A couple red eyes and a bomb scare

Left for DC Friday night. Tried to sleep on the plane, but those chairs really aren't meant for sleep. Managed to keep my eyes closed until we were someplace over Ohio, but not that well rested. Found every wrong way to get to my friend, Ed's place in DC. According to Ed, there are no tolls between the airport and the city, but we managed to throw away about $4 because of wrong turns. Yahoo maps are awful for this part of the country. For traffic circles there is no such thing as a left turn. Walked a lot on Saturday. Walked from Ed's appartment downtown to White House. Bomb Scare at White House. Out of place blue fanny pack and the cops threw everyone out of the area. In order walked through Washington Monument, WWII monument, Vietnam Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Korean War Memorial, FDR Memorial, Jefferson Memorial, to Smithstonian. FDR was latest and best. Modern and elegant, though faux waterfalls do not compare to real ones. Not into the old Greek style that covers most of the city. Trust me it was quite the hike. Had lumch at American Museum. Place specialized in American Indian foods. Very cool. Saw that museum. Almost fell asleep standing while looking at some exhibits. Overall sense is museum still needs some work. Too many things needed too much reading. Next went to National Gallery. Saw Vah Gogh, Matisse, Georgia O'keefe and dozens of other top notch artists. Dead tired and weather incredibly hot and muggy, but kept going. Took subway train back to Ed's. Had dinner at a chilli place. Slept well.

Sunday: Got up. Pouring like crazy. Managed enough motivation to flip on the TV and watch soccer. (It's not football.) That striker on England is a punk, isn't he. I was glad to see him pull a red card in the next game. Anywa, after game, went to Alexandria to look around at old topedo place, historical cobblestone stuff and eat. Good food, drove by Iwo Jima and Pentagon on way there. Got back later than we thought and rushed off to wedding. Pouring, pouring rain. Yahoo directions again sucked. Eventually found the place just in time for processional despite all the water, darkness and poor directions. Cool wedding. Got to see friend through another side through her friends and through family and through the guy she was marrying. It looks like they should be a great match. Way home, rainy, dangerous. cops closed road. Cop gave detour that consisted of 30 miles through backroads. Saw rocks and stones in the middle of the road that took out several cars ahead of us. Or at least popped their tires and made their nights doubly miserable. Said quick prayer and made it through the rocks. And since they were stuck, they were happy to give us directions. Eventually saw Washington Monument like shining beacon lighthouse so that after 2 hours we finally knew we were on the right track. Even in DC many streets closed and sirens all over. Got back. Did not sleep. Got up at 4 to get to airport for return to Oaktown. Crazy Crazy time in DC.