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21 April 04
Having finaly settled comfortably and planning a modest itenary, I decided to head out for a night on the town, presumably to meet the local goths at one of their places, the velvet lounge at U st. Sounds like a simple plan, right? Too bad getting there was another matter entirely. You would think that east is east, west is west, north is north, and south is south, etc. Not so in DC. In what possibly could be the most ill concieved plans in the history of zoning and planning, the streets loop sideways, overlap, intersect 7 different ways at once, and are subject to sudden name changes, forced turns, one ways, roundabouts, etc. without warning. After what was approximatly 1 1/2 hours of some pleasant sight-seeing and frustrating meandering, I eventualy found my place, and free parking to boot. Appearantly, the goths were not there that night, but a band known as the Saucers were playing, who were a pretty damned good college-type band, and the scenary was great, similar to that of the vagabond except with a stageroom upstairs. Went home about 12ish, got back 1ish.
Next day, it was off to Mt. Vernon. The place, which is about a 10 mile drive south along the potomac river, reminded me of a cross between the Wichita Botanical Gardens and a highly maintained Wichita Cowtown Museum. They had the walk-in recreations of the stableries, slave quarters, and a tour of the mansion. The mansion was not as impressive as I would have thought, but then again, it was fairly large for its time. Also there was the livestock and crops, Similar to what was farmed there during Washington's time. The estate was BEAUTIFUL, every bit as hyped. Trees in bloom, the overlook of the river, the hills, the forest, the archetecture, etc. The highpoints of the visit were the deathbed of Washington, the old and new tombs of Washington, the slave memorial, and the Sword of Washington. Ive always thought it sad that the US has had so few cerimonial relics when compared to Europe- the sword of Washington would have been a good one to use. And of the slaves, yes he did keep slaves, and I have always been a tad skeptical of the whitewashing(ton) of his as well as other founding fathers treatments of their slaves and the issue of slavery. But looking through the original documents, relics, etc. it was admirable of his character, of how well he did treat the slaves in his servitude. How hands on a person he was when it came to farmwork, even into his twilight years. How committed he was to his causes, his humility, etc. As far as presidents go, he truely is the best there was, the best there is, and the best there ever will be. The cynic that I am, I was shocked to find out that all the hype turned out to be true...
I spent the rest of the afternoon walking through historic Alexandria, which reminded me of Wichita's old town district, but on a larger and more cramped scale. I was wanting to see the apothacary museum as well as the old lycium and a used record store I spied on my way to Mt. Vernon. After the effort it took in finding a parking space, not being able to find the museum or the lycium, and the CD store being closed, I cut my losses and decided to make my way toward the Georgetown mall, as was recomended to me by Valerie. On my way there, I managed to stop by a local Library in Chevy Chase to check my mail/log an entry. After an app. 4hr (!) drive, I ended up accidentaly at Georgetown SQUARE, instead of the intended mall. Another 2 hours later, through traffic, I made it to Wisconsin and M st. Another beautiful, but horrificaly crowded district with several unique shopping places. I did also eventualy find the Georgetown Mall, wedged in the crevices of the older buildings. While I did not find the store selection that impressive, the interior design was MAGNIFICANT. A 3 story mall, cleverly hidden on the outside, contained by a one story building with 2 basements. Within the mall, I found a hat store, with the hat that Ive always dreamed of having, a stiffly broad-brimmed black sun hat... THAT FITS!! It was somewhere around $85.00, but definitly money well spent. I walked by a comic shop, as well as "Commander Salamandar" as recomended to me by Brian (although I do not know why, that place was brighter than gadzooks.)
Unfortunatly, most of the places were closed by the time that I had got to them. So I then walked back to the car, then decided to find my way to the monday goth night that was advertised on their website. Another 2 hour drive to Alexandria, only to find the listed bar closed for the evening, despite being listed as opening at 10 and closing at 3am (!)... DC has things that I wish Wichita had. The parks, the scenery, the archetecture, the streetlife, the variety, the culture, etc. But also Wichita has things I prefer over DC, namely traffic effeciency, simplified street layout, less crowding, less expensive, and overall streamlined. But the 2 cities do have something in common- the fact that no one has shown up to two of their scheduled goth nights out. But with the fact that there's one (or in some cases 2) events scheduled a night, there's still pleanty of chances left. 3rd time's the charm...
Having finaly settled comfortably and planning a modest itenary, I decided to head out for a night on the town, presumably to meet the local goths at one of their places, the velvet lounge at U st. Sounds like a simple plan, right? Too bad getting there was another matter entirely. You would think that east is east, west is west, north is north, and south is south, etc. Not so in DC. In what possibly could be the most ill concieved plans in the history of zoning and planning, the streets loop sideways, overlap, intersect 7 different ways at once, and are subject to sudden name changes, forced turns, one ways, roundabouts, etc. without warning. After what was approximatly 1 1/2 hours of some pleasant sight-seeing and frustrating meandering, I eventualy found my place, and free parking to boot. Appearantly, the goths were not there that night, but a band known as the Saucers were playing, who were a pretty damned good college-type band, and the scenary was great, similar to that of the vagabond except with a stageroom upstairs. Went home about 12ish, got back 1ish.
Next day, it was off to Mt. Vernon. The place, which is about a 10 mile drive south along the potomac river, reminded me of a cross between the Wichita Botanical Gardens and a highly maintained Wichita Cowtown Museum. They had the walk-in recreations of the stableries, slave quarters, and a tour of the mansion. The mansion was not as impressive as I would have thought, but then again, it was fairly large for its time. Also there was the livestock and crops, Similar to what was farmed there during Washington's time. The estate was BEAUTIFUL, every bit as hyped. Trees in bloom, the overlook of the river, the hills, the forest, the archetecture, etc. The highpoints of the visit were the deathbed of Washington, the old and new tombs of Washington, the slave memorial, and the Sword of Washington. Ive always thought it sad that the US has had so few cerimonial relics when compared to Europe- the sword of Washington would have been a good one to use. And of the slaves, yes he did keep slaves, and I have always been a tad skeptical of the whitewashing(ton) of his as well as other founding fathers treatments of their slaves and the issue of slavery. But looking through the original documents, relics, etc. it was admirable of his character, of how well he did treat the slaves in his servitude. How hands on a person he was when it came to farmwork, even into his twilight years. How committed he was to his causes, his humility, etc. As far as presidents go, he truely is the best there was, the best there is, and the best there ever will be. The cynic that I am, I was shocked to find out that all the hype turned out to be true...
I spent the rest of the afternoon walking through historic Alexandria, which reminded me of Wichita's old town district, but on a larger and more cramped scale. I was wanting to see the apothacary museum as well as the old lycium and a used record store I spied on my way to Mt. Vernon. After the effort it took in finding a parking space, not being able to find the museum or the lycium, and the CD store being closed, I cut my losses and decided to make my way toward the Georgetown mall, as was recomended to me by Valerie. On my way there, I managed to stop by a local Library in Chevy Chase to check my mail/log an entry. After an app. 4hr (!) drive, I ended up accidentaly at Georgetown SQUARE, instead of the intended mall. Another 2 hours later, through traffic, I made it to Wisconsin and M st. Another beautiful, but horrificaly crowded district with several unique shopping places. I did also eventualy find the Georgetown Mall, wedged in the crevices of the older buildings. While I did not find the store selection that impressive, the interior design was MAGNIFICANT. A 3 story mall, cleverly hidden on the outside, contained by a one story building with 2 basements. Within the mall, I found a hat store, with the hat that Ive always dreamed of having, a stiffly broad-brimmed black sun hat... THAT FITS!! It was somewhere around $85.00, but definitly money well spent. I walked by a comic shop, as well as "Commander Salamandar" as recomended to me by Brian (although I do not know why, that place was brighter than gadzooks.)
Unfortunatly, most of the places were closed by the time that I had got to them. So I then walked back to the car, then decided to find my way to the monday goth night that was advertised on their website. Another 2 hour drive to Alexandria, only to find the listed bar closed for the evening, despite being listed as opening at 10 and closing at 3am (!)... DC has things that I wish Wichita had. The parks, the scenery, the archetecture, the streetlife, the variety, the culture, etc. But also Wichita has things I prefer over DC, namely traffic effeciency, simplified street layout, less crowding, less expensive, and overall streamlined. But the 2 cities do have something in common- the fact that no one has shown up to two of their scheduled goth nights out. But with the fact that there's one (or in some cases 2) events scheduled a night, there's still pleanty of chances left. 3rd time's the charm...