Singing On The Toliet

The other day, I popped into a public restroom at a downtown DC museum. I really needed to go to the bathroom and downtown your "free" options are limited to fast-food restaurants and museums. Unlike fast-food restaurants' bathrooms, museum bathrooms tend to be well-maintained.

As I enter the bathroom, I heard a weird noise. I could decipher what it was, but didn't care as I had a mission. After entering the bathroom stall, I finally figured out what the noise was: the person in the stall next to me singing. Yes, the guy was belting out a number.

Photo Credit: Huffington Post

At first, I was positive that he was singing because he thought he was alone in the bathroom. However, after a minute or two, the singing turned into humming. Then quickly back to singing. Soon he was finished with his business, but the singing didn't stop. He kept going while washing and drying his hands and on his way out of the door.

I know bathrooms have great acoustics, but this situation was awkward. If you are at home, sing all you want in the bathroom, but it public, keep it to yourself!

Am I wrong here? Has this ever happened to you?

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Live Like Ron Burgundy (for a night)

In 2004, Ron Burgundy stormed into America's heart in the movie The Anchorman.

Mr. Burgundy is back with his antics in Anchorman 2.

To celebrate, one hotel in Washington, DC is offering the "Stay Classy Package."

The Helix Hotel, apart of the Kimpton brand, is offering a package devoted to "Staying Classy," and being Mr. Classy himself, Ron Burgundy.

The "Stay Classy DC" Package includes the following:

This is a pretty great package. The two scotches are worth $20 and tickets to the Newseum tickets go for $22 a piece ($44 for two). That's $64 extra you are getting from this package.

The bad news is that availability for this package is not good. Most weekends the package is not available.

Maybe you will have better luck . . .
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Live Like A Local: Ben's Chili Bowl

Ask any Washingtonian to name one iconic food from DC, almost all will say Ben's Chili Bowl. Ben's has been a fixture in the DC food world since 1958. Ben's Chili Bowl is located across the street from the U Street Metro Station.

The history of Ben's Chili Bowl is the history of the city. "From the turmult of the late 60's race riots to the tough times in the 70's and 80's and finally to the revitalization of the U Street Corridor beginning in the 90's. Ben's has seen it all." Now, as the U Street area has been transformed into the place live, eat and party, Ben's stands proudly of what was and what will be the new 14th Street Corridor.

T
he inside of Ben's is a blast from the past. It has a gritty feel to it, but that is part of its charm. One of the first things you will encounter is the line. Every time I come, the line has been long, but it moves quickly. I would recommend if you come with a group, send someone to get a table, while others order.

Most people come to Ben's for the Chili Cheese Half-Smoke. The Half-Smoke is 50% Pork - 50% Beef, 100% Delicious Hot Dog.

The Half-Smoke is topped with mustard, onions and the famous chili sauce. Yummmmmmm.....

I always get Chili Cheese Fries with my Half-Smoke

And fruit punch. The Fruit Punch will rot your teeth, it's so sweet.

What I love about Ben's is that the food is greasy, sloppy, but oh, so tasty. My favorite part is the sting on your lips from the heat in the Chili. This is the type of meal that requires multiple napkins. Seating is a bunch of booths, tables, and the counter space. A little more seating can be found in the back.

The cost for my dog, fries and drink was about $15.00. Ben's has other items on their menu.

Next time your visiting DC, leaving the tourist trap and come to U Street to try Ben's Chili Bowl. A local place that opens its doors to anyone looking for a messy meal.

Bon Appetit!
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Do It For The Doughnuts: Astro Doughnuts and Fried Chicken

Do It For The Doughnuts typically involves us traveling to try various doughnut shops around the country. What I have overlooked is that Washington, DC is starting to be a hot bed of over-the-top doughnut shops. So much so, the Washington Post is hosting a March Madness style contest pitting doughnut shops against each other.

After the initial round, the doughnut shop in the lead is Astro Doughnuts & Fried Chicken.

I had to go visit this place for two reason. First, Astro beat 25 other places in the first round of the WashPo's contest. But more importantly, last week, I walked into a conversation in the work lunch room about this crazy doughnut place located downtown. When it starts popping up during the water cooler conversation, something must be either really good or really bad. I had to try this place quickly.

Astro Doughnuts is located between 13th and 14th Street on G Street.

The closest metro stop is Metro Center; take the 13th & G exit.

The doughnut shop does not have much to it: a counter and trays of doughnuts. Since the only place to sit is a bench outside and that was occupied, I took the doughnuts home.

Astro Doughnuts has a sleek black box. Bring these to the office and your popularity will rise.

The store only had five doughnuts available when I went, so I got six. Don't know why I got six, but I told the guy I wanted six. The types of doughnuts available changes by the day. Visit the website to see their list.

The first doughnut I tried was the Salted Caramel. 

      - The doughnut was good. The first thing you will notice is that these are fresh doughnuts. The

         yeast doughnut was spongy, but that took away from the overall doughnut. The icing combo 

         got lost by the sheer volume of the doughnut.

The second doughnut was the PB &J.

          - The doughnut is square. It wins points for being square. The jelly inside the doughnut was
             so good. I wish there was more of it or they had a doughnut stuffed fulled with it, because
             I would buy a dozen of them on the spot. On the other hand, the peanut butter was not good.
             It was bland and blah. When you put it all together, the PBJ combo failed.

The next on deck was maple bacon.

         - The maple bacon is a staple on my doughnut list. The bacon was crispy and salty. Two
            key parts to any good bacon. The maple icing was noticeable. When put all together, it
            was finger licking good.

The fourth doughnut is Vanilla Bean Glazed.

           - I didn't understand this doughnut. The writing on the doughnut was very pretty. However,

             it lack flavor. I had to check my receipt twice to know what flavor I was eating.

The final doughnut was Birthday Cake.

           - This was the clear winner. Hands down! The doughnut was made from cake batter,

             not doughnut batter. It was soft and chocolaty. The squirt of frosting in the middle

             add so much flavor. Another one I would return to eat in the dozen.

                                      

Astro Doughnuts were very tasty. A great weekend treat. I will defiantly be a returning customer; 

just on a different day to try new doughnuts.

The cost depends on the doughnut type and was somewhere between $2.25 to $2.75 each. 

Astro Doughnuts: 1308 G Street, NW, Washington, DC 20004 - (202)-809-5565

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Great American Family Vacation

Next weekend is the start of the summer vacation season. Families will pack up their cars and hit the open road to create stories for a lifetime. 

In this month's edition of United's Hemispheres magazine, there was an interesting article about epic family trips that didn't go so well. The article is a compilation of reader submitted family vacation stories. One of my favorite stories was submitted by Leslie Patrick:

          Though it's a parent's job to keep kids out of harm's way, sometimes he or she can take
          the job too seriously. I've never had that trouble with my mother. She's the kind of person
          who, on a family trip to Hawaii, will insist we all hike up a volcano in the middle of the
          night (precisely what the guidebooks say not to do).

We were on Kilauea, in the Big Island’s Volcanoes National Park. With Mom in the lead, my dad, sister and aunt and I trudged across a lava field lit only by the moon and our two tiny flashlights. Glowing lava flowed nearby. Bursts of steam shot up around us. With each step, it began to feel less like an adventure and more like a disaster movie. 

Five hours later, it was clear we were lost. My sister and I muttered expletives under our breath as Mom sang jaunty little songs. “The parking lot’s just over the next ridge!” she kept shouting. At hour six, my aunt realized she needed her medication. Our shoes had been shredded by sharp rocks, but our mother MacGyvered them back together and we pressed on. 

Eight hours after setting out on our one-hour trip, we found the car again, all of us except Mom practically weeping with relief. Nobody suffered any burns—unless you count Dad, who, in his castaway shorts and ratty T-shirt, looked like a boiled, poorly dressed lobster thanks to a kayaking outing earlier that day. That’s what happens, my mother reminded him, when you spend an entire day without sunscreen

When I first read this story, I laughed out loud awaking my seatmate next to me. My next though was disappointment that my family had trips that led to stories like those in the magazine. My family's summer trips always led to the same place: Wildwood, New Jersey. We never went anywhere else as a family. Every August, the family would pack up in my father's truck and barrel down I-95 towards Wildwood. August and Wildwood were synonymous with our family. I don't remember anything out of the ordinary occurring on those trips.

My craziest travel story involved a road-trip to Washington, DC with my "DC big sister." She was traveling back to school and I was hitching a ride to visit a couple of colleges in DC. We were approaching the George Washington Bridge and the car stops literally 50 feet from the start of the bridge. Cars were honking their horns at us, but the car had overheated and would not move. Some nice people (most not have been New Yorkers) helped us push the car to the emergency lane. We waited for 30 minutes before the police arrived and told us we had to try to move. He mentioned that there was a gas station right off the bridge and he could lead us. We started up the car followed the officer, but blew by the exit and continued the 4 hour drive to DC with the windows down in 90 degree heat.

Yes, that is my most craziest travel story. I don't think it would have made the pages of Hemisphere  but it still a story the I talk with my big sis. That is the beauty of a great adventure. It produces laughs years after the trip ended.

As the 2013 summer season starts in a few days, I can only hope that the adventures I have with my friends produce epic stories. It is these shared experiences that produce strong bonds for lifetimes.

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Live Like A Local: Opera In The Outfield

One of the tricks I use to stretch my budget on vacation is to seek out free activities. Almost every city has them from concerts and festivals to museums and walking tour. The hard part is finding what a city has to offer for free. One of the first places I look before traveling is the cities' local newspapers' website. Typically, newspapers allow groups to post free events in the lifestyle section. If I find nothing prior to arriving in a city, I immediately search out a small community paper as they always know whats doing within the city.

In Washington, DC, the Washington Post's entertainment section is a great starting place particularly the Going Out Guide. Similarly, the Thursday edition of the Express always has a great section about what is happening that next upcoming weekend. It was Thursday's Express newspaper that brought to my attention the 5th Annual Opera In the Outfield was occurring on Saturday night.

Opera In the Outfield is a collaboration between the Washington Nationals Baseball team and the John F. Kennedy center to simulcast a performance occurring at the Kennedy Center to an audience at National's Stadium. This year's performance was "Show Boat." The event was free and first come, first seated.

Gates opened at 5 pm for a 7 pm show. To get the best seats in the outfield, one needed to get to the stadium early. If you plan on sitting out on the field, bring a few blankets, as no chairs are allowed. However, it rained all day Saturday, so the "best seats" weren't really wanted:

Many people choose to sit in the stands under the overhang, in case of more rain.

The experience was surreal:

2012's show had 12,000 people attend. Last night's was closer to 1,000 most likely due to the cold weather and rain. Those who did not attend missed a great show!

During the bow, all the performers came out with National baseball caps, a nice nod to those of us watching from the stadium. 

It was a very cool experience. Where else can you watch opera, drink a beer and eat chili cheese fries:

I hope you can join us in May 2014 for The Magic Flute!

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Trip Home or Trip to Connecticut?

Last month, I went to Connecticut to visit with friends and family. My visit home was the first in over 10 months. The question I got ask frequently was “how does it feel to be home?”

Its an intresting question. For many people, the place the you were born or grew up will always be consider home. Connecticut is no longer my home. I have not lived full time in Connecticut since 2003, the year I left for college. I consider the DMV (District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia) my home. Come August, I will have lived in the Washington, DC metroplitain area for 10 years.

Even worse, my mom sold my childhood home a few years ago. She put the house on the market at its height and got a great price for it. 

My Childhood Home

A few years later, she bought a smaller townhouse for an amazing price. Downsizing from a 4 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath house to a 2 bedroom, 1 1/2 bath was and still is the right decision.

My Mom's Current Place

Therefore, when I come to Connecticut and am asked, “Am I happy to be home?,” I feel awkward. Yes, I am excited to be in Connecticut to see friends and family. But, I don’t consider this home. Catch-22???

I think this is a feeling many young people feel. Many of us leave “home” for the first time to go to college. The minute that we pull out of the drive way of your home, things immediately change. At college, every night we return home to our dorm and that becomes "home". As college progresses, we move into apartments or houses and that becomes even more home. Then college ends and the college graduate leaves the walls of academia and gets their first place. Since he or she is hopefully paying for their place on their own, this become "home".

My hometown will always have a place in my heart. I have thousands of memories, from Little League games to Drama Club performances, and one day I will bring my future family back there. However, it is no longer home.

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I Love PreCheck!!!

I love PreCheck, which I received through my Global Entry application. Why you might ask?

Well, today Chris and I are on the road again this time to Colorado Springs. The trip is off to a GREAT start. Thanks to PreCheck security took 4 minutes. Our ride from economy parking took longer. The wait for our people mover to leave its gate took longer. For those who don't know Dulles, it takes 4 minutes normally to walk to the start of normal security. At Dulles, there is one massive security area; therefore, its always crowded regardless of the time of day. To say that Chris and I were impressed by our security experience today is an understatement.

Due to PreCheck, we even had time to stop by a very empty United Club:

Happy Travels Everyone!

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Live Like A Local: Theodore Roosevelt Island National Memorial

My favorite memorial in Washington, DC is one of the most overlooked: Theodore Roosevelt Island.

Theodore Roosevelt was the US's 26th President after the assination of President William McKinley. Teddy Roosevelt is many times overshadowed by his brother, President Franklin Roosevelt, but Teddy had some equally important accomplishments. For instance, he is a Nobel Peace Prize for mediating the Russo-Japanese War, ensured the construction of the Panama Canal and best known for his favorite proverb, "Speak softly and carry a big stick." He is less known for his conservation work. After he became President in 1901, Roosevelt used his authority to protect wildlife and public lands by creating the U.S. Forest Service and establishing 51 Federal Bird Reservations, 4 National Game Preserves, 150 National Forests, 5 National Parks and enabling the 1906 American Antiquities Act which he used to proclaim 18 National Monuments. During his presidency, Roosevelt protected approximately 230 million acres of public land.

For this reason, it is only fitting that his monument is a nature preserve. The Theodore Roosevelt Island National Memorial is an island in the middle of the Potomac accessible only from the Virginia side. There are two ways of getting there: drive and take public transportation.

Directions by Driving:

The Island can only be reached from the northbound lanes of the George Washington Memorial Parkway. After the Memorial Bridge follow the sign to turn right to enter the parking lot. There is a limited number of parking spots.

Public Transportation

The island is 10-15 minute walk from the Rosslyn Metro Station, which is operated by the Orange and Blue lines. When leaving the station, walk towards the McDonald's:

Walk through the little park to the left of McDonald to the stop light.

At the stop light, cross the street towards the Cosi and walk towards the bridge to Georgetown.

Eventually, you will see this sign and the walk path towards the Island.

Be careful, the path is broken up into two lanes. Many bicyclist use this path, so best to stay alert and walk near the grass.

 The path will lead to a windy bridge:

At the end of the bridge, you will be in the parking lot. 

Walk the length of the parking lot, you will come to a bridge and the entrance to the National Park.

The bridge offers a nice views of Georgetown, the National Cathedral and airplanes, since DCA is slightly down river.

At the end of the bridge, you are on the island. There are three main trains: swamp, upland, and woods. 

When I go to the island, I always do a swamp trail first, which takes you on the edge of the island. I typically go right at the sign and you will eventually hit his fork in the road. If you want to see the memorial, go left and up at this fork, if you want to continue on the swamp trail, go right.

The swamp trail gives you amazing views. Right off, the view is of Rosslyn skyline. 

Under the Rossevelt Bridge, one can see the Netherlands Carrolion, located at the Iwo Jima Memorial.

After going under the bridge again, there is a small path that takes you to the "swamp."  Take this path, because it leads to some of the best views from the island.

The swamp trail has a very nice boardwalk to walk on compared to the dirt style trails on the rest of the island:

The Kennedy Center:

The Watergate

Georgetown Harbour

The Francis Scott Key Bridge

However, no trip to the island is complete until visit Teddy himself:

The statue is huge and very Soviet like. The picture does not do the height of the statue justice. When you first see him, it is breath taking.  Other than the statue, there are a few fountains and 4 panels with some nice words. When I went to the island, there was no water in the fountains or water fountains.

                  

The other great part of the island is plane watching. Almost every 5 to 10 minutes, a plane flies over.

I hope that when you visit Washington, DC, you visit the memorial to our 26th President, a true American Hero!

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