Brian: Moms: skip this next sentence. I think this morning was only the second piece of fruit I’ve eaten this entire trip. But to make up for lost time, I had several apples right off the tree. Actually, I only ate them because they were free. Sorry Mom. So Nick and I bid Matt and his girlfriend adieu at the orchard and began to make our way to the nation’s capitol, which will effectively be the end of our time in the northeast and the end of the first act of our trip. We tried to get a picture of the four of us as we left the orchard, but the kind woman operating Nick’s iPhone only succeeded in snapping a delightful photo of her forefinger. I was worried when she asked us if it was one of those new iThingys that her son has. Oh well. We finally tired of the radio about halfway to D.C. and began listening to our first book on tape.
Nick: It’s a book by Nelson Demille who, if you don’t know, frequently writes suspenseful action books. Think Jack Bauer in print. But unlike the last few seasons of 24, DeMille’s books are pretty darn good. In fact, we were so entranced, we didn’t notice I had iTunes on “shuffle” which of course meant we listened to the first few chapters in totally random order. Some English major I turned out to be… Anyway, Brian drove into the capitol, which was nice. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I usually love battling disgruntled North East drivers for lane territory and then desperately weaving in and out of traffic in an attempt to grab the right exit before we go flying past. But sometimes you can have too much fun, and I was pretty ready for the passenger seat. We met Brian’s friend Alex at his house, the headed into the city.
Brian: It was probably our second longest walk on this trip so far, our first of course being the 10-mile death march (actually not so bad) through Jersey. We miraculously found free parking downtown amidst a massive LGBT rights rally, and walked from the capitol building to the Lincoln memorial, stopping at the Washington monument and the White House along the way. Several times blockades forced us to take detours so I have to imagine we walked at least 4 or 5 miles. Several topics of conversations came up, but the most memorable was perhaps an idea for the greatest movie never made: Jedi Knights vs Zombies. Imagine the effectiveness and utility of a lightsaber against a horde of the walking dead. Of course the topic of killing zombies leads to conversations about guns, and conversations about guns leads Nick to declaring, “I am exhausted and heavily armed,” directly in front of the capitol. The context of the statement is, “I would only want to fight zombies on the capitol steps as a last resort if I am exhausted and heavily armed,” but you have to watch what you say. As Alex said, this city has ears.
Nick: And she said. What? After a much historic site seeing and numerous conversations concerning the synthesis of all things awesome and good in the universe, we sought out a local watering hole to see what the DC nightlife might have to offer. Turns out the city doesn’t have too much to offer… at least not where we were, which, to be fair, was actually just outside the city. No matter. We met up with Alex’s friend Andrew, who was a spirited young man with an enthusiasm for stories from our journeying and the ability to tell a few of his own. Good night.
Brian: It was a good night to be sure. Thanks again for reading, and a shout out blog thanks to Alex for letting us crash at his place for a few days (even though he apparently doesn’t even have time to read the blog). There is a lot to see in D.C. so expect another couple days of our take on American history. Love, Brian and Nick. And out.
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