GC/DC... get it?

NB: I'm once again typing from Boston's Logan Airport. I wrote this in the DC airport this morning, but they didn't have free wireless.  They did, however, have tornado warnings and kick a crazy lady off of her flight. That's the government for you, I guess... (Thanks for the free wireless, Boston) Our flight was delayed due to the weather, and then when we were about to take off the pilot said, "Uh, folks... there's smoke in the air traffic control tower, so they're going to evacuate and see what's going on... may be a while..." Good thing I was too tired to pee my pants freak out.

Background: the family took a trip to DC in 1998 and I remember enjoying it. My new interest in DC stems from my love for The West Wing, and the nation’s capital certainly didn’t disappoint. 

Got in Sunday afternoon, took a Super Shuttle to Regina’s house, and did what I do best: used the bathroom and took a nap.  We walked over to Eastern Market and browsed the produce, antiques, and Obama art, and then went home and watched a movie on an LCD projector that Regina’s roommate stole borrowed from the DC mayor. I was tired (shocking, I know) and still feeling a little sick, so we called it a night.

Woke up Monday morning and met Reg for lunch at her office.  I navigated the metro all by myself- and didn’t get lost! DC’s Metro is very nice, very clean, and very efficient.  It may be my favorite public transportation that I’ve taken on my trip.  Then I went off to the National Mall to go to some museums and see some sites.  I started at the National Museum of American History, which I have been incorrectly referring to as the Museum of Pop Culture for the last 12 years. During the Great Trip of ’98, Carol and Dennis dragged us from museum to museum and Jeff and Danielle and Carol were cranky and tired (can you imagine?) by the time we were supposed to go to the American History museum, so Dad and I went alone.  I remember there being a lot of cool pop culture staples last time—Seinfeld’s puffy shirt, Judy Garland’s ruby slippers, etc— so I couldn’t wait to go back.  They still have the ruby slippers on display, and now they have Carol Burnett’s “I Saw It in the Window” Dress from her Gone with The Wind sketch and Kermit the Frog! I could have gotten on a plane home right there and then and called my trip a success, but I went down to the president and first lady exhibits and saw all the inaugural gowns and Bill Clinton’s sax and Abe Lincoln’s top hat and a whole bunch of crap awesome crap that people have held on to.  Downstairs they have Julia Child’s kitchen.  She donated it when she moved to Santa Barbara at some point so they literally ripped it right out of her house.  Her pots and pans are hanging on the walls, her magnets on the fridge… pretty cool.

Next I walked over to the Air and Space museum which, in the author’s opinion, could use an overhaul.  Sure it’s cool to see the Wright Brother’s planes, and it’s beyond cool to see the space suits that Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong wore on the moon, but the museum is a zoo.  Maybe I’m disenchanted with air and space because I have been flying for 3 weeks, or maybe I was riding my high from seeing Kermit.  Whatever the reason, I wasn’t overly impressed.

Then I walked over to the White House and saw the national Christmas tree and took some pictures of where President Bartlett Obama lives. The whole thing felt very presidential.  Went over the Vietnam memorial, which was very touching and moving, and then went to see the Lincoln memorial.

OK. On a map, all of this stuff looks extremely close.  But shit is far away in DC! It’s all a bunch of eye tricks.  My feet were killing me, my legs were killing me…my sedentary lifestyle has been uprooted and I think my body is trying to tell me that it doesn’t like it.  I walked the mile and a half back to the Metro and then went to meet Reg for dinner at Top Chef Spike’s burger restaurant. We went to go see The Easy A which I give an Easy F (good one, huh?) and Reg pointed out all the historic sites around the movie theatre—like where John Wilkes Booth met with his co-conspirators before he killed Lincoln at Ford’s theatre. (Regina gave me this book to read called Assassination Vacation where this chick went around and saw all the sites that relate to presidential assassinations. This is my favorite sentence so far: Going to Ford’s Theatre to watch the play is like going to Hooters for the food.)

On Tuesday I went to meet SCUer Meggie on her birthday at the capital.  She is working for Zoe Lofgren, and taking DC by storm! She took me on a tour and we went to both the House and Senate galleries. Full disclosure: even after 7 seasons of The West Wing, 16 years of education, and 24 years of being American, I still don’t exactly understand the difference between the two.  Meggie knows all the secrets of the Congress (it’s Congress, right?) tour and did a fantastic job of pointing out all the cool things—like the panels in the House gallery that LOOK like wallpaper, but are really screens that change to show all the different votes.  I took a bunch of pictures when they let me, and treated Meggie to lunch…in the cafeteria.  I am nothing if not a big spender and great birthday gift giver.

I headed over to Arlington National Cemetery to pay my respects.  Since 1998, I have become more interested in the Kennedys—especially Bobby.  I was leaving Bobby’s grave and going to Ted Kennedy’s grave—just as Senator John Kerry was leaving! Celebrity sightings truly can happen anywhere.  I walked to the tomb of the unknown soldier and saw the changing of the guards, and saw the memorials for the Challenger and Columbia flight crews. 

Regina, her roommate Emily and I went to sushi for dinner.  The food was good, but we really went because it turns into a Karaoke bar at 10:00! I didn’t have enough to drink and they didn’t have my standard, “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You” by Frankie Valli, so I did not partake.  But I did enjoy listening to the DCers sing “Sitting on the Dock of the Bay” and “Twist and Shout.”

Regina took Wednesday off and we slept in, then went over the Holocaust museum for heavy subject matter, reading, and standing.  The museum was beautiful and haunting—and completely silent—save the couple in front of me, who were reading out loud to each other.

It kind of reminded me of watching TV with my grandmother—who repeats everything they say as if we weren’t listening.

Oprah: And we’re giving you all wedding dresseeeeeeeeees!

Nonni: They all get wedding dresses.

Oprah: And we’re giving you plaaaaane tiiiiiiccckeeets!

Nonni: They get plane tickets, too.

Oprah: And we’re paying for your honey mooooooooooon!

Nonni: Oprah’s going to pay for their honey moon.

Carol: We get it, Mom.

Regina and I went over to Georgetown to see her old stomping grounds and the Exorcist stairs (spooky scary!) and to add another Jesuit institution of learning to my list. Then we met up with her roommates and TACSCer Karl for an eclectic happy hour.  Went back to Regina’s house and watched “I Love You, Man” which I bought at the DC Blockbuster as part of their 5 for $20 sale. It was funny-- but served as a reminder that I need more friends. Went to sleep (on opposite sides of the bed, Mrs. Moore) and woke up in time for the shuttle to come pick me up.

So I didn’t get to meet Barack or get into the West Wing, but I still felt presidential and American, and that I completed my West Wing pilgrimage. I watched every episode of every season of the West Wing in about 10 months. I fell in love with the Bartlett administration and everyone who worked for it. And I cried during just about every episode.  I cried during the sad parts, I cried during the touching parts, I cried during the credits, and I especially cried when it was all over.  TV series finales seem to serve one purpose: to break me.  I have never handled them well.  Be it sitcom or drama, Roseanne or The Nanny, Frasier or Friends, Full House or Home Improvement, The West Wing or ER (who are we kidding…I still haven’t watched the ER finale because I know how I will react…I have a lot of feelings and the emotional capacity of a pregnant woman), I hate saying goodbye to fictional TV characters. I kept putting off The West Wing finale because I wasn’t feeling up to it, and I didn’t want to say goodbye to the best TV show I’ve ever watched* and the greatest people who never lived.  I somehow mustered up the strength, sobbed the entire time, and then made the mistake of calling Jeff to talk about it and leaving a message (still crying, mind you) when he rudely didn’t pick up.  He may or may not have transferred it to mp3. Asshole. 

Off to Chicago in a few minutes, assuming that the tornado warnings all over the news are lies. What should I see in the Windy City?

God bless you. And God bless America.

G

*tied with Roseanne