Country Mouse heads to the Big City

So, through some twisted stroke of fate I ended up being in DC for one day this year, and that day happened to be October 30. I was there for work, but since I’m a type A personality to a debilitating extreme, I cannot bear to fly in somewhere the same day I have a work obligation with dozens of people. I’ve been victim of too many cancelled and delayed flights to play that game of roulette.

I arrived to DC on Friday night, and woke up early Saturday morning. I’m recovering from the ‘ick’ so my energy level wasn’t very high. However, I have never been to DC so I forced myself to get dressed and take the Metro downtown around 10am. I knew the Rally was going on, but I honestly thought it wasn’t going to impact travel or sight seeing. I told myself that once I got downtown I’d take in a museum, maybe peek into the Rally, and then head over to the Portrait Gallery.

My first red flag that I was woefully underprepared for my time in DC was when I was in the hotel lobby waiting for the shuttle to the MetroRail station in Crystal City and noticed all the people making signs. Once on the shuttle, the girl I was sitting next to was dressed as Flo from the Progressive commercials, complete with a bump-it in her hair. She was delightful, and gave me a piece of gum. (After I started chewing it I literally screamed in my head ‘OMG I JUST ATE CANDY FROM A STRANGER… A STRANGER IN A COSTUME’ and was traumatized for a good hour.) Once at the Metro station I had to wait in line for 30 minutes to even get a pass. Once we were herded onto the Blue Line, it was like being a sardine tin. We couldn’t get anyone on the train at all the stops. Apparently, it was a new record.

So I abandoned my plan. I decided if I already put up with this much malarkey… I had to see what at the fuss was about. Once at the Smithsonian stop I got off with the herd and just followed them like a good little sheep. It was 11:55am.I was late to the party, but was still able to get on the Mall. This is where I was:

Highs: The Roots AND Cat Stevens? I’m not going to lie, I was singing to Peace Train like a crazy hippie that had lost her generation. Also a high- the signs were clever and hilarious.

Everyone was very polite- I actually heard one exchange between a Rally protester holding an offensive sign and an attendee who said in a normal voice, “I respect your opinion even though I disagree with it.” I didn’t hear any yelling except for “TURN IT UP” because we were so far back we could barely hear what was going on. Which brings me to

Lows: In fact, at about 1:45 I decided I had enough of struggling to see and hear, and went back to my game plan of seeing as many museums as possible before heading to work. And I did just that. It was a terrific fall day to be a tourist.