DC Wins Over Maui Part V

Having seen enough of historical places and objects, Eddie and I planned to go to Maryland to see National Harbor and then over to Georgetown because, you know, I've heard good things.  But first, we found a diner for breakfast.  We actually got out of the parking garage without issue and headed out to the Metro 29 Diner after searching online for diners, and when we got there, we saw this poster.

That's Guy Fieri.  He visited for Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, which meant that this diner should be special.  What was special about it was its very high prices for things like a bowl of cereal and some milk.  The menu listed "signature" omelettes, and if you wanted to change anything about them, you need to pay an extra 2 bucks for each change. Their "signature" omelets included a Denver Omelet and a Western Omelet.  You know, the kind that you can find in every diner.  But, signature, as in "we were on DDD so we're gonna do whatever the heck we want."  The service was also really slow, and the pancakes Eddie ate and the waffle I ate were good diner food, but nothing signature or pricey about them.  It was a lot of food though, so we were not exactly ready to eat anything by the time we drove over to National Harbor, which meant that we could not indulge in most of what the harbor had to offer, which was yummy restaurants.

National Harbor also had a huge London-eye-like structure that Eddie wasn't too keen on because it was high and you stayed up in the air for a long time.  I didn't care either way because I was there to see the man in the sand. The Awakening is some sort of art.  A man is coming out of the sand.  We found it immediately because it's colossal (hmm, colossus?) and we also found little children running all over him.  We stayed above the sand and checked him out from there.

Hey, look! Hawaii.

 We found some cool shops and then took a rest by the water.  The skies were clear and the sun was bright.  There was not a tropical storm as there was over in Hawaii.

See me?

What about this would make you want to eat at this restaurant?  In case you don't understand what it is, it's a flabby fat naked man on a turtle.  Still don't understand it?  I don't either.

They were giving away free tastes and I got all excited but it was vanilla.  Eh, FREE is FREE.

Some of my favorite art from the cute artsy stores

Love this

Love this too

And this is when Eddie said to me, it's so bright out!

Stylin in some newly purchased shades

We sat on some benches after visiting pretty much every store around that was not selling food.  That's when Eddie basically said he was tired of walking around and looking at things.  Being in DC on vacation is the definition of walking around and looking at things, but I know what he meant.  So we headed back towards DC to visit Georgetown and eat lunch at Pinstripes, a restaurant I'd found online that boasted not only good food but also bocce and bowling.  Couldn't go wrong with that.

Getting into Georgetown was not easy.  We crossed a bridge three times until we were able to not be in a turning lane to get back onto the bridge.  However, our trip that morning and crossing over the bridge a bunch of times meant that I could do this:

Georgetown is a really pretty town once you get into it.  We went to Pinstripes first, and the service was excellent as was the decor.  We got bread that was to die for, and then our orders came really quickly.  Eddie got a cheeseburger, and it was a very large cheeseburger with lots of fries.  Also, the server kept giving him new Cokes when he was only halfway through with the one he had.  I got a veggie burger and expected what I usually get at places--a flimsy little pattie that was heated up from being frozen.  Instead, the server came over with a large wooden platter that had a very large homemade veggie burger that I think was made from red quinoa plus a mixed greens salad and some pickled veggies on the side.  The server kept bringing me ice teas as I sipped them.  As we ate, we realized that we were not yet ready to eat after the large expensive breakfast, but the food was so friggin good that we shoved it down, took breaks, and shoved more down.  During the breaks, we eavesdropped on a conversation happening a few tables over to figure out whether or not the two people were on a first date.  We determined that it wasn't a first date but it might have been a third or fourth.  Because we're obviously experts.

I can't find the words to describe how good this was.

After eating to the point of almost throwing up, we walked--very slowly--around town.  Even though we were not into walking around and looking at things, the things here were different, so it was a nice time.  So pretty.

This was a very long line for a famous cupcake shop.

I think this is the Kennedy Center but I could be making that up completely.

Now we both have sunglasses!

There was a woman next to us who started talking to herself so we walked away and sat on a bench.

As we walked, suddenly rain came down.  It wasn't a huge rain storm or even a lot of rain, but the drops were big splats.  Eddie was like, What do we do?  I was like, Eh keep walking.  So we walked in the rain and sat in the rain and then the rain stopped and we sat in the sun and it was all very pretty.

We enjoyed the sitting and relaxing so we decided to do more of that by seeing a movie.  We were down the block from an AMC and I had free gift cards, so we can call that serendipity.  Or being prepared.  I carry them around just in case.  We decided to see Lucy because the radio ads made it sound amazing.  Morgan Freeman.  Brain capacity.  Scarlett Johansson.  Drugs.  It had to be good.

Lucy was the worst movie I've seen in a theatre in a really long time.  Whoever created the commercial should have directed the movie because the advertising for it was much better than the actual film.  It involved drug trafficking, superpowers that were used only sometimes but not in times when they'd be most effective, and some weird robot need to remember love but not really.

Oh, and this happened.

Inappropriate barefootedness.  Get some shoes, woman!

The movie, and our loathing of it, rejuvenated us as we made our way back through DC to our hotel.  We got into the parking garage without issue!  Well, we had no issue with entering, but I had a slight issue with all the yellow caution tape that made it look like one huge crime scene.

It was sagging in some areas where we saw people unsure of whether or not they could back their cars out.  Up closer, I could read the fliers that said they simply did not want people parking in those spaces over the next few days.  Phew, so no murder had occurred, but a simple heads up would have been nice, perhaps an announcement or sign prior to entering the garage would have been sufficient.

After listing every single idiotic thing about the movie, we ventured out and about in Crystal City.  There wasn't much to do or see, but we made a time of it.  We found a cute and pretty park a few blocks away, and the park had a snack stand, and we were all about snacks.  Then I was all about the signs all over the city that describe it.

It was a good way to end our last night in Crystal City, snacks and no crime scenes.