The first order of the day Friday was to move my car. We had left it in a zoned parking area, which meant it was good until 9 and then had to go. Since we didn't know how to get guest permits, and the nearest unzoned parking was far away, I moved the car to the airport (secure+Metro-accessible for the win), and then took the train back in to the National Mall. I spent the entire day exploring just the Air and Space and Natural History Smithsonians.
I remember going to Air and Space as a kid ten or fifteen years ago and having my mind blown. It's still just as awesome now:
(The X-29 dynamically-unstable experimental aircraft)
(The Apollo-Soyuz test docking mission)
I eventually had to force myself to move on from looking at sweet airplanes, because I knew that Natural History would have some interesting exhibits as well. The one making headlines these days is their new presentation of the Hope Diamond:
I was sort of unimpressed. Yes, it's a very big diamond - but that alone doesn't necessarily jump out as amazing to me (though the scope of the entire hall of gems was impressive). On the other hand, this is undeniably awesome:
T. rexes never get old.
After Natural History, I went out to catch up with an old high school friend, Vikrum. Apparently people with real jobs have to dress nicely and stuff.
During the course of a discussion about Taco Bell, Kettleman City, and In-N-Out Burger, Vikrum insinuated that there is a burger joint in DC that does the same sort of "fresher" burger that In-N-Out does but does it better (clear heresy). In an amazing bit of serendipity, Saqib proposed heading to this place - the Five Guys Burger joint - to get dinner. Two burgers and a small order of Cajun fries were procured:
(Note the full cup of fries to the left. Note, then that the "small" order includes roughly as many fries in the bag as in the cup.)
I hate to say it...but Five Guys may actually be better. The burger isn't quite the same, as they let you put all sorts of toppings on there, and those push it over the edge. The Cajun fries were interesting but overall I'd prefer the In-N-Out animal fries.
After dinner we cabbed across town to catch a performance by Crimes of Paris, the band for which one of Saqib's friends plays drums. It was a good show in a very small venue:
But the following band, the Bloodsugars, did an even better job of taking over the crowd, especially after the lead singer fell off the stage and faceplanted into the floor.
After the show, we went minigolfing down the street for an hour or so and retired for the night.
Tomorrow: Washington, DC to Charlotte, NC
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