I'm too Sacsay....(April 22, 2007 continued)

There was a sign for Sacsayhuaman (pronounced, and I'm not joking, "sexy woman") and we asked someone where those ruins were...he told us over the hill. So, we climbed and rested, climbed some more and couldn't find any ruins! At the top of the hill, we asked again, and some ladies said, "No! You need to go down the hill (yeah, the one on which we'd just exhausted ourselves to climb it) and take the bus." Alison, always humoring me, follows me on the "short cuts" that I find. They never are short cuts, though. But Alison continues to walk along with me anyway.

We finally got on a bus and were dropped off at the road leading to Sacsayhuaman. We passed a man weaving a brightly colored poncho on a loom (takes him 8 days to weave the fabric, he said). Along the way, there were canchas (soccer fields) surrounded by sunken ruins. Taxistas (taxi drivers), with their taxis parked along the canchas, were drinking beer--makes ya feel safe on the road, huh?

We arrived at the grassy expanse in front of the ruins and sat there, trying to avoid the hawkers and tour guide offerings. Alison pulled out a set of headphones attached to nothing and "listened to music" while I buried my nose in my book. The ruins at Sacsayhuaman were pretty incredible. Three tiers of rock walls zig-zag along the grass. The stones fit perfectly one into another. It was amazing. All done with out concrete or mortar. Just stone upon stone, fitted to perfection. Maybe a jigsaw puzzle of the gods.

We climbed up and took a good look at the sun calendar. It was high above Cusco and the view was incredible. We were exhausted, though. We had walked about seven hours that day. With that in mind, we considered taking a taxi back to town but I didn't want to pay eight soles so we walked. It turned out to be a very pleasant, downhill, 15 minute walk.

On our way down, in San Blas, we were solicited by two competing restaurants (literally across the street from each other). We opted for Tuco, the restaurant by which I had been solicited. Our goal that night was to eat traditional Peruvian cuisine. Peru has nothing on Chile for sophistication, however their cuisine is, without a doubt, superior to Chile's. I opted for the alpaca a la plancha (alpaca steak) and Alison, brave soul that she is, ordered cuy (guinea pig!).

The salads were amazing...we'd really been missing fresh vegetables. That was probably the highlight of the meal. I tried Inca Cola (the flavor of Peru) and it wasn't too bad. Finally the big moment arrived. The main course! The alpaca steak was a grayish rectangle accompanied with slightly soggy fries. Nothing too exciting or worth writing home about. Alison's cuy, though...well, a picture speaks 1000 words. Just take a look. It was one of the most disgusting things I had ever seen!! She ordered a half cuy...cut right down the middle from head to tail. It laid flat, de-haired...cooked with a brown glaze on it. There was a head (no eyese, no teeth) and a front paw WITH claws!!! Ugh! I still have fleeting, disgusting thoughts of that little clawed, cooked paw moving up and down, trying to lift its dead, cooked corpse off the plate. Mmmm!! Eat up!

It was divided in 3 parts (head, upper body, and lower body). Alison bravely peeled back the skin of the upper body and tried to find some meat. Let's just put it this way: half a guinea pig contain much meat. She cut a little piece off and tried it. I tasted a teeny bit. Ugh! It tasted like it'd been cooked in the same oil used to fry the trout they were advertising that night. Not at all to my liking.

I ate my alpaca and fries and Alison tried some of mine. When Javier, the guide/university student at Puca Pucara, cornered us out there, he told us he was also a chef! Talk about a Renaissance man! He told us he would give us a discount if we came to his restaurant that night. We asked what kind of food they prepared and specifically asked about cuy and alpaca. He assured us that they served cuy and real alpaca. He warned us about restaurants that dishonestly serve regular mea rather than alpaca. Alpaca meat, he informed us, should be different. He said, "It should be soft, like your own flesh." Alison, without missing a beat, responded, "Well, I've never tried my own flesh." It was hilarious. Javier didn't get it.

So, my alpaca was a little tough and chewy...maybe it wasn't alpaca, but it was different than anything else I'd tried. Alison couldn't finish her cuy...and I couldn't blame her! I tried another, larger piece, just to make sure...and yep. It still tasted gross. The thought of that half guinea pig on a plate still gives me the heebie jeebies!! We checked out the skull...flipped it over and morbidly checked out the brains. Ick. As we picked at the cuy, the waiter told us that you normally eat it like you would ribs or a chicken leg...just pick it up in your hands and dig in. Skin and all. Blech.

After "dessert" of fruit (I don't understand how South Americans think that fruit is dessert!!) for Alison and a panqueque con dulce de leche for me, we walked back to the hostel and got ready for bed. I felt like the walking dead!! I was bushed! Dinner had been so hilarious because we were tired...and because Alison had half a rodent on her plate.

As soon as we got back to the hotel, though, we crashed...and it was only 8:30. Good night!

Peru: Don't forget the time change! (April 22, 2007)

Sunday morning I woke up to darkness and the sound of rain trickling outside. It was so dark outside and my alarm clock said that we had at least two more hours. Good! I was too tired. So, the alarm went off at 6:00 and we got up. We had a lot to accomplish that morning before church at 8:00 a.m. After the shower fiasco (see the previous post), we got ready in the bedroom and it was pitch black outside. I asked Alison how much time I had and, glancing at my alarm clock, she told me it was 6:37. So, I had a little more than 20 minutes to pack up and get myself ready for an entire day of church and excursion. I grabbed my alarm clock and it slipped out of my hands. I asked Alison to check her watch and tell me the exact time to reset the clock. She said, "Quarter to six." Huh?! I had forgotten to change my alarm clock from Chile time to Peru time, so we had gotten up a WHOLE hour early!! Good grief! We had a good laugh about it, but I really could have used that extra hour of sleep.

In Cusco, you can barely go more than four steps in the Plaza de Armas without someone offering to sell you something...shoe shine, cheap reproduction paintings, dolls, their llama....It gets a little old.

First thing we needed to do that morning, at 7:30 and before 8:00 a.m. church, was go to the train station to buy our tickets to go to Aguas Calientes, otherwise known as Machu Picchu pueblo. We left Alison's debit card in my suitcase and decided that I would pay for the train tickets on my credit card. However, we learned that they don't take credit cards at the train station! Are you KIDDING me? I attempted to take money out of the ATM machine there, but it wouldn't recognize my card. 8:00 a.m. church was looking less and less likely.

We walked back up Avenida del Sol--the main drag--where the banks were. I finally found one, after numerous attempts, that would accept my debit card. Annoyed, we took a taxi back to the train station and had definitely missed the beginning of 8:00 a.m. church. Bummer. We bought our train tickets (which were rather expensive...they really suck everything they can out of the tourists) and the girl who sold us the tickets refused to give us change and NO ONE takes big bills! I was SO annoyed.

So, we decided to go to church at 10:00. In the mean time, we got our breakfast at a small family-run store. Alison asked the woman how she could identify fake money because it is a rampant problem in Peru and got a 15 minute lesson on how to recognize the falso. Meanwhile, not listening, I was trying to decide if the cheese they had in the "refrigerator case" ("refrigerator case" that was probably unplugged) was still edible. The bread wasn't as good as Chilean bread and the cheese tasted like dirty feet, but my mango juice was good...and I was carrying my trusty 2.5 liters of bottled water to drown my cold. So that helped.

We went to take some photos near the statue of Pachacutec, the Inka king and founder of Machu Picchu and the Sun god fountain on Avenida del Sol as we killed time waiting until we needed to go to church.

Typical to South America, the street signs are screwy. One side of the street has numbers completely unrelated to the ones on the opposite side. Despite the confusion, we were able to find the building where church was to start at 10 a.m. Strange, though, were the black tarps covering the inside of the gates and the newspaper covering the windows of the front doors. Hmmm....We waited, doubtfully, until 10:05 a.m. and not a soul had shown up to open the gates. Although, one man passing by did ask me to send someone from the church to see him. When I told him I wasn't a missionary, he apologized, shook my hand and walked away. You could still smell the alcohol a good 20 seconds after he left. We were both very bummed about missing church that day. We went back to our hotel, changed our clothes, had a little prayer and spiritual thought and headed out.

We were both pretty stressed out the day before because of unfamiliarity with the city and the fact that we hadn't really seen anything yet. The prices surprised us and the fact that we didn't know what to see stressed us out, too.

We took a taxi to the bus station and paid to go to Pisac to see some of the ruins. On the road to Pisac, it dawned on us that we didn't have enough time to go all the way to Pisac and really explore it and all the ruins outside Cusco. What do we do?? Should we squeeze past every person in the insanely crowded bus to get off in Tambomachay, the last ruins right before the long ride to Pisac, or just not make a big deal about it, save ourselves from having to displace half the bus as we crawl out, and go to Pisac? Next thing I know, Alison yells out (and loud, mind you) "BAJAMOS AQUI!" (We're getting off here!). It was hilarious to see this tall gringa yell that in the midst of a COMPLETELY packed Peruvian bus. We piled off the bus, permiso-ing as we squeezed past people. I nearly died laughing.

The ruins at Tambomachay have fountains/bathing places. We hiked around a bit with some other confused tourists who, like us, didn't know what there was to see. We hiked up a small hill and asked some local kids whose parents were planting on the hill if there was anything else to see. Not really. We shared our info with Michael, a nice German man who was with a group of three other friends. I talked to him a little about his travels. He's been to southeast Asia a lot. I love how well-traveled Europeans are. We walked to the next ruins, Puca Pucara, with the Germans and were quickly accosted by Javier.

Javier said he was a student at the university and wanted to help us understand the ruins better...so that they ended up being more than just rocks to us. He said he'd give us two minutes free and then we could tip him what "was born from [our] hearts." We listened, with the Germans, and tried to translate Javier's English into English the Germans could understand. After a couple minutes, we thanked Javier and decided to explore on our own. Javier kept bugging us and we kept telling him no. I hate being solicited. It makes me feel like I need to be on the defensive.

We sat on the grassy ruins, eating chocolate and drinking water, while gazing at the gorgeous, green Andes mountains (named for a tribe in the jungle, I learned from my guidebook that day). It was really beautiful.

We walked down the road, thinking we'd shortly come across more ruins. Not so! They were much farther apart than we realized. So, we walked and walked along the road. We were in the middle of nowhere. There was nothing around us...definitely NO bathrooms. So, Alison and I hunted for an ideal potty spot. I'll spare you all any more details. However, I found it pretty liberating to feel as though I wasn't controlled by whether or not there was a bathroom available. It truly is a man's world. I bet men rarely bring their own hand sanitizer, though. We definitely had that covered!

As we walked, we'd ask for directions of whomever we encountered how to get to Salumpunca, more ruins. With so much walking, we were grateful that the weather was nice. It was sunny and warm, however, it did threaten with saturated, dark grey clouds later in the afternoon. We ran into some cops on our way who tried to flirt with us a bit. It's nice to claim a boyfriend in those situations...makes it easy to get out of the awkwardness.

At Salumpunca, we saw the Temple of the Moon. Not much to say (and I don't even have a photo to show it!). We thought we weren't too far from Sacsayhuaman, the next set of ruins. We continued to walk and walk. It was pretty exhausting. We did try to stop at a small restaurant that said it served traditional Peruvian food (including cuy, guinea pig). We walked in and saw about six Peruvian men sitting in a semi-circle. Twelve eyes stared at us as if to say, "What are you two doing here?" but more in a curious way than a hostile way. We asked if they had cuy...but no, only trout. Nah.

"And to drink? Peru!!" (April 21-22, 2007)

Two points to the first person to give me the movie that the title quote comes from.

I'm kicking myself. Absolutely kicking myself!! I pulled out my journal ONLY to find out that I had stopped writing halfway through the day I went to Machu Picchu! Who does that?! Me, apparently. Sheesh. So, let me give you some Peruvian highlights.

April 21: We arrived in Cusco. It was absolutely gorgeous! We were a little disoriented...it always takes a little time to get to know a city. We walked up, up, up through the hills of the city in search of a hostel (Alison's boyfriend had suggested going up because the view of the city is better...but after dragging my darn roller-bag through all those cobble-stone streets, I decided that "up" was definitely for the birds).

We stayed at a hostel, Hospedaje Inti Quilla, that is a little...well...scary. We were taken in by the beautiful and very modern looking glass door on the outside. However, modernity ended once you walked through it into the courtyard. We paid $10 for the night we were there...so part of me wants to say, "Well?!? Can you really complain?" Then again, when I saw OTHER places we could have stayed at for $10, I think, "You BET I can!" The room was bare, cement or earth walls, two twin beds that made you wonder about the other "bedfellows" you might be sleeping with that night. No, they didn't have fleas or bedbugs, but they DID have really lumpy pillows and rad "vintage" sheets (circa 1985). The door was locked from the inside with a padlock...which doubled as the door handle. We panicked a bit, before realizing the dual nature of the padlock, when we couldn't get the door open (although, why one would ever dream of leaving that idyllic domain is really beyond me). We learned the trick, though: you have to lace the padlock through the latch and yank really hard.

However, the topper definitely had to be the shower. Wooeee! Made me grateful for scary, potentially explosive gas califonts that we had in Chile. A califont is a box (please see picture at left) attached to your wall. You turn on the natural gas supply, light a match and stick it in the little hole where the pilot light ignites. Then, when the water is turned on, you hear this big WHOOSH as more gas pumps through and the whole inside of the box becomes a flaming blue mass...somehow it heats the water (topic for another post someday: how the heck does a califont work?). Anyway, those were a little intimidating in my mission. HOWEVER, not nearly as scary as the Peruvian showers. They're electric. Yes. Electric. You all recall those tags attached to your bathroom appliances, especially hair dryers, that talk about the risk of electrocution and/or death when one is used near the bathtub? Now, I thought that was because water and electricity don't mix. Au contraire, mon ami! Apparently now...in Peru...they DO! The next morning (April 22) Alison and I got up to get ready for church. There were two bathrooms and, apparently, the water in Alison's bathroom ran orange for a couple of minutes before it turned clear. Gross. I guess that bathroom hadn't been used for a while. Mine was fine...just ice cold. Alison opted out of the shower. Determined not to put my head under a freezing cold stream of water either, I changed my clothes and headed out of the baño. As I was stepping out, I heard a scary witch-like cackle ask, "¿Queire ducharse, señorita?" It was still dark out, so yes, the witch...I mean our little Peruvian landlady, made me jump. She showed me how to turn on the electricity to the shower and I decided to take the plunge...risking death by electric shock. I guess the water runs through electrically-heated coils and comes out hot. My shower was barely lukewarm. I learned a lesson, though. The hotter you want your water, the lower the water pressure should be. So, I kept turning the water down more and more until I had a slightly warmer than lukewarm trickle. Drip. Brr. Drip.

Catching up on the night before (April 21), we walked around a bit...and I felt sick. I had one of the worst colds I've had in years. It was really hard for me to enjoy myself...and, I'll admit, I complained quite a bit. Poor Alison had to put up with it. We went to the tourist info place, ATM, and searched for a restaurant. Both our guides mentioned Greens, so we headed to the listed address. As we walked down a back street, passing some young Peruvian men, one of them tried to grab me. I don't know what he was grabbing at (if it was my bum or chest, he SORELY missed and got my wrist), however, on top of feeling grumpy about my cold, that made me *MAD*! I yelled back at him, in Spanish, "Leave me alone!" and threw him the dirtiest look I could muster. Ugh...there went my perception of Peruvian men as quiet and non-threatening.

We arrived at the address for Greens only to find out that it has moved and a new restaurant, Velluto, has taken its place. Sigh. All right, whatever. We were so tired and hungry by then. It was a crepe place...interesting. Not what I expected in Peru. We were the only patrons there...it was pretty low-key and quiet. Our crepes came and were A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!! And quite a work of food art, too!

After dinner, we headed to the Centro Qosqo de Arte Nativo (cultural center) to see some traditional Peruvian dances. Interesting. I'm not as well-versed (or appreciative) of folk dance as I'd like to be...but I'm working on it. The first dance we saw started with a full-grown MAN bounding and leaping around the stage with a loin cloth and antlers on his head. He was supposed to be a deer. I guess I should be grateful for the loin cloth. Most deer don't wear them, or so I hear. As the dance continued, he was "beaten and killed and the people did rejoice and sing in high-pitched voices while the girls whirled around and waved colored pom-pom scarves. " Oh...if only you could have seen it. Later in the evening was a war dance...and they reminded me a little of the sand people from Star Wars. I dunno...you be the judge:
After the dances, we walked up, up, up through the town to our humble little hostel and, decided en route, that it was just TOO far away. Near the Plaza de Armas, we found a little hotel that would charge us $15 a night. And it was MUCH closer to the center. We made our reservation, headed back to our hostel, and got ready for bed. I was so grateful for my sleep sheet...no creepy-crawly feelings and visions of bugs frolicking and munching on my skin for me!

Working backwards

All right...I don't even know if anyone bothers to check my blog anymore because I haven't written for so long. My apologies. I've been busy.

So, I am going to do my absolute best to catch up on the highlights of the Year of the Travel as I call it. I am going to be doing it backwards, but don't worry...I'll put the date of "said travel experience" in the title of the entry.

This has been a great year. I can't believe it's over! I don't know what to do with myself if I'm not planning another trip somewhere!

Maybe this will help me adjust to life in the good ol' US of A.

Philadelphia...the cat's pajamas?? Jan 12-15

Actor George Dzundza (I'll save you from having to look him up. He's been on Law & Order and Grey's Anatomy...both of which are shows I don't watch. It's no use commenting that I should watch them...if you know me, then you know I don't watch much TV.) once said:

I love Philadelphia. I was shocked at what a great city this is. For me, it is the cat's pajamas. I love everything about it. I love where I live. I love the people. I have been met with such kindness and affection here.

I think there are too few people who use the term "cat's pajamas" these days. But, Philadelphia is IT!

On Friday, January 12, I took the Chinatown bus from Washington DC to Philadelphia, PA. The trip went fairly quickly for me...mostly because of Matt, my seatmate. He's from England, living in DC, on his way to visit his girlfriend of 2 1/2 years who lives in Philadelphia. He was a great conversationalist, so the time passed quickly for me. Not to mention, I could listen to a good-looking British boy with nice teeth for hours :)

I quickly found the train station in Philadelphia...just not the elevators down to the tracks. So, I lugged my 2-ton bags down a few flights of stairs. I'm sure, when I come home, I will look a bit like a linebacker...huge shoulders, lats, etc. Not exactly the look I was going for, though.

I took the train to Norristown, about 50 minutes outside of Philadelphia, where my fabulous friend, Jessy, lives. She picked me up and asked what I wanted to do. Honestly, I just wanted to eat dinner and hang out with her, but she wanted to go to a bonfire being put on by her singles' branch. All right. So, we went and I'm glad we did. I met so many nice people. Jess had to work ALL day the next day, so I met some nice girls who were going into Philly to do the touristy stuff and decided to tag along with them.

The next morning, Saturday, I went to work with Jessy. She manages an ice cream shop and is resigning. So, in order to make it easier on the next manager, we decided to document everything on opening the store in the mornings. I suppose, if I never find my calling in life, I could always do "how to" manuals. :) She made me a nutritious breakfast: a delicious Belgian waffle dripping with ice cream, hot fudge, caramel and whipped cream. Mmmm!!!

Naomi, her brother, Raleigh, Ashley, Heather, Wayne and I (all new people to me) headed into Philadelphia. We had a blast that day! We saw the Liberty Bell, ate a Philly cheese steak sandwich (I chickened and got it without Cheez Whiz...I guess that's how the locals eat it), went to Independence Hall--where Jen joined us, and ran up the stairs of the Philadelphia Museum of Art just like Rocky did.

It was a fun day...and I definitely liked Philly. We headed back to the ice cream shop where I got to meet Jen's cool friend, Russ and one of Jessy's cool friends, Becca. We all had ice cream and then, FINALLY, Jess was free to hang out. So, Becca, Jess, and I went to Jess's and watched Red Eye with Chris, a guy from Jess's ward. Chris left pretty soon after the movie and Jess, Becca, and I stayed up pretty late laughing and talking.

The next day Jess and I woke up at 11 a.m. completely exhausted. Church was good...I got to participate more than I thought most investigators should :) But, it drives me nuts when no one offers/participates at church. There was a munch and mingle afterwards and then we went home and figured out how and when I would go to NYC the next day.

Short trip, but definitely the cat's pajamas.

Finnish Funn: Jan 30-Feb 3

Tuesday I took an overnight "cruise." My friend, Mikael, me, and his mom and stepdad took the cruise ship from Stockholm to Helsinki. If you cage enough humans on a boat with alcohol and karaoke as the only means of entertainment, it can be pretty amusing. Have you ever seen Finnish karaoke? I have! There were gypsies, drunk men throwing up, icy waves, and one woman--who was, sadly, terribly drunk--that amused us all with her solo groove dancing. Wow!

Wednesday I had my first REAL sauna experience. I felt a bit like a roast in an oven. Mikael, Heikki (his stepdad) and I sat in the sauna. Mikael sat and translated for me because Heikki doesn´t speak English...just Finnish and Swedish. So, we sat there, sweating and sweating...Heikki throwing more and more water on the rocks, making the temperature go up and up (Mikael said that Finns have to show off for visitors). Then we ran outside, bare foot, and made snow angels in the snow. Mind you...we were all only wearing bathing suits. It was crazy fun!! I think I could get used to the sauna experience!

A week in Washington DC: Jan 6-12

Ahhh...isn't Old Glory beautiful?? Maybe I've been away too long. So, in an effort to keep up on my blog (which I haven't done), I'm going to write up my week in DC. I'll try to lace it with lots of pictures, too!

My friends, Sheri and Derek, were going to be there for a class that Derek was doing through his MBA program at the University of Texas. Sheri, not wanting to be forced to see all the sights alone while Derek was in class all day, invited me along! I had a blast!

I arrived on Saturday, January 6 and met up with my friend, Rachel. We hadn't seen each other since before our missions (circa BYU days) and it was great to catch up! The weather that day had been a balmy 70 degrees...had me thinking that Baltimore is insanely beautiful and that yes, I think I could be an East coast girl.

I was able to get in touch with some of my old friends and went to church with Marissa, my amazingly talented, piano performance-majoring roommate who now lives in Ashburn--if anyone needs a great piano teacher. We saw Holly there, another incredibly fun roommate who is a workin' woman in DC.

I got in touch with old friend, Nikki Buckmiller, too. She and I had been on the ballroom team together. She's doing her PhD in Marriage and Family Therapy at the University of Maryland. I met her extremely nice husband of 2 weeks, Ben Jones. They have a cute little apartment where they invited me to dinner and showed me all the fun photos of their wedding that they'd just had! It was great to catch up!

That night, they dropped me off at the Residence Inn, where Sheri and Derek had a room with a hide-away couch. I slept well the whole week (Sheri assured me that my bed was probably more comfortable than theirs :)

So, the next day, Derek headed off to class and Sheri and I attacked the DC sights with vigor. We went to the National Gallery (I LOVED it!), the National History Museum to see the Hope Diamond and the dinosaurs, and the Library of Congress. The Library of Congress was amazing! What an incredible building. And free tours are always appreciated!


Tuesday was the walking day from Hades. We walked and walked and walked and walked. Ouch. It made for a LONG day we started out by going to Arlington National Cemetary, saw the changing of the guard, JFK's tomb with the eternal flame, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Very impressive and somber sight. We headed over to the Iwo Jima statue that is outside Arlington (which is a HUGE cemetary). That afternoon, we went to the National Portrait gallery and American Art Museum. Sheri was nice enough to not complain as I dragged her through room after room. She DID say that she liked the Portrait Gallery. We met up with Derek that evening and chose to see the monuments by night. More walking. We went from the Lincoln to the Vietnam to the WWII, to the Washington...which doesn't sound like much, but it was exhausting! However, the highlight of the whole day: at the Residence Inn, they have a "social hour" where they have food and all the guests can socialize in the evening. Well, I had the privilege of seeing the funniest sight of the week. Seated at a table was a man in his late 40's...a professional-looking type. He had on a business-blue button up shirt, khaki pants, and (here's the kicker) BLACK FISHNET STOCKINGS and RED, PATENT-LEATHER, OPEN-TOED 4" STACKED HIGH HEELS!!!!! Not kidding. I saw it as I was walking past...in the corner of my eye. But, upon further inspection (yes, I made Sheri and Derek walk past, too), he was sitting there by himself, calm as a summer morn...with his ankles daintily crossed. Derek wanted to ask if he'd lost a bet...I thought that would be more appropriate than telling him I loved his shoes and asking where he got them from! Hilarious!

Wednesday, January 10, was my 26th birthday! Happy Birthday to me!!! That morning, Sheri and I braved the cold (brrrrrr!! We were frozen) and went to the White House Visitor's Center and the National Archives. After lunch, we were tempted to go get gelato (in spite of the cold) to celebrate my birthday, but decided that we didn't have time before our Senate/Capitol building tour. We searched and searched for the Senate building in the freezing cold...and got there about 5 minutes late. Oops. The tour was very interesting and we got to see the inside of the Capitol building which I found fascinating.

That evening, I got together with old best friend from middle school, Erin Wilcox Jensen. Her very nice husband, Nathan, picked me up from the metro station and drove me to their nice townhome in Ashburn. Erin made a great dinner, I met her adorable kids, and we spent the next few hours catching up on the last 5 years of our lives. It was wonderful...so fun! Finally, around midnight, we decided to call it a night. Erin braved the winding roads (thank goodness for On-Star...we got turned around once or twice) and took me back to the hotel. It was great to see her! Happy Birthday, indeed!

Thursday, Sheri and I went to the National Zoo to see the pandas. They were adorable. We were lucky to see them while they were awake. The mama panda was busy polishing off a large stack of bamboo while the baby was laying spread-eagle on his belly, asleep in the grass. It was a cool, crisp day...but perfect to see the zoo. Sheri and I stopped at a sandwich shop not too far away and had the best sandwiches ever! That completed the whole trip to the zoo!

Derek didn't have class that afternoon, so we decided to see the Smithsonian museum that day. Sheri and I popped into the Freer Gallery while we waited to meet up with him and saw some gorgeous art. Whistler's Peacock Room is recreated in there and it was amazing! We met Derek at the Washington Monument, took the elevator up and saw DC from 500 feet above. Back down, we hoofed it over to the Smithsonian's Air and Space museum where we wandered around. The American History museum is being renovated, so they had a mini-exhibit there which showed some of the most famous American items (Dorothy's Ruby Red slippers and the droids R2-D2 and C3PO from Star Wars).

That night, I met up with Marissa and Holly for dinner in Alexandria. We went to a great little Italian place and laughed and talked just like we used to in roommate-days. Ahhh...I miss those girls! We walked around the area...very cute with cobble-stone streets and small brick shops. Cold, but great fun with friends.

Friday was the last day for DC. Sheri and I got up early and went to our tour of the White House. It was fun to see the East Wing and the State room and the "official" stuff. I lost track of the time and was late meeting up with Nancy Godfrey, another great friend from BYU days! Nancy made things easy on me by driving from Baltimore with her two adorable daughters to meet me near the Washington DC temple. We sat in the visitor's center and talked about life and what we were doing to keep busy. Her two daughters were busy little girls and kept us BOTH busy :) It was great to see her, though...and I'm looking forward to visitng her in San Diego (hint, hint Nanc!).

And then I had to say goodbye to the capitol city. I took the Chinatown bus from DC to Philadelphia to continue my East Coast Tour. The Philly chapter is coming!