The week in DC has been both fun and educational. With Hubby in meetings for three days and my children safe with their (exceedingly patient, wise, and tolerant) godparents, I’ve had a marvelous opportunity to explore the most extensive libraries and archives in the country. Yes, I carped about the security and inconvenience, but I’ve really enjoyed the chance to see what I wanted to see at my own pace.

I also had a great time in the evenings, when my favorite date escorted me to some neat places for dinner. Neither of us is particularly into the “see and be seen” type joints, but we quickly found a couple of reasonably-priced places with great food and beer.

The Capitol City Brewing Company in the Postal Square (across from Union Station) was a lot of fun, with a great casual ambiance. I highly recommend the Blackout Stout — the history of this traditional oatmeal brew includes the fact that it was used as a safer alternative to water at a time when English water purification wasn’t what one would expect today. Dinner was extremely good, and afterward, we took a brief tour of Union Station.
The Elephant & Castle pub didn’t feature any microbrews, but they did have an excellent selection on draft, along with a menu of traditional pub fare — shepherd’s pie, Guinness stew, pot roast, fish & chips, etc. Given that the weather turned rather cold last evening, comfort foods were very appealing… good thing there was a 12-block walk back to minimize how many of those calories I have to take home with me.

At the E&C, three women sat near us, animatedly talking about how the Foley scandal would bring about a change in control of the House, and one jumped up suddently pointing to CNN, where she recognized herself on one of the news clips about the day’s hearings. I know better than to think one can identify R’s and D’s by appearance (having been told that I don’t “look like” a Republican), but seriously, these women looked like Democrats. Generally, the E&C was a lot noisier than I usually enjoy, but the food was excellent.

There’s so much more I would like to do here, but it’s time to pack and go home. If we’re lucky, we can make kickoff for the Wildcats game tonight vs. Soddy Daisy.

I’ll be sorry to miss AT & GAC’s renewal of vows tomorrow, but I wish them a marvelous weekend and decades of marital bliss to come. Hubby’s and my 19th wedding anniversary is coming up in about 12 days, and I can easily say this: marrying the right person is the best thing in the world. We have more fun together now than we did when we first fell in love, or at any time since. So, although I won’t be at the farm this weekend, I’ll be raising my glass to them nonetheless.