Cherry Blossom Festival

As if we didn't do enough walking while we were in New York, we headed directly to the Cherry Blossom Festival as soon as we got into DC. Hal had never seen them before and I knew he would love them, so we braved the Sunday crowds around the tidal basin.

I'm pretty sure DC was more crowded than New York was just from people wanting to see the blossoms. But if you're ever in town when they're blooming, I promise they're worth it.

I didn't get a really good picture of it, but 2,000 cherry trees line the tidal basin, and they all bloom at the same time and it creates the most magical sight you've ever seen. It's just pink and white blossoms as far as you can see.

As much as it may have made me complain about the surge of tourists on the metro, it was so worth going to see. It was such a fabulous way to end a long exciting weekend. 

Holi Holi

Hal and I had some friends invite us to George Mason's Color Festival. If you haven't ever been to a Holi festival, you're seriously missing out.

We started out so clean and pretty, but it didn't last very long

We had such a blast and would highly recommend seeing if a Holi festival is going on near you, or to keep an eye out for them next year.  Be sure to brush off all color before you wash your clothes or self. I may have ended up with a now colorful sweater, and Hal may have ended up with a pink scalp. Also, bald heads are the best canvases for color.

Peace Corps Parade of Nations

Last week I was so excited to be able to participate in the Peace Corps Parade of Nations at the Washington National's baseball game.

Unfortunately the Cambodia flag was already taken, but they needed more flag holders, so I was assigned Mauritania's flag.

We showed up outside the Nat's stadium and all stood around under a tent waiting to be let into the stadium. It was cloudy outside, but still warm.

We finally headed into the Nat's stadium and it just started sprinkling as we were let in. We all lined up in alphabetical order along the walls and went to pick up our country's flag.

It was so cool to be there lined up with all of the returned volunteers. I actually knew the girl who got to hold the Cambodia flag. She was in the same training house, the year after us. There were 4 of us returned volunteers from Cambodia. It was fun to all be there representing our Peace Corps country.

After staying in the hallway under the stadium for what seemed like forever, they announced that the game was canceled due to rain. BOOOO. We never got to march, but it was still fun to be there in the midst of so many returned volunteers.

Even though I didn't get to walk in the Parade of nations, when we traded in our rain out tickets for another night, we got amazing seats and had a great time. Lincoln handily won the Presidents race, which lets be honest, it's the best part of every Nat's game.

Eradicate Duchenne

My work often sponsors events that kind of seems like snooze fests to attend. At least for me to attend, so generally when they have extra tickets I don't go, but when my co-worker mentioned this fundraiser for Eradicate Duchenne was going to have 13 famous chefs from the area with food from their famous restaurants, I snatched those tickets right up.

The event was held at Eastern Market and it was just downright beautiful they way they had it decorated inside. 

We got to try so many delicious items from so many popular local resturants. It did feel a little weird to be there and realize we live in a place where this kind  of event happens all of the time, and a lot of the people there probably attend events like it all of the time.

We both had different favorites. Hal's favorite was was the scallops from Matt Baker of the Occidental Grill, and my favorite was the Lao Chicken Curry from Golden Bangkok. On man, it tasted like a more delicious Cambodia in my mouth and instantly made me nostalgic for Cambodia.  

I guess I shouldn't shy away from my work sponsored events in the future, because Hal and I had such a good time. 

Home Away From Home Date Night

Utah is really our home. Even though we may never live there again, and we're loving living in DC, Utah will always be our home. It's where we met and fell in love, and started our life together.

There are certain things that we miss a lot about Utah, and some are more prevalent than others.

But the most prevalent thing is the most important thing, food.

There are lots of restaurants I miss in Utah, so when we found out there's a Nielsen's Frozen Custard out here, Hal had to just about stop me from driving over there on the spot.

When we lived in Bountiful we'd frequent Cafe Rio and Nielsen's in one evening. It was just too easy when we lived right up the hill and could walk to Nielsen's. So we decided to have a Utah style date night in the DC suburbs.

We started out the night be hitting Cafe Rio, our favorite American style Mexican food. We've had such BAD Mexican food since moving out here, so it was nice to know Cafe Rio is just as delicious anywhere.

And then we drove an additional 15 minutes out to Nielsen's. Rumor has it one of the sons from the Nielsen family moved out here and started it.

Oreo Concrete, you are my second true love. 

It was a delicious night, and it tasted just like home.

How do you find pieces of home when you're away?

50 Best Day Hikes Near DC: Billy Goat Trail A

This is the latest hike that we've done this summer from our book. The hike in the book is actually much longer than what we did, but I started not feeling too well, so we headed back without completing Billy Goat Trail B, or the separate trail back to the start.

Instead, what we did was start out at the Great Falls State Park, in Virginia. It costs $5 to enter the park, but the pass was good for 2-3 days. We started out by visiting the historic houses in the park which surprisingly were really cool.  We then started along the path called the C&O Canal. It's actually a really nice walk. It's all flat since it's next to the canal, and it's great for families.

We then followed the path to the overlooks of the falls. You'll first come across a smaller falls and it's crazy to watch how much water is flowing through there, and how fast, as you're standing right above it. Continue on the path out to the Great Falls, and they really are great. And I must say, the pictures can't do it justice, the falls are absolutely beautiful. 

After seeing the falls we headed back to the C&O Canal path and continued on that for a bit until we reached the turn off for Billy Goat Trail A. Trail A is the hardest of the three Billy Goat trails. It's described as a "rock scramble" and that's exactly what most of the trail is. I think we only went a few miles that day, but it took much longer than most hikes because you're navigating boulders, and at one point, kind of rock climbing up a steep area of solid rock.

My Thoughts on this hike: 

There were warning signs about the amount of injuries sustained on the trail each year, would warn when a difficult section was coming up, and they had exit trails that led back out to the easy C&O Canal path in case of emergency.

We saw children and even an older man with walking sticks out doing this trail. This hike didn't have a ton of difficulty as there wasn't a lot of gaining or loosing elevation, but it was taxing, especially in the heat of the day. I'd say little children might not be the best for Trail A, unless you plan to wear them in carriers. 

Now having done the trail, I would probably park at the Old Angler's Inn, which lies between the start of Billy Goat Trail A & B. You can park there for free, and when we were driving home we saw cars lined up for a good ways down the street. 

This hike offered stunning view of the Potomac all throughout the hike. And of course my favorite part, we got to see lots of animals on this trail, which was unexpected, and a nice surprise. And we got to see people rock climbing across the Potomac, and people doing paddle board yoga.

Dear DC Tourists

Dear DC Tourists,

Tourist season is in full swing here in DC, and will be for many months to come. So I thought I'd do a post for the tourists visiting the area, sharing some tips on how to visit this great city and not annoy the locals.
This is my first time living in a city that is a tourist attraction so I noticed some things are a little different here, and I noticed how easy it is to get annoyed at the hordes of people that have descended upon DC.

1. DO NOT stand on the left side of the escalator. Left side = you walk up the escalator. I can't tell you how many times I see people doing this, and locals getting annoyed by this. Stand on the right, walk on the left.

2. DO NOT buy paper metro fare cards. They are the worst. The metro paper tickets cost an extra $1 each time you use them. Whereas the re-loadable metro card only costs $2 to buy, so if you're going even round trip, it's worth it to get a metro card. The machines that look a little like ATMs and are next to all of the huge fare card machines are where you buy metro cards. $10 gets you a metro card and $8 loaded on it. I avoid getting in line behind people using paper fare cards because they take longer and people often have problems with them.

3. Please, I urge you Please, do not all walk holding hands in a single row down the street. This is my biggest pet peeve. We all walk a lot in DC, it's a walking city, and I hate when a family or group is literally taking up the entire sidewalk because they're all walking in row. Chances are, locals want to walk faster than you, so please, for the love of pete, at least walk in two rows or something and leave room for others to walk around you.

4. Please don't stop in the middle of the sidewalk because you are lost. If you stop in the middle of walking down the sidewalk, you just might have someone run into you. If you realize you're lost or need to stop and look at a map, please move to the side of the sidewalk before you stop.

5. When the Metro conductor says move into the middle of the train car, please do. I see this every single day on the metro. Tourists crowd around the poles closest to the doors. This makes it really hard for people to get in and out of the metro car. And, if you move into the middle of the train car, you're more likely to get a seat as you'll be standing next to someone when they get up.

6. Don't be afraid to ask someone for directions, or if you're on the right side of the metro platform. I get asked all the time, and really I have no problem helping someone get to the right place.

Please don't let this discourage you from coming to visit. Do come visit. This is a fabulous city and we love living here and even sometimes playing tourists ourselves. Hopefully this will you be a cool in the know tourist.