One drawback to working a full time job where your vacation days are spent working a second job (the summer conservatory) is that you never get a real vacation. Sure, I get an occasional long weekend now and then, but I haven’t had a full week off in over three years. So I donned my rose colored glasses and pretended it was a warm August day and dragged Trish to DC for some R&R. Happy MLK day to me!
With snow from the last couple of storms still lingering in dirty piles along the street, Trish and I packed up the car and headed south. On route, we decided to stop for a day of retail therapy at Arundel Mills outlet mall. We actually spent almost five hours there power shopping. I made out with some great buys (another Ben Sherman fedora - I'm obsessed!), but the mall was definitely on the shady side of ghetto fabulous. I’m sure the mall’s design and décor were the height of chic in 1991, but now – not so much.
One reason we chose DC is that our favorite hotel is there, the Omni Shoreham. It’s walking distance from the trendy Adams Morgan neighborhood and a block from the Metro. Trish had racked up a free night’s stay (the Shoreham’s become our annual July 4th destination for the past couple of years), so we only had to spring for one night – love those freebies. Since Trish is enrolled in the select member program, we were welcomed with a tray of macaroons, chocolate and a bottle of wine in our room, all gratis (see yummy pics to the left). Beat that, Holiday Inn Express!After reading some yelp reviews, I picked Cashion’s Eat Place for a nice sit down dinner on our first night. The food was good, but nothing we couldn’t easily find in NYC. It was more interesting for people watching. First off, the restaurant and the neighborhood is so darn white (and I don't mean the building facades). The only ethnics were busy bussing tables. There we were, two very brown individuals sandwiched between two gentile southern gals on our right and two young gay boys on our left, apparently on a first date. The girls weren’t very interesting, but the gays were fascinating. One was a pretentious young lawyer with long greased-back blond hair a la Matthew McConaughey circa 2008. His cute, twinky date probably just started growing arm pit hair. The poor thing just kept smiling and nodding while Whitey McConoughy just babbled on about his job and Washington politics – exactly the kind of conversation that will guarantee a second date. And by second date, I mean a text saying, “Thanks for dinner. I’ll call you sometime.” I was actually surprised by the high gay quotient in the restaurant. Who knew DC was such a homo hotbed? The table of daddy bears lasciviously licking their paws as I walked past them on the way back from the bathroom was a tad disconcerting while at the same time strangely flattering. Don't judge me, people. At my age you've got to take it where you can.
For day two of our DC escapade, Trish and I decided to forego one of the Smithsonian museums for the lesser known National Museum of Crime and Punishment. If serial killers and medieval torture turn you on, chuck your Viagra and hightail it to this place. Intense is an understatement. For some reason I thought it was going to be a cheesy, Coney Island-esque exhibit in the vein of a Ripley's Believe It or Not museum. But this place takes its murder and torture very seriously. From Ted Bundy's VW bug - creepy considering it was the scene of so many murders - to the actual studio where "America's Most Wanted" is taped, this place is a sadomasochist's wet dream. It's definitely worth a visit if you plan to be in DC. But be warned, wear comfortable shoes and bring your reading glasses. The museum's plan doesn't include much seating and each exhibit is accompanied by exhaustive history and background information. We were there for three hours and by hour two I started skimming, my brain suffering from text overload.
We needed a break after all that crime and punishment, so we headed back to the hotel for a nap before heading out to Arlington, VA, where we had tickets to Sunset Boulevard at the Signature. I know Sunset Boulevard sucks, but we went to enjoy one of Trish's many Broadway boyfriend's, DB Bonds. I'll post a review separately. Let's just say the production itself was top notch, but the show would have been better served were DB allowed to perform shirtless for more of it. Oh, and that Florence Lacey sure can sing. She can even belt a pure "e" vowel, unlike Glenn Close ("...with one look I'll be mihhhhhhhh!"). Hey, I love Glenn, but a high chest belt is definitely not listed under "special skills" on her resume. Does she even have a resume? I mean, really. Can you imagine asking Glenn for a resume at an audition?
We were going to head out to another museum Monday morning for the holiday, but we were just too beat from all the weekend's festivities. Instead we decided to sleep in and order our regular hot chocolate wake-up call. Yes, another wonderful perc at the Omni - every morning you can have a pitcher of homemade chocolaty goodness delivered to your door complete with homemade marshmallows and whipped cream on the side - the breakfast of champions! With a couple of hours to spare before our late check-out, we got cleaned up and headed to the hotel's gardens to take some new headshots. Considering I've used the same 8x10 for about a decade, I'd say an update is long overdue. I'll post our fave shots soon, after Trish has photoshopped out my raccoon eyes and smoothed out my crows feet.
In the end, I always judge a good trip by the food, so this weekend rates pretty high on the food-o-meter: Cashion's for some high end seafood, the enormous breakfast buffet at our hotel (we're talking omelet station, waffles, breakfast meats and a huge continental spread), a huge bowl of Pho and Vietnamese BBQ at Pho DC in Chinatown and some tasty Mexican at Guapo's after the show at the Signature. And of course, a trip south is never complete without a stop at the Maryland House rest stop on I-95 for crab cakes at Phillips! I know, crabs at a rest area - sounds like a health department warning - but it's now become a Pineda road trip tradition.
And now back to reality (and slush).
We needed a break after all that crime and punishment, so we headed back to the hotel for a nap before heading out to Arlington, VA, where we had tickets to Sunset Boulevard at the Signature. I know Sunset Boulevard sucks, but we went to enjoy one of Trish's many Broadway boyfriend's, DB Bonds. I'll post a review separately. Let's just say the production itself was top notch, but the show would have been better served were DB allowed to perform shirtless for more of it. Oh, and that Florence Lacey sure can sing. She can even belt a pure "e" vowel, unlike Glenn Close ("...with one look I'll be mihhhhhhhh!"). Hey, I love Glenn, but a high chest belt is definitely not listed under "special skills" on her resume. Does she even have a resume? I mean, really. Can you imagine asking Glenn for a resume at an audition?
We were going to head out to another museum Monday morning for the holiday, but we were just too beat from all the weekend's festivities. Instead we decided to sleep in and order our regular hot chocolate wake-up call. Yes, another wonderful perc at the Omni - every morning you can have a pitcher of homemade chocolaty goodness delivered to your door complete with homemade marshmallows and whipped cream on the side - the breakfast of champions! With a couple of hours to spare before our late check-out, we got cleaned up and headed to the hotel's gardens to take some new headshots. Considering I've used the same 8x10 for about a decade, I'd say an update is long overdue. I'll post our fave shots soon, after Trish has photoshopped out my raccoon eyes and smoothed out my crows feet.
In the end, I always judge a good trip by the food, so this weekend rates pretty high on the food-o-meter: Cashion's for some high end seafood, the enormous breakfast buffet at our hotel (we're talking omelet station, waffles, breakfast meats and a huge continental spread), a huge bowl of Pho and Vietnamese BBQ at Pho DC in Chinatown and some tasty Mexican at Guapo's after the show at the Signature. And of course, a trip south is never complete without a stop at the Maryland House rest stop on I-95 for crab cakes at Phillips! I know, crabs at a rest area - sounds like a health department warning - but it's now become a Pineda road trip tradition.
And now back to reality (and slush).
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