Another Day, Another Museum

I'll start by saying that all day, at every opportunity, I was looking for a Washington Redskins towel to buy. Then I'll just leave that alone for a while. Also, I'll mention that I chose not to buy any t-shirts today.

Washington really reminds me of Paris. You can be standing at a random intersection and be surrounded by these magnificent old buildings, buildings that aren't anything terribly important, just random government buildings, or buildings converted to shops or offices. Everywhere you go in the central core, there's this mixture of old and new that's really something to see.

So the Smithsonian is quite a sight, no question. The amount of work that's gone into it, the exhibits, the artifacts that they've collected, it's impressive. But it has its limitations. Today was the American History Museum. I was expecting something along the lines of, "The paradox of the Emancipation Proclaimation was that, while it freed the 5 million slaves in the South, it did nothing for the 500,000 slaves in the Northern states and Washington D.C. Lincoln hoped at the time that..." Instead, what you get is, "A long time ago, there was this man named Abraham Lincoln...." It's all very lowest common denominator. Understandable -- I mean, heck, this is America. But, like the Museum of the American Indian, it ends up being quite the letdown.

However, it was very cool to see things like the original Kermit the Frog, Archie Bunker's chair, the puffy shirt from Seinfeld, and things of arguably more import, like Lincoln's stovepipe hat and the table and chairs from the Appomattox Courthouse. Tomorrow I'll be visiting some of the art galleries.

So again I found myself burdened with foot and back pain, and decided to treat myself to a steak. I made some inquiries, and came up with the name of the Chophouse. So on the way, I see this huge Barnes and Noble, and of course no way can I pass that up. so in I go.

I wasn't in there all that long. It couldn't have been more than 10 minutes, but when I came out, the sky was dark, the wind was gusting, and big drops of rain were starting to fall. I guess this was probably what those guys were talking about earlier in the day when they warned me about torrential rain on its way.... But hey, I'm a Vancouver boy, I know rain. I laugh at their rain. I MOCK them, and their piddly little... uh, yeah, not so little it turns out.

So, you know how on the prairies, you get those really sudden, really intense, huge rain and lightening storms? They come in, rage really hard for like 15 minutes, then go away? Yeah. Well, here in D.C. I guess their storms appreciate that they're playing on a national stage, 'cuz this puppy didn't stop. (The lightning is still flashing now, four hours later.)

I got to the Chophouse. Remember how I started by saying I'd been looking for a Washington Redskins towel, but couldn't find one? Ya. I went into the restaurant, and just said, "I completely understand if you can't serve me, looking like this..." The very kind hostess said, "It's happy hour. We'll stick you in a corner. Nobody will notice." I ordered a Dr. Pepper and an extra-large t-shirt. I figured, hey, a place like this, they MUST have t-shirts for sale. No such luck. But they brought me lots of napkins, so by the time my steak came I was still soaked through to the bone, but at least no longer dripping directly onto the table.

The steak wasn't that great, neither were their fries. But they had the best cornbread I've ever tasted. Brought it right in the pan. And they poured a pretty good Dr. Pepper.