So long, DC...

Wow.  What a great week.  From spending 4 days with Brett and Lynette, to eating oysters, lobster rolls, and crabs in Baltimore, to lazing around DC, this was another great vaca.

And I even signed up on Facebook.  That is probably the most memorable thing.

Not sure when we will get here again, makes me kind of sad.  But someday we will come, and I will visit the cat cafe that the nephew loved when he lived here, the Capitol, and the White House when we have our first woman president.  That will be something, won't it?

So long DC!!

How to fill 8 hours until your flight? Breweries, of course.

First stop, Ocelot Brewing out near Dulles Airport in Virginia.  Good sampler and they even had a Sour Ale with Black Currants called Purple Rain.  Nice. 

Next stop was 3 Stars Brewing waaaaayyyy over by Reagan Airport, where our flight leaves from.  And it was like driving through hell.

Have you ever driven around DC for an hour an a half in rush hour traffic where the streets that only a few hours ago ran one way and now they run the other way but there are just really small signs alerting you to this and you're tired and ready to just pass out on your plane ride home????

If not, I don't recommend it.

Lunch at 2 Amys

We had ALOT of prosciutto.

And this was kind of amazing...

I'd like to think God did this for Orlando.

Washington National Cathedral

Such a beautiful place and we had a perfect weather day (again!) for some pictures.  

I lit two candles for my friend CG and we wandered around a bit.  Quite peaceful and beautiful.

Last Day in DC

It's our last day in DC - and I'm not really sure what we are going to do today.

Since we have to check out of our VRBO at 11:00 am, and our flight doesn't leave until 10:00 pm, we have alot of hours to see some other sights.

I think we are going to head to the National Cathedral - we've never been there before, and we wondered about Monticello - have to figure out how far that is.  Sitting at a bar or brewery all afternoon is an option...we've done that before.

Stay tuned.  I'm sure we'll figure it out.

Our VRBO

We are staying in this great little VRBO, a garden suite on the ground level of a brownstone in Capitol Hill.

It's literally a half a block from the Metro stop, around the corner from an organic grocery store, a block from tons of great restaurants.

The ONLY drawback is these weird air conditioners...which only get the place to 76, 72, or 70 degrees (each room has one), with a relative humidity of about 87%.  UGH.  And this is when they are set at 66 or 68 degrees.  So it's like sleeping in a swamp.  The owner was going to come and try to fix them, and he was genuinely sorry.

Chris just went to pick up some eggs at the grocery store, and it is apparently beautiful outside.  Not so in the swamp.

FDR Memorial

Smart man FDR.  Needed words in times such as these.

Right Proper

Had cheeses and split burger. And...now we are done.

Who over samplers more than me?

No one that's who.  Except Chris maybe.

Lunch and beers and cream puffs and beers

Lunch at District Commons was really really good!  So good in fact,  I didn't take any pictures.  Had the Elysian Space Dusk IPA which was so good I had two and Chris had one.

Next stop, a 20 minute walk to Beard Papa's for a cream puff.   They were good.  Not outstanding.  But pretty good.  Which is good.

Then thought, fuck it, enough walking.  And we caught an Uber to Church Key.  And they have Insight and Surly on tap!  Who'd a thunk it?  I did not order those.

We had tasters of:

- Tomorrow IPA from Ocelot Brewing in Virginia (Patty)
- Commie Pecko IPL from Against the Grain Brewery and Smokehouse in Kentucky (Patty)
- Drunken Master Imperial IPA from Melvin Brewing in Wyoming (Chris)
- Sho 'Nuff Belgian Pale Ale from Against the Grain Brewery and Smokehouse in Kentucky  (Patty)
- Whippoorwill Saison Blond from Fonta Flora Brewery in North Carolina (Patty)
- Terrestrial Paradise Saison Blond from Burial Beer Company in North Carolina (Chris)
- You, Me, & Everyone We Know Saison Blond from Great Raft Brewing from Louisiana

The Commie Pecko was my fave.  So good I might have another one.

Wandering around DC...6 miles!!!

Got up, got around, then took the metro to the National Mall. 

Stopped in at the Museum of American History - I do love the dresses of the First Ladies! 

Then walked from the Washington Monument all the way around the Tidal Basin to the Jefferson Memorial.  I think this is my favorite of the monuments.  That Jefferson, he knew a thing or two about things. 

From there headed around through the FDR memorial up through the Korean Memorial and then the Vietnam Memorial (which is pretty amazing and profound each time I see it).

And now I'm sunburned.

Afternoon was lunch and beer in a few spot...more to come in the next post.

Matchbox Pizza

Enough said.

Pizza in DC!

Settled into our VRBO, a lovely little garden suite in a brownstone in Capitol Hill.

We are headed out the two block walk to Matchbox pizza, one of our favorite DC pizza places (the other is Pizzaria Paridiso - and you might just see a post from there).  And just in case desperation sets in, there is literally a Chipotle outside the back patio.

Tomorrow?  Not sure.  Gotta decide!

Day Trip to Gettysburg

We headed out of Baltimore a little after 10 this morning, and took a road trip to Gettysburg.  We had been here about 8 years ago when we came out east for Cory and Jon's wedding, but we only did a quick spin through.

We bought the two CD auto tour - which is actually super well done.  If anyone is thinking of coming out here let me know and I'll lend it to you.  It was a beautiful day, but WINDY.  See pictures below.  And those are the good ones!

It's pretty unimaginable...51,000 dead, wounded, and missing in the heat of July 1863.  The whole town was only 2,400 people.  Made me sad...

No awards, but next year NHC in Minneapolis!

No awards for Brett or Chris, but some friends medaled which was super fun.

Next year NHC is in Minneapolis, so let the brewing begin!!

Heading now to part two of our adventure in DC!

Fail

The meal wasn't great...hoping the caramel corn and chocolate dipped pretzel for dessert make up for it.

NHC Banquet & Awards

Well, we sat in line for an hour and a half to get into the awards banquet.  I actually walked a block back to our hotel to get my book.

Now we are in the middle of dinner and all of the glasses are so dirty I can't even talk about it.  It's a bit of a shit show, and the wait staff are doing their best but is so uncoordinated it's pretty bad.

Now I get to wait with Chris and Brett and the tension that comes from having an entry and you don't know of you won. 

Here is the menu - at least the food seems to be pretty good.

And then...

...Brett said, "It smells like beets." 

And the spell was broken.

Of Love & Regret

No regrets, beers was sokid, but the Korean BBQ Brisket and burger were delish!!!

Last day...

Checked out the expo at the conference for 20 minutes and now we are at Of Love & Regret.  Super yummy beers!

These are all mine.  Hands off.

You think there's any whiskey here?

Crabs!!!

Went to LP Steamers for lunch and had these beauties! Such an amazing meal and I finally got to have steamed crabs!

And then there was bread pudding and creme brulee...