A little breather

Here it is, folks, the wrap-up from my trip to Washington DC and New York! I don't want to bore you to death, so here are the highlights.

DC
Without a doubt, the International Spy Museum is one of the greatest museums, nay, the greatest attraction in Washington, D.C. It just makes you feel like James Bond. Unfortunately, we were in DC just in time for the Boy Scout's annual Jamboree so there were huge groups of awkward teenagers who knew they looked silly in their Boy Scout uniforms all over the place. Also, Ford's Theatre was pretty cool because I learned that John Wilkes Booth was considered one of the most attractive and best known actors of his time. Sort of like if Johnny Depp were to pop a cap into Dubya. Oh yeah, I went there. Also, the first night we went to an Astros-Nationals game, which was cool because I got to see Roger Clemens pitch. And we creamed the Nationals.

Alas, our time in DC was short, and soon we were off on the sketchy China Town bus to New York. Our first night there, we met up with the infamous Gregory Bonsignore of TAAS: The Musical Revue fame and go to dinner in his neighborhood of Little Italy, followed by the most bizarre dessert idea ever - a shop dedicated purely to rice pudding. You can even order it online by the pound. We think the owners intended to put in an ice cream place, but spent all their money on decorating it like an Apple store, and somehow stumbled across a literal ton of rice in the basement which then led to the rice pudding idea.


The next day was our Yankee Stadium tour. All I can say is: flippin' sweet. We got to go into Monument Park, walk across the field, hang out in the dugout and then go up to the pressbox. AND we got a free key chain! I'm pretty sure I'm sitting where Derek Jeter usually sits. In the following days, we saw Rent on Broadway, which was very good except that the guy who played Mark was hell-bent on being original in his interpretation, and it ended up being the wrong interpretation. But other than him, it was pretty awesome. Times Square, a Yankee game on Thursday, and for the big finale, a trip to the Museum of Television and Radio. It's pretty much the greatest idea in the world for a museum. They have a few special screenings each day, and when we went they had a special on how teenagers are portrayed on television throughout history, and, more importantly, a showing of Are You Afraid of the Dark? The answer to that my friends, is hells yes, it's still pretty scary. The best part, however, is going to the media library and searching from hundreds of episodes of TV they have stored away to select four episodes of any show you want to watch. I picked a Very Special Doogie Howser, M.D. where Doogie loses his virginity. It was... pretty awkward. I also saw an episode of Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego, the pilot for The Wonder Years and an episode of Degrassi where Spike learns that she's preggers. Just don't tell Anglee I said that because she hates the word preggers.

Alas, the fun in the city had to come to an end. We took the sketchy China Town bus back to DC (never again will I take a China Town bus... anything I write right now would not do justice to the heinousness of the situation). But just trust me on that. And this morning, at an ungodly hour, we were back at Reagan airport - just to give you an idea, we were in Houston by 10am, and we had a stopover.

What's next on the agenda? Apartment shopping, hopefully having a few Tejas falto bashes in Austin before everyone heads out and getting used to being back in the south. Oh, and watching Degrassi every possible moment.