The Only Way To Start a Summer in DC is with the Mariners!

On Wednesday, June 22, 2011, I found myself boarding a plane to Washington, D.C. for an internship with a magazine that covers state and local government. Through a great amount of luck, I was able to arrange places to live through friends of friends, and an old friend from elementary school offered to pick me up at the Dulles airport. Despite the fact that I left Washington State in a mild panic and managed to forget some key items, I arrived in one piece and quickly began to melt in the humidity. Luckily, Kelly arrived to pick me up and blasted the air conditioning in her car. We had a long drive back to Arlington through some traffic, but it gave us an opportunity to catch up. It was really great to see her, since it had been about ten years since the last time I saw her as we were graduating from high school! As we were catching up, she mentioned she had just found a letter I had written her in sixth grade right after my parents had divorced. She promised to show it to me, and I am going to be really interested to read it since that time period is pretty fuzzy for me now.

Kelly is an incredibly thoughtful person, and because it was going to be senseless to try to drive me to where I was going to be staying for the rest of June in Capitol Hill, she dropped me off at the metro station in Arlington and gave me a metro card with five bucks on it so I wouldn't have to struggle trying to figure out how the system worked while loaded down with all my crap! What a doll! It felt like we still had so much to talk about, so hopefully we will be able to get together soon.

I exited the metro at Stadium Armory, and my new roommate, Amy, picked me up. She is quite a character! Very talkative and outgoing with lots of energy. We basically threw my stuff in her house and then hopped over to 8th Avenue to meet her friends for beer at The Ugly Mug and then hit the Nationals-Ms game. Amy works for FEMA and we met up with some of her coworkers and then went to the game.

From The Ugly Mug, we rode a shuttle (also known as a golf cart) about 15 blocks to the stadium. It seemed rather dangerous to be whizzing through traffic in such a fashion...

Golf cart escort.
Our approach to the stadium.

The game was actually kind of lame, because I was exhausted, it was so freaking humid, and both teams played a sloppy, lackluster game. There were a few highlights, though. First of all, we sat behind a group of high school students from Puerto Rico and chatted with them for a bit. Also, I don't remember which inning it is, but the presidents (Washington, Lincoln, Jefferson, and TR) race around the field. Apparently Lincoln always wins! It was a hoot!

The presidents race as a Mariner takes the field.

A ninja attacked Washington and he bit the dust.

Despite the humidity and the dull score, it was a beautiful evening!

Teddy Roosevelt led us in a cheer.

After a long day of traveling, I was pretty worthless at the game. I kind of sat in a stupor and ate some hotdogs (it was dollar hotdog night!). After the Ms lost 2-1, Amy and I left the stadium and tried to find a cab. The metro stations were mobbed with people and cabs were scarce, so we ended up walking back to her place, which seemed endless. However, on the way we passed the Capitol building and I got all riled up! Also of note, I saw my first cockroach on the walk...those suckers are fast! It was zipping around the pavement and I felt like it was coming to get me so I gave a little scream and tried to run away. Bugs are gross!