People started gathering early in front of the Netherlands Carillon for the DC 4th of July fireworks. I arrived around 6:30pm and met up with Patrick and Cassandra. Sundown wasn't until around 9pm so we killed some by playing Scrabble. Cassandra and Patrick are what I would call "Scrabble Grand Masters". I am what I would call a "Scrabble Trainee". Needless to say, the score was a bit lopsided. I guess all those hours of getting my ass kicked by iPhone Scrabble really didn't help improve my skills. Still, it was a good way to kill some time. A few others joined later so we had a decent group by the time the fireworks started. It was a good show, but I think I've got my fill of fireworks for a few years (unless, of course, I'm the one shooting them off).

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I was not particularly happy with these groups as they all decided to go to the food court at the exact time I did. Many of them were in line at McDonalds, but were spilling over into more respectable fast food restaurants … like Popeye’s … where Katie and I were ordering. Neither one of us has ever eaten at Popeye’s Chicken and felt we were missing out on an important piece of Americana.

I recommend to anyone visiting Popeye’s at the High School Field Trip Mall that they bring a laser pointer to clearly identify parts of the Popeye’s menu from which they wish to order. There was a section on the menu entitled, “Pick any 2”. Under the “Pick any 2” were several options that would require a powerful set of binoculars to read correctly. I’m quite sure one of the options was a Buffalo Chicken wrap thing. I tried to order my Buffalo Chicken wrap thing (I call it a “thing” because I was unable to read the 5 point font description on the menu) and the cashier had no idea what I was talking about. I said the name again. Still no comprehension. I said the name louder (clearly the best way to get a non-native English speaker to understand you). Again, a blank stare. Next I said it and pointed to my item on the menu. She looks at where I’m pointing, but can’t seem to figure out which of the 37 items they had crammed into that section of the menu I was talking about. This continued several times until I gave up and ordered the chicken sandwich. I feel a laser pointer would have been very useful at this point.

 Katie, in her typical absentmindedness, ordered a small drink without specifying what drink she actually wanted. The cashier didn’t seem to find anything odd about this and promptly poured Katie a Diet Coke. Katie looked at the cup and said, “What is this?” “Diet Coke.” “No, I wanted Sprite.” Finally we got our whole order straightened out. My chicken sandwich was ok, but I still wonder what the buffalo chicken thing tasted like – or if they even have it.”

One of my stops in the mall was Macy’s. I found a pair of pants to try on and headed to the dressing room near the Levi’s section. I am quite sure the men’s dressing room doubles as a crack house during off-peak hours. Several things I found odd about the dressing room (and, unfortunately my phone doesn’t have a camera so I don’t have pictures):

1) It smelled like urine
2) There was a stain in the corner where the urine smell was strongest
3) There were a large number of shirt/pant pins stuck into the carpet – I understand a few, but there were hundreds.
4) There were many empty soda bottles strewn around
5) There was a dark red splatter on the wall which looked like someone had been shot
6) Despite that section of the store being fairly crowded there was no one else in the dressing room.

I ended up walking home with some Clark’s shoes. If anyone has never worn Clark’s shoes I would HIGHLY recommend them. I have a couple pair already and they are by far the most comfortable shoes I own.

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Saturday morning we headed into the District for the Cherry Blossom Parade. As expected, it was a mob scene. We found a spot right at the beginning of the route. We were about 5 meters back from the parade route, but on an elevated patch of grass so we could see the parade go by. The weather wasn’t too cold but it was very windy which made it seem colder than it was. Some of the parade participants were putting all their weight into keeping some tall flags standing up straight. I’m sure by the end of the parade they were exhausted.

We watched the parade from this location for about 20 minutes but, you’ve seen one parade, you’ve kind of seen them all. We walked back through the staging area which was actually a much better viewing location because there weren’t many people, but many of the bands/dancers/etc. were playing/performing – probably to keep warm with the wind chill. We continued on to the Museum of American History. Since re-opening in November, the lines for the Star Spangled Banner and First Lady exhibits were always too long. Now, however, with everyone down watching the parade the lines were pretty short. I’m not a dress person, but I thought the First Lady exhibit would have more than only a handful of dresses (especially with the long lines I had seen previously). If you’re at this museum and the First Lady line is down the hall, I would just skip it.

Next we headed over to Eastern Market to eat at the one restaurant inside the covered part of the market. The line there was over an hour. Katie loves the food so we waited, but not without me spending most of the time complaining and being a general nuisance. Apparently they are known for their breakfast, but we missed the breakfast menu by about 10min.

After lunch we stopped in at the National Gallery of Art. We went to two of the exhibitions – Dutch Cityscapes of the Golden Age and Robert Frank’s The Americans photography exhibit. The Dutch cityscapes were amazing. I highly recommend it for anyone visiting DC through May 3^rd.

By this time we were exhausted and headed home. Saturday night we took it easy and watched Slumdog Millionaire which we had from Netflix. It was nice to watch an Indian movie that wasn’t full of dancing and singing.

Sunday we hit the International Spy Museum. It’s really more the history of spying than anything current but was still quite good. I wanted to hit at least one museum that charged admission while my parents were in town who would pay for the tickets). After the Spy Museum we went down to the tidal basin to see all the cherry blossoms. Most of DC also had the same idea. The basin was chock-‘o-block full of people. We snapped a few pictures of the cherry blossoms and walked to the Jefferson Memorial. To avoid walking back through the crowd we took the bike path back to our apartment – a ~2.5 mile walk.

Basically I was able to put a checkmark next to “See Cherry Blossoms” on my list of things to do in DC.

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Katie in front of the Washington Monument

Why I haven’t written a blog.

So, in theory, I’m the “writer” of the family, but so far “our blog” has become Ryan’s blog, which I suppose is fitting since the url is www.ryanlyford.com. I’m not offended. That way when my students google my name, it won’t come up (or not on the first page). It’s been relatively smooth first 6 months of married life in D.C. Sometimes I miss sleeping until noon and then spending the next 6 hours preparing something elaborate for dinner…now I am up at 6 am, eat granola bars for breakfast, and grade papers through lunch as I try not to spill any of my Lean Cuisine on it. But, it is good to be earning real money and using my brain. I managed to land a long term substitute position after a teacher retired in January. I have a load of juniors—including one AP Language and Composition class. I really love the school and hope to be gainfully employed there or at some other high school in the next year. It seems I’ve got a big foot in the door. Even though I arrived at this job under what everyone considered “difficult circumstances,” it’s actually been the most enjoyable, relaxed, intensely rewarding teaching experience I’ve ever had. It’s been really really good for me and my laundry basket of self-doubts about my current career path. It turns out that at least Wakefield High Students seem to think I know what I’m doing and even like me. Even if they don’t do their homework, they are relatively curious about the world and get excited about, you know, learning things. I have a fabulously fun, intelligent, and caring department that provides breakfast goodies every Friday morning. It more than makes up for my closet sized classroom with scurrying mice running through the walls and across the floor. I would hangout with the mice and be respected, trusted, and appreciated for the rest of my life before returning to the shiny new buildings from whence I came.Besides my new cool job, here are some things I really love about life around here:

–Even though I have to take an elevator 16 stories down and yet another flight of stairs to get my car, it’s nice that it’s always nice and warm/cool/dry on cold/hot/wet days.

–I am now intimately familiar with the wonders of Trader Joe’s grocery store. There’s one 10 minutes away in Old Towne.

–I can get to Old Towne Alexandria on my bike. Or even Mt. Vernon, if you’re really ambitious. I can walk/run/ride my bike to the heart of the district.

–Our church meets in a building right next to the FDIC. I didn’t even know what that was until I moved here. We see it every Sunday, and make sure they’re insuring all our savings.

–Our neighborhood is peppered with fun ethnic restaurants. Whether you crave Greek, Sushi, Peruvian, Eritrean, Ethiopian, Thai, or Afghan Kabob…and more…you’re covered.

–I can run on the treadmill and watch The Food Network in the workout room.

–I can walk to the Pentagon City Mall (has every store you could ever want, including Sephora), Costco, Ann Taylor Loft, Bed Bath and Beyond, World Market, banks, post offices—WALK—I’m telling you.

–There are at least 3 or 4 different versions of NPR and PBS. This means that one radio station is devoted EXCLUSIVELY to classical music 24/7 (except for the Jim Leher news hour at 7pm). It’s pretty wonderful. Imagine getting the local weather and traffic report and THEN hearing a Brandenburg Concerto. Similarly, there’s a PBS station that is largely devoted to the “creative” stuff such as cooking, fine arts, and travel. Other stations/channels are devoted to boring stuff that Ryan likes like Marketplace and Morning Edition.

I’m sure I could go on, but that’s enough for now. Besides, it’s almost time for The Office. Priorities, man, priorities. Maybe I’ll write a sappy poem about the Cherry blossoms and post it soon. What I really want to know is—do these trees actually grow cherries? If so, can I pick them to eat? Or bake in a pie?

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