Coincidences in Bethesda, Ducks and Drums in Washington
So Alana and I flew to Maryland on Friday with her parents to attend a wedding of their friend. We are actually staying in Bethesda Maryland, so when we arrived at the hotel on Friday around 5 pm I opened up the laptop and sent an email to my friend Dave who lives somewhere around here. Dave and I had not seen each other in almost 2 years, and the last time we talked was over a year ago, so I thought it would be great to get together and catch up. Well, around 8:30 my phone rang, and the screen told me that it was Dave’s number before I answered the phone. So when I answered I said “Hey Dave! What are you up to tonight?” He sounded a little confused, and said “uhm.. not much, what are you doing?” So I asked him if he wanted to get together and have coffee or something. He asked where I was and I told him and he said that I was literally 2 blocks from his apartment at the time. So he came over to where I was and we were talking about how it was great to get together. I said something like “I’m glad you got the email” and that is when Dave said “what email?” As it turns out, when he called me earlier he was calling to ask me about a problem with his father’s website that I host, Dave had no idea that I was even in town! He never got the email that I sent him, he just happened to call when I was 2 blocks from his apartment, so weird.
Alana wanted to try out for MTV’s The Real World, so we took the Metro downtown and found Lulu’s Mardi Gras Club, where MTV was holding auditions. I dropped her off at 10, and then I started walking around downtown Washington D.C. I found Pennsylvania Avenue and started walking down that. Pretty soon I noticed that I was walking along a nice big mansion, with a pretty yard. Then it occured to me that I was looking at the White House. Next door to the White House is The Department of the Treasury. A few weeks ago I read a story on Yahoo news about a duck with secret service protection, and before I knew it I was looking at the famous Duck!
After seeing the duck I started walking towards the capital. Just as I reached the FTC building, a parade started up right in front of me. It’s been a long time since I have heard a marching band, but I really love hearing that type of music. The Eastern High School marching band was amazing, and I followed them down the street for 4 or 5 sets of music. I followed several other bands down the street too, but none of them had a name as good as the Bowie State University’s Symphony of Soul.
After watching the marching bands for about an hour I decided to head back towards Alana. We had lunch at a restaurant named “Le Bar”, and the crabcake salad was great. When we left the restaurant we met up with Alana’s parents at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, where Alana wanted to see the Gem exhibit. Afterwards we walked to the National Museum of American History. Initially I was not excited about going to the History museum because, well, after 4 years of history in college, I have very little interest in history. But I was surprised to find out that the Americian History Musuem has a lot of exhibits on inventors and technology, it was pretty cool! I spent most of my time there at the Lighting a Revolution exhibit, which was all about Edison and the gang, very coool stuff!
I’m exhausted now, so I’m going to bed. Good night!