A New Adventure near Washington, D.C.

We are finally settled in at our new home for the next six months in Arlington, Virginia. After all the frustrations and stress for the past two months that are related to moving, we are here against all odds it seems. Coming from Miami, its nice to once again live in a big city with so many things to do and seeped in American history, which I absolutely love. Living a few short miles from Washington, D.C., I feel I am in the center of the country, even though geographically that is obviously not the case. 

Just this weekend, we wasted no time in beginning the exploration of all the area has to offer. On Saturday, we went to the National Air & Space Museum, where they have the Discovery space shuttle and one of those Concord planes. I’m not even going to pretend I know anything about the sort of machinery that was in there. However, my husband, Jaime, was having “I’m-in-Disney-World!” sort of spasms every few minutes. Personally, I thought the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio had a lot cooler planes, although this museum was a lot nicer in terms of presentation (being part of the Smithsonian, I expected nothing less). 

On Sunday, we visited Mount Vernon, home of George Washington and also his burial site. It was exactly how I imagined it: a shrine to Washington, but the man was very remarkable. I was a bit disappointed in him though when I learned that he called the bedroom he shared with Martha Washington “Mrs. Washington’s Bedroom” only because it was the only room in the house he allowed her to decorate. Mind you, it was plainly obvious with the color choices that the house was decorated by a man. 

Unfortunately, I can’t say it has all been fun and games. Here are a few things about Arlington this past week: 

1. People dress nice…at least at 8 a.m. on weekdays. After living a year in Ohio, I have unfortunately picked up the nasty habit of being comfortable leaving the house in sweatpants and my “I-have-given-up-on-life” hair. In Ohio, not only did I fit in with that fashion statement, but it was almost required. So on my first morning here, I did the same thing I have done everyday since we got our Siberian Husky, Arya. I put on some sweatpants and took the dog out. I was unpleasantly surprised by the judging stares I received from men in suits and women in high heels and nice clothes. They avoided me like the plague. Needless to say, I’ve taken care henceforth to at least wear jeans. 

2. Living in an apartment takes some getting used to. Especially for someone like me, who has never lived in an apartment before. I am used to going grocery shopping once a week, buying everything we could possibly need and more, and being done with the whole thing. So on our first night, we went to the nearest grocery store and bought $200 worth of grocery. The cashier was flustered as if he had never seen such a transaction before. When we got back to the underground garage of our building, we realized that that was probably not such a good idea. We had to each make two trips from the trunk to the elevator, then one of us held the door while the other moved everything from outside the elevator to inside the elevator, then the same process to take it out of the elevator, then a few more trips to actually get it inside the apartment. By the end of it, I am thoroughly convinced that I actually like the comfort of our big garage, with our big car, and our big grocery list. 

3. This will not be the last time I say this, but cold temperatures suck. There is nothing fun about being outside for ten minutes and having your ears feel like they are going to snap off because your spoiled dog can’t find a decent piece of grass to bless with her poop.

On that note, here are a few pictures from this weekend. Until next time!