My First Real Vacation: Day 1

Do you know where this is?

Hint: Yes, those are cherry blossoms.

 

 

Background:

A couple of weeks ago I noticed that I had to use some of my PTO or I would be losing it. So I said to myself, “Self, you need to get out and see the world.” I didn’t really mean it at the time, but I was fooling around on Hotwire to see if I could find any decent last-minute deals and, what do you know, I did. So I booked my trip to Washington, D.C. where I currently find myself. Did I mention that today it was 70 degrees and sunny, which is a huge difference from MN?

Day 1:

This morning started at 3:30AM, when I got up to ensure that I made my 6:55AM flight. In all honesty, I probably could have stayed in bed until 4:15, but I couldn’t sleep as it was so I decided to get up and clean up my apartment a bit before I left. In any case, I got to MSP about 5AM expecting long security lines because of early-morning business travelers.

Nope.

I was sitting at my gate by 5:40. And then the first leg of my trip (MSP – O’Hare) was delayed because of weather in Chicago. I got a little worried because they originally said we were going to be an hour late and I only had an hour and fifteen minute layover in Chicago, and every other time I’ve been to that airport on a connection I’ve had to sprint across the entire thing to make the next flight.

This time I got lucky, and even though we did leave 45 minutes late, the gate for my connecting flight to Reagan National was only 5 gates down. I even had time to grab a bagel!

So I made it to DC, braved the Metro (which, by the way, is easy) and checked into my hotel about 2PM.

 

 

 

 

 

 

(the quick shot I snapped while dragging my luggage toward the hotel). Now, this hotel is actually in a perfect location. It’s literally less than 100 yards inside Virginia (so technically in Arlington), but in easy walking distance of one of my favorite areas: GEORGETOWN.

Anyway, I was starving at that point, so I pulled up Foursquare and found an intriguing listing for a place called Ray’s Hell Burgers. It was quite a walk to get there…about 8/10 of a mile and mostly uphill, but damn if it wasn’t the best burger I’ve had in my entire life. Yes, yes, I know, “pics or it didn’t happen” but honestly I was so hungry and tired that I didn’t even think of it. Anyway, if you are ever in the area, you definitely need to put that place on your list. It wasn’t too expensive ($13 for a giant cheeseburger [blackened Cajun style with pepperjack, lettuce, and tomato] and a raspberry milkshake) and the atmosphere was awesome!

So then I headed back to the hotel and caught a quick nap. It was kind of funny; I only meant to lay down for a minute and was watching the end of “Sherlock Holmes” on HBO, but then suddenly I woke up and “Daredevil” was on. It was only about 4:30, but still. It was time to get moving.

Remember how I said that my hotel is in a perfect location? Well, it really is. I walked right across the Francis Scott Key bridge and into Georgetown, which is one of my favorite places in the world. I could wander around there for hours, but I had a mission: I had heard about a cupcake shop that was famous. If you know me, you know I like famous places AND cupcakes, so this place was a must-see. It ended up being only about a 15 minute walk, and you definitely know when you get there:

 

Georgetown Cupcake

 

OK, so you really can’t see the line of people all that well, but it went a good part of the way up the block. Normally, I’d scoff at waiting 20 minutes for cupcakes, but this was a one-time thing. And I’m glad I waited. It was decently priced ($2.75 each). I got three different ones: Vanilla/chocolate, key lime, and cherry blossom (vanilla with real cherries in it). So far I’ve only had the cherry one, and it was amazing. Not too sweet like cupcakes tend to be, and the fact that there were real cherries in it blew my mind for some reason. I blame the exhaustion.

 

Clockwise from top left: Cherry Blossom, Key Lime, Vanilla/Chocolate

 

 

 

 

Anyway, after that adventure, I ended up back at the hotel. It really has been a tiring day, but I am realizing that I didn’t know how much I needed to get away and BREATHE until I actually got here. It’s going to be an exciting few days!

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