Washington, DC Chronicles

It's been a minute since we've traveled to Washington, DC (other than the airport).  How about more than 23 years.  It was the summer before our Senior in high school and we were visiting relatives in Silver Springs, MD and our dad decided to visit his good friend who was a grounds keeper at Howard University. We were so in love with the place. Or maybe it was the famous group that were students there at the time... does anyone remember the group Shai. We came back a year later during our family reunion, but didn't go near DC.  Furthermore, it was more than 27 years since we toured the monuments or even seen the White House (7th grade field trip).

So when Sharee had an opportunity to attend a conference, Rhonda decided to join in for the thrill of it.  While Sharee was in meetings, Rhonda took to the streets.  She walked to the nearby Smithsonian Zoo, and took advantage of a full-day hop-on-hop-off bus pass, that had her flying through DC's 45 tourist stops.  She was able to view the Lincoln Memorial, the Capital Building, and Washington Monument. On the last day, both of us were able to visit the National Museum of African American History and Culture.  It was a half-day worth exploring our history, and there was still no time to see it all.  We know many of you have heard about the Museum, and as Nike says, "Just Do It".  

While in line awaiting entry to the Museum, we met a young lady a decade younger who was in Washington, DC to defend her dissertation.  She was on track to be a Doctor of Health/Nutrition.  She was very inspiring to us to continue our pursuits in education, travel, and as filmmakers, and to link up with her when we come back out to Los Angeles where she currently resides.  If ever there was confirmation.... Anyways, she's now a Doctor and we're so proud as if we've known her our entire lives.  

One final mention about our trip to DC.... the food.  It was very accommodating to our vegetarian/vegan needs, and we found several wonderful restaurants to visit.  One in particular is Ben's Chili Bowl on U Street.  At first, you'll think of it as only a hot-dog place, which it is, but they also accommodated our needs with vegan hot-dog and chili.  Do you know how long it's been since we've had a hot-dog? With Chili? An interesting note about the place... Former President Obama visited the establishment a few days prior to his inauguration in 2009.  Oh the audacity....DC reminded us to be bold, take risk, and prosper.