The long weekend in DC was great and we packed a lot in. Friday we walked the mall and did all the monuments. The contrast between the words carved into marble from the Bill of Rights, Jefferson, Lincoln, and FDR (probably my favorite,) and the rhetoric of today is astounding. Kay cooked up the pasta dish he made at the hiker hostel the night we met, it’s even better hot, and we walked over to get some gelato.
Saturday Ryan made a big breakfast. Then we checked out the White House, saw some great art at the Renwick Gallery, then we got some ‘Merica on at the American History Museum and I realized how much I’ve forgotten about our Presidents. There really aren’t that many of them, I should know them all, a project for when I get off trail. The DC heat was intense so we opted to nerd out and see Warcraft. G and I used to play, and Kay seems to enjoy hating us for dragging him to dumb movies, but Megan and Ryan wisely went back to their place. Turns out the movie was pretty bad, although they did a good job with the sets. We met back up at a little local brew pub, then Ethiopian for an excellent dinner, with ice cream on the way home.
Sunday was fine art overload at the National Gallery. Another project for me is to learn more about art history. Monet man… I could have sat looking at his series of the Waterloo Bridge in different lights all day. Degas, Van Gogh, plus the big Shaw memorial for the 54th regiment. We walked through the pride festival that was going on over the weekend and thought about the tragedy in Orlando. With so much ignorance, fear, and anger out there it’s difficult to “not become the evil we deplore.” The challenge of our age maybe. Heaviness aside, we went to the botanical garden, then to the Sauf Hais Bier Hall to watch Germany beat Ukraine in the Eurocup. A burger and another bar on the way back to their apartment, where G and Kay presented me with a birthday present: the Appalachian Trail Board game. It was a lot of fun and actually really informative. G and I tied for first, which seemed appropriate.
This morning we said goodbye, to Megan and Ryan who I’ll see soon in New York, and Kay who I’ll see in Hamburg hopefully soon. G and I rented a car (they gave me a birthday upgrade) and took a long, boring drive back to Waynesboro. I sometimes envy the people who yellow blaze around, but hiking is way more interesting. We got a ride to Rockfish Gap and we were back on the trail. Saw my second bear of the trip about a mile in, Shenandoah is supposed to be full of them. It was smallish and ran away when it heard us. They can really move, even going through brush. A relatively easy seven miles to camp, but I forgot to wear my compression brace and my ankle got pretty swollen. Bright side is I learned the brace really does help. The only tent site open was on a slope, with a big rock under one corner and the shelter crowd is pretty loud. Still, best birthday of my life. Well, there was this place when I was a kid that was an arcade you could rent out, and they had the Ghostbusters game, so maybe second best birthday ever.
Thanks for all the birthday love filtering in. I feel like a very lucky man to have so many great people in my life. Sometimes I’m laying in this tent sore and tired, and the last thing I want to do is type up a post on my phone, but I think of everyone out there and I’ve got to write. I’m glad you’re enjoying it, and I am glad I’ve kept it up each night.
Station on the Appalachian Trail 