Raising Jordans

First and foremost sorry for the delay.  It has been a whirlwind since we arrived in Manhattan full of learing how to navigate, toiling (unsuccessfully) to get american cell phones and meeting the incredible people I will be spending my next two years with.  So that hasn’t left me much time to blog and I promise an introduction to our new home and manhattan lifestyle is coming.  As for now, here is the last installment of our trans-america road trip -Washington D.C.!  The capitol was a city that had a comfortable homeyness to it.  Perhaps it was the heritage architecture of Georgetown or the plentiful local eateries and boutiques dotting the streets-cape that was reminiscent of our hometown of Victoria B.C. Nonetheless we ate our fill and filled our brains with all the history and wealth this vast, diverse country has to offer.

1. Stay at the Fairmont Washington D.C.

Thanks again to my dear (and dearly missed) friend Kyle we wrangled another few nights at the Fairmont Washington D.C. and it was unbelievable.  The location is spectacular, right in Dupont Circle which made a great hub for all our escapades.  We were able to easily get to Georgetown, The white house, the Smithsonian and Lincoln memorial without ever having to step foot in our car.  Another additional Jordan family friendly feature is that the hotel backs on to a stunning trail that weaves along the creek bed under greenery draped bridges, as well as for Jay’s pleasure the bottom floor houses cross fit gym. We made excellent use of both and the photo above is from the aforementioned creek area.

2. It’s hot. Eat at Ice Berry

As you walk the streets of Georgetown on your way to Georgetown University (another must see) you will see a cupcakery or fro-yo spot every 10 stores.  We forwent the traditional pink berry and hagen-daas in favour of a bright, cheerful little place titled Ice Berry.  They now have a handful of stores across the USA but they originated and are headquartered in D.C. so they gets some local points from us on that one.  Or maybe I am simply giving them bravo points because even a week later their Peach-Mango frozen yogurt leaves me with hunger pangs whenever I think of it.

3. Kinatro Sushi

So for the first, oh, 5.5 years of our 6 years relationship whenever Jay suggested we go out for dinner I hijacked the decision making process and always settled on Sushi.  In the past months I have been trying to let him take the reigns a little more, but he must really love me because when we stumbled (literally) across Kinatro and he conceded to my sushi craving whims.   We both left very glad we did.  The maybe 700 square foot restaurant sat 8 tables that we more or less filled the entire time we were there and the sushi chef is never more than arms length away so you can watch as he prepares your entire spread.

4. Charm Thai

What sushi is to me, thai (or sometimes mexican) is to Jay.  So for our second night we stayed close to home and ate at Charm Thai.  Now after 5 straight hours of walking through monuments and museums we were ravenous for an early dinner at 4pm (please don’t judge). Since most of the world wouldn’t dream of supping that early or hasn’t even strayed home from work yet we had the place to ourselves for most of our dinner experience.  This meant impeccable service which only further complimented the artistically presented and taste bud rocking thai food.  This was no Little Thai Place, that is for sure (nothing against Little Thai Place.. I love them too).

5. Georgetown. Just go.

This section of the city is stunning.  The capitol region has done a wonderful job of keeping the buildings and storefronts true to their roots in a charming heritage style.  But don’t just stay on the main drag, venture off a little and look at the cute, quaint and undeniably expensive architecture of the homes that house some of the countries most brilliant minds.  You will see tightly knit stone walled homes with ivy climbing the walls and perennials flowing out of window boxes.  How perfect.

6. Get you geek on at the Smithsonian

My brother in law is a mechanical engineer and a dear friend of mine’s husband was the a former engineer for Boeing and after having heard their tales, factoids and stories we knew we wanted to learn more.  So with they unknowingly helped be our deciding factor in which of the multiple Smithsonian museums to explore -the Air and Space Museum.  Some of the highlights were that we got to follow the progressions and learn the underpinnings of the US space race and early space discovery programs which our previously mentioned friend played at hand, as well as see the original restored plane first flown by the Wright brothers. Go check it out, you may find you learn something … or a lot of things.

7. Monuments, more and more monuments

We did the gamete.  We spent from mid morning to early evening on our feet, walking through what became blistering heat to see everything from the white house, to the national mall, to the capitol building, to the Washington Monument (which is under construction), to the reflecting pool, to the WWII memorial to last, but very not least the Lincoln Memorial. We also had the pleasure to be in the city during the50 year anniversary of Martin Luther King’s famous I have a dream… speech.  Now, although we left the day before the official day of festivities we got to watch them set up on the steps of the Lincoln memorial and interview a few key players in the celebration.  The energy was infectious.