Saturday started with a patriotic breakfast at our former bishop's house in North Potomac. Then my friend Maggie, myself, and others headed down to the district to enjoy food at Good Stuff Eatery, and to walk around Eastern Market. An uneventful trip? Oh, no!
On the way to Eastern Market we were pulled over for almost side-swiping a policeman, or should I say policewoman. (No, I was not driving! I don't own a car at the moment). She was very testy, as I'm sure you can imagine, as she came to the door, but warmed right up when she learned that we were lost trying to find the correct turn off for the market. She was so kind as to give us directions. We followed her part way, and when we were stopped at a stop light in front of us, we were afraid that she changed her mind when she turned her lights back on and hopped out of the car.
Did she give us a ticket?
Nope.
She had given us incorrect directions,
and didn't want us to get lost again.
We strolled through the market on our way to Good Stuff Eatery. Have you ever heard about this place? It's pretty darn amazing.
Really.
It is.
Spike Mendelsohn, the chef, was on Top Chef.
Pretty impressive.
But what's even more impressive is that instead of opening up some big fancy restaurant he decided to open up the very best burger joint he could. And boy did he succeed! Seriously the best I ever had. And all you lovers of In-N-Out, Fat Burger, and might I dare, even Dick's, get thee hence. You'll taste what I'm talking about.
Food--excellent.
Service--lacking.
World Cup game upstairs--rowdy.
A bottle was thrown from the upper level and knocked a guy in the head. This grown man was brought to tears, and the perpetrator blamed it on his 6 year-old son. Did not even offer an apology! What has this world come to?
Maggie, Gina, Julie and I headed back to Eastern Market and looked at the various goods. Have I ever mentioned how obsessed I am with markets? Well, if you didn't know before, you know now. It's so hard for me not to want to buy everything in front of me. But I showed considerable self-restraint and didn't buy a single item. Unless you count goat cheese.
Maggie and I went to the most amazing second-hand bookstore afterwards. Not only am I obsessed with markets, but I may be even more obsessed with reading and books. As we speak or whatever it is we're doing, I have 5 boxes of books just waiting to be placed on my non-existent bookshelf. That's right, FIVE. I have such a hard time not buying books when I go into book stores, and I normally come away with one, if not two books that a need. And I really do need them. But I digress.
This fabulous bookshop was stuffed to the brim with books. I'm dead serious. Lining the walls, blocking the windows, creating obstacles on the stairways. Foreign Lit was int he bathroom. Poetry in the kitchen. The shop keeper himself was quite the character. But I don't feel like commenting anymore on him. So that's that.
Our real goal of the day was the Capitol Concert dress rehearsal. On our way to the Capitol we ran through sprinklers at the Library of Congress (Yes, you read that correctly. Jealous?). Then we went through our security check, sat in the hot, hot, hot sun for hours, staking out our spot for us and 8 others. It was wonderful. And we even got to see David Archuleta and Reba McIntyre perform live. Pretty sweet deal?
And this was all on Saturday.
Sunday night Maggie and I headed back downtown to the Jefferson Memorial to watch the fireworks. We took the Metro as far as Metro Center, and decided to walk the rest of the way. As we approached the Washington Monument I got teary seeing the thousands of patriotic people waving flags and decked out in their red, white, and blue. Families, kids on bikes--it was pretty awesome.
As we went through several check points and had a funny interlude with one of the security guards and walked around the Jefferson several times looking for our group, we finally caught up with them on the edge of the Tidal Basin.
Best spot ever!
Here's a video just to prove it:
All in all it was a great 4th. Eventful. Fun. Just what I needed.
What did you do for the Fourth?
