Washington D.C.

I spent some time in D.C. ... Well, in College Park, MD I guess. Christy and Kyle Miller Hesed were my gracious hosts, and together we had some exciting times (including making a Thai meal, doing Pilates and trying to pop-start a car [more on that later]). And since this was my first visit to D.C., I had to go check out the Mall - once on my own while Kyle and Christy were at classes and then once again with them. Here are my thoughts on our nation's capital summed up in a few points:

- the Mall: much bigger than it looks on those little maps. My dogs were pooped by the end of each day!

-the monuments: over-rated. You just look at them. And walk miles and miles to do it. I gave up after looking at the Capital, White House and passing near the Washington Monument

-food in Chinatown: good but way too expensive. I was chickened into a simple meal of pork dumplings and was slightly undersatisfied.

-museums: pretty friggin' cool! Well, the Ameri

can History Museum and the Natural History Museum won the day(s) for me. The others that I went too... meh.

-the IRS: Kyle's expression sums it up.