Friday, I flew from Orlando up the coast to D.C. and then to my friend L's house in Silver Spring, Maryland. One of the first things L told me upon my arrival is that in following this blog all year so far and seeing the amazing experiences I've gotten to have visiting friends all over the country, she was feeling a little bad that we'd spent my entire visit with her back in April in her basement, me teaching her how to make skirts. She doesn't need to feel bad about that at all--it was in the top five of most satisfyingly productive days of my year so far--but I did agree to her request that I try to make my post about this return visit exciting enough to rival anything I've done with any other friend all year.
So here goes!
It was a whirlwind weekend: a 40-hour reunion with three of my best friends (L, S, and F). The four of us were on the same study abroad program in Padova, Italy, 16 years ago, and while I got to see all three of them in their hometowns as I traveled this year, it is a special treat to have a 4/4 reunion too--before a new year that will bring the birth of S's second child and international travels for me, among other things that will make it tough for us to get together again very soon.
F arrived from Portland a few hours after I did, and the first bottle of wine was soon given some air.
The next morning, with L's husband on duty with her two kiddos (and F's son and daughter safely at home on the other side of the country with their dad) we picked up S at her in-laws' Bethesda home, where she'd arrived the night before from NYC. Hooray for grandparents who are very excited to take their grandchild out for his own adventures so the four of us girls could have a kid-free day together! S's son, L, looked a little less excited to see us go than we felt to go.
But go we went. Hey, look, there's our nation's capitol in the background!
And oh, look, the Washington Monument! This really is one of the most exciting and eventful blog posts of the road trip!
All joking aside, we had a pretty thrilling day, in our own style. F suggested a visit to the National Gallery, which sounded very cultured and impressive. Especially if you ignore it that pretty much all we did there was use the bathroom, get hollered at by security guards for walking into the center of the lobby (which was not roped off but for some reason was off-limits), and take a few artsy-looking pictures in the very artsy space. For your consideration…
"Expectant mother with phone in main hall":
"Cherubs, recreated":
From the National Gallery, we went to the American Indian Museum. Most people probably go to this museum to learn more about American Indians. Us? We heard the cafeteria/café is spectacularly good. And oh, it is. Blue corn bread. Need I say more?
After gorging ourselves on fares from the Americas, we went back to our roots: gelato! Gone are the days of gelato for every meal (which honestly did sometimes happen that year back in bell'Italia, and the horrifying pictures of us prove it). But given what a powerful foundation for lasting friendship the stuff turned out to be, it was a moral imperative to head to DuPont Circle for some great gelato that L had scouted out for us. It really was probably some of the best gelato I've ever had. Dulcezza's, if you ever have the chance to go there.
Dark chocolate and salted caramel, oh my.
The gelato made us so happy that the employees of some of the shops we visited after that could not help but comment on the glow it caused. No joke: one shoe salesman said, "You all seem like a lot of fun." Which somehow didn't come off as creepy, even despite the fact that he was being forced by the management to wear a Santa's Elf hat during his shift. I didn't have the heart to take a picture of him suffering that indignation. So I made F, S, and L pose with some of their day's loot, instead.
After our frenetic eight hours of child-free-dom, we returned to L's house and continued the fun draped in children.
I even received a drawing from L's daughter, S, who also happens to be one of the youngest readers of this blog. Hi, S!
Among the drawing and pasta cooking and salad tossing and laughing and nail polishing and other forms of blissful chaos, there was prosecco. With raspberry. Even _I_ had some, and despite not liking booze or carbonation, see how it's appealingly refreshing.
How'd I do on the extremely exciting blog post, L?
It may not be a national park or particular activities that make for drool-worthy pictures, but I wouldn't trade this group of friends for anything. So as far as I'm concerned, a weekend with these ladies is equal to any of the other most exciting parts of my year.
