Washington, DC!

Background image courtesy sneakerdog's Flickr stream

Visiting DC two weeks ago served as a stern reminder to me that I have lived in the Midwest for nearly 4 years, far too long for a city-girl-wannabe like me. For five days, I felt like a kid in a candy store--good food, fashionable city people, flowering trees, irate taxi drivers, and free museums!

Food
Finemondo -- Enrica and I chose this Italian restaurant near our hotel for our first dinner. The calamari was the most tender that I've ever had, and Enrica was impressed that my lasagna noodles were both round and authentically green. There's a decent chance I'll eat here again next time I'm in town.

Corner Bakery -- I know Corner Bakery is a chain, but it's a safe bet for breakfast in a hurry. The counter staff was great and the steel-cut oatmeal was perfect pre-Mall jaunt. Oh, and how can I not love a place that plays Michael Franti at 9 am?!

Founding Farmers -- Oh Em Gee. I love this place for what it is. The food is local, the building is LEED certified, and I wish wish they'd open a second location in South Bend. I had the Frisco Burger and the Hand-Shaken Farmer's Sweet Tea. As a Southern girl, I can't recommend the sweet tea, and the burger wasn't super memorable, but I would definitely eat at FF again.

Ella's Wood-fired Pizza -- Enrica's response to this restaurant was something along the lines of "I feel like I'm in a movie." The restaurant was packed during the lunch hour (perfect for people watching!), we had a short wait, but it was worth it. The only fault I can find with Ella's is that they don't offer a Nutella dessert pizza like Venturi. Get on that, would ya? ;)

Legal Seafoods -- I have nothing interesting to report here. In a city full of food options, Legal Seafoods won't be a repeat.

Rosie's Mexican Cantina -- Guac + Margaritas = good time. I loved the combination of fresh, table-made guacamole and soft, hot, corn tortillas. I brought this idea home with me, and I couldn't be happier with the reproducibility. I didn't make the best entree choice: Tomatillo Enchiladas. The enchiladas themselves were good, the tomatillo sauce was a bit overpowering for me.

Fashion
Again, I have been in the Midwest for too long. I love that there are so many styles present on the street in DC: cocktail dresses, business chic, smart spring, runner's garb, hipster cool…

I want to be in DC, and I'm going to start practicing by wearing more dresses this spring.

Flowering trees and irate taxi drivers
I made an emergency trip to CVS to quell seasonal allergies, but God the trees were beautiful. Completely unrelated, our taxi driver got into a fight with another driver while taking us to Founding Farmers. It was awesome, and terrifying. I also spent some time watching taxis line up on the street from my hotel room. It was interesting to see how they respected turf and to watch their interactions with one another, in general.

Museums
When I was in 2nd grade, there was a write-up about the Smithsonian in my literature textbook. Enthralled as I was by the pictures of stunning colored rocks, I *knew* that I would never get to go there. Washington, DC, was really far away from Lewisburg, TN, and my family didn't travel.

When I was in 8th grade, my mom scrimped and saved so that I could go on the middle school trip to DC ($400!). Unfortunately, we didn't have a guided tour of anything, and being with a group of 7th and 8th graders, I followed quickly through every sightseeing opportunity without any time for reflection or appreciation. I vaguely remember visiting running through the gem and mineral collection at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.

This trip, I went to the Museum of Natural History, specifically to see the National Gem and Mineral Collection. Having gained an appreciation for the colors, variations, and habits of the minerals on display through my undergrad experience as a geology student and an even deeper appreciation for their formation through my graduate experience in inorganic synthesis, I took my time. I squealed with delight at every calcite sample, wishing that I could grow a crystal the size of my head in the lab, and I gagged with disgust at every globular formation (I'm looking at you, hematite.)

To my pleasure, the mineral collection was far less crowded than the gem collection. I was shocked at how people flocked to boring cut gems while ignoring GORGEOUS natural formations of rhodochrosite. I caught a glimpse of the spinning Hope Diamond display, but found that it was not nearly as exciting to me as a deep orange citrine in the mineral collection. To each her own… :)

Looking forward to another visit to DC soon for the upcoming Energy Frontier Research Centers Summit & Forum (May 25-27, 2011)...