchstone (Midas Touch with added cherries and sourness, on cask) was great! Unfortunately everything exciting was not available in bottles, ever, so we missed out on bringing some with us.

After a quick stop at the beach and some unsuccessful searching for local crab, we crossed the Chesapeake and got to experience DC traffic during rush hour. Good times. We got away with only traveling on the SE quadrant of the beltway and got ourselves to Brandon's in Springfield only a few hours late. Got some Ethiopian food, mmm.

Friday we took the Metro into DC to meet Brandon for lunch and a short walk near where he was working that week. Saw the White House, and more importantly the official state bee hive. After lunch we walked around with Steff and saw some monuments, including the missing reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial. At least the Washington monument wasn't covered with scaffolding yet; apparently it's got a nice crack in it after the recent earthquake. We stopped in the Natural History Museum, then the Holocaust Museum. After museums we walked to Cedar, a local restaurant/bar to meet Rachel. The bartender was super friendly and we ended up staying there pretty late and drinking a couple bottles of wine and uncounted cosmos. Luckily Brandon stopped drinking early and was able to drive us home.

Saturday was a day of "rest". Got some awesome pizza for late lunch, then Rachel came over and we had an evening of old-school games like TechmoBowl, Contra, and Dr Mario. For the record, the Packers beat the Bears 3-2. (We suck at TechmoBowl, though I think I was even worse as a kid.) Sunday we had a low-key morning and lunch at Brandon's favorite American place, then set out for North Carolina. Fun times in DC!