Friday, September 16, 2011

I made it there and back. And gained five pounds in the process.

Yesterday I drove up to Georgetown to see an old friend. Well, she's not old, she's just a friend from a long time ago. We figured it had been about 27 years since we'd seen each other, and a lot changes in that length of time. People get married, babies are born, careers are started, families move, but some things never change, and we picked up right where we left off, except that I'm running 5Ks and she's running marathons. Show-off.

Karen and I were best friends in middle school and have the dorky pictures to prove it, although I'm not going to share them here. We tried to re-create one of them yesterday, but it's on someone else's camera. That's probably for the best—it would be just as dorky as the original.

The first thing we did was head out into the cold drizzle to get some dinner. I had read reviews of The Tombs and it sounded good, so that's where we went. 


I wondered why it was called The Tombs until we got there. It's in the basement of a very old building. All the walls and columns are old brick, floors are ancient-looking, worn wood—it's like the dungeon of a castle. But it was dry and warm and the food was fantastic. One of those quirky college-town restaurants.


When we emerged from the depths an hour or so later, the drizzle had stopped and we decided to go walking. We were told the nicest part of the city was along M Street, so we headed in that direction.

The streets are made of this uneven cobbling which is lovely to look at but not so fun to walk on.


I loved the old row houses


and the steep streets.


We were enjoying just walking along, looking in the shops and talking, when we stumbled upon this:


Yes, that's the one and only Georgetown Cupcake, where the show DC Cupcakes is filmed. And you KNOW we had to have one just to see if they're as good as people say. Lucky for us there was only a short line. I really intended to get just one, but when I started looking at the flavors, I knew I was in trouble and figured I'd better take some home for the men.

Yeah, that's it. For the men.


I walked out with a half dozen, only because I couldn't afford any more than that. This is what $15 worth of cupcakes looks like in Georgetown:


Clockwise from top-left: apple caramel, pumpkin spice, red velvet with cream cheese frosting, chocolate squared, chocolate peanut butter swirl, and happy birthday milk chocolate.

Be still, my heart. These women speak my love language.

The cupcakes are every bit as amazing as all the hype makes them out to be. I'm already trying to figure out when I can go back.

Armed with enough sugar to keep me high for the next six weeks, we continued walking toward the waterfront so my friend (and her friend) could find the Crescent Trail where they would be running 13 miles this morning. (Where does dedication like that come from? Certainly not Georgetown Cupcake.)


I got this shot of the Key Bridge in the sunset. See the traffic sitting still on the bridge? It was like that three hours earlier when I crossed it. Some things never change.


On our walk back to the hotel, I spotted the RHINO headquarters right there on M Street and had to have photographic proof for Leah.


And to cap off a perfect evening, we turned around and saw this beautiful rainbow. When we first spotted it, it looked like it was coming out of the smokestack on the lower right. I really wanted to get that perfect shot, but people wouldn't stop honking their horns at me in the middle of the intersection. (Just kidding, dear.)


Have you ever been to the Georgetown University campus? It has some of the most beautiful buildings I've ever seen. No wonder they pay so much to go there. I could just walk around looking at the architecture all day.


Obviously, I did make it out of the city just fine. Once I crossed the Key Bridge, I kept my eye on the Pentagon, knowing 395 was just on the other side of it, and it turned out to be easier getting out than getting in.

Great day with great company. Here's hoping it's not another 27 years until I see Karen again.

Be thankful ~

1 comment:

Catherine said...

Honey bun -- I'm coming to DC November 4 -- maybe we should have a cupcake run???

Mouga would do it (as evidenced by her size in that one famous picture that we have).