DC Final Day

We began our final day in DC with a “Deep-fried” gourmet breakfast of eggs, cereal, toast, strawberry jam, milk, and OJ. We had a communal meal as people walked around and ate off each others plates. Once we were ready and after making fun of a Gator on the elevator, we went to the folklife festival on the mall. It was a huge event that selected three cultures to showcase. This year was NASA, the country of Bhutan, and Texas (I kid you not). We first walked around the NASA area where we heard an enthusiastic explanation of how a shuttle is launched. In the Q&A session, Deep’s question to the NASA expert was, “Did we really land on the moon?” (It was worded a little differently but this way it’s funnier). We met up with Megan Bruner at the Bhutan tent to watch a cultural show. No one really knew what was going on in the show, but it was very energetic and included a failed attempt to get Rachel on stage. We soon escaped the heat with the help of our old friend - the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. Along the way, we had a good chat with our pasta cook from two nights ago who was selling water for the event. In the Smithsonian, we looked at the Hope Diamond, which Jordo’s family owned for a brief time. After a taste of cinnamon almonds from the Texas booth, we met up with Joey and went paddle boating in the tidal basin. The weather was perfect and we had a great time. Joey and I felt like fearless rescuers after tugging Deep and Kevin’s broken boat. But, after much manpower on mine and Joey’s part, we were only thanked by the hearty laughs of our tricksters. After a quick recharge at the dorm, we walked past the river to Georgetown. The Georgetown area is really classy and was packed with people. We had reservations at a nice Italian place called Pablos where we filled up on pizza and pasta. After dinner, we went to a bar that had a rooftop patio. We had a great time hanging out on the roof for what must have been a couple of hours. We finished up by walking through some shaddy neighborhoods in Columbia Heights (some areas were monitored by closed circuit television) to get to a house party. The best line of the night was when we told everyone not to worry because we had an All-American with us. Joey’s response as he picks up the pace: “Do you know what sport that’s in!!” The next day, we got breakfast at a nearby place called Tonic before heading to the airport. Everyone had an amazing time in DC – thank you Deep for setting everything up. It was a great three days and a reunion we have to repeat again soon.