We hoisted ourselves out of bed this morning, forgoing the most important meal of the day, and trundled off to get a cab to Penn Station. In doing so we successfully avoided Jumer and Tenille, our special friends from our stay here in the place so nice they had to name it twice.
For some time now in planning this venture, we looked forward, with anticipation, to what we called "The Obama Train", the same train route President Obama took in the days before his inauguration.
Something tells me we were treated differently than the President, both of us being disciplined by the conductor for using cell phones in our car.
But the trip was worry free, passing through such rust belt wonders as Newark, Wilmington, Philadelphia (where tons of Phillie phanatics boarded) and Baltimore. All trains seem to run through the back yards of cities, but the back yards of these cities are certain signs of our decadent society, the detritus, the refuse, the graffiti.
But soon enough we arrived in our nation's capital.
We hopped on the Metro to DuPont Circle and after getting oriented and re-oriented, shlepped to our hotel.
By the time we hit our hotel, we were famished and a terrific Chinese place was right across the street that had been frequented by local pols. The food was as advertised.
After we were engorged, we trundled off to the Metro to go to the game.
Our plan was simple, and traditional--pay no more than face value for tickets. As the Phillies were in town, they comprised over half (well over) of the attendees. But there were still plenty of seats available.
And the Nats have a wonderful plan where you can buy a $5 grandstand ticket and roam around the ballpark, often sitting in pricier seats as the ushers don't seem to care where one sits.
A couple of ducats were available so we snapped them up and skated in to the ballpark.
Fugitives from Justice in DC
Don Vito Rogina
Having a few hundred million bucks and Congress behind you can get things done. They built a great ballpark in a decaying portion of the city. The only thing they couldn't buy was a ball team.
The plethora of Phillie fans made for a rowdy evening, topped off by one of the biggest rainouts we have every seen. The clouds opened up and the winds swirled; the grounds crew had a difficult time putting the tarp on the infield.
Click on any image to enlarge
We waddled out of the stadium with 20,000 other fans, looking like some collection of soggy refugees. Still, it was baseball in our nation's capital.
We saw a notice of an oyster place near the White House that piqued our curiosity. When we arrived it turned out to be a place that had a contest pairing wines and oysters. The contest was judged by, among others, Antonin Scalia, who unfortunately for him, did not make our special friends list.
The pairings were exquisite.
Fully sated from a day of traveling, eating, baseball, eating, laughing, we hit the hay and looked forward to whatever tomorrow would bring.
NEW SPECIAL FRIENDS: Panama Jack, Big Boy 2
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