Our Nation's Capital

I hope you read that like Forrest Gump.

Anyway, our DC trip this weekend turned out to be quite a success. I can't believe it has taken me this long to post about it.

A bunch of us at Old Glory

We stayed in Arlington because it was a million times cheaper than staying in the city. We drove up Friday afternoon after JMC got out of class and ended up arriving to our hotel just in time to freshen up and meet some people at a bar in Georgetown called Old Glory.

I love Georgetown. Its definitely one of my favorite parts of DC. I wanted to go there during the day to get some shopping in, but it would have been more trouble than it was worth toting three boys around. Old Glory was definitely my kind of bar. There was a rooftop level that we stayed on the whole time and it was very laid back. We even met some people from UNC there!

Saturday we ate at the Taylor Gourmet on K Street for lunch, where KPB and I had eaten the last time I was in DC to visit her. This may be my favorite sandwich place of all time. They have risotto balls that are completely to die for and every time I've been, I've gotten the most delicious sandwich called the "South Street." It has chicken (grilled or breaded) with pesto, tomatoes, and goat cheese. And those happen to be four of my favorite foods. Period.

Luckily Taylor Gourmet was pretty close to the Spy Museum, because that was our next stop. The spy museum was really cool. I wish it would have been a little less crowded so that we could have looked around for longer, but none of us were really the kind of people who want to spend hours trudging through crowds of randos.

After the spy museum we wanted to grab a drink before we headed back out to Arlington to get ready for dinner and stuff, so we walked around for a little bit and found District of Pi. I had seen this restaurant on some food channel show, so that made me even more excited to check it out. They had a GREAT beer list, and I honestly wish we would have been there for dinner because their food looked delicious. 

But nonetheless, we made our way back to our hotel, got ready quickly, and headed to a sports bar in the Clarendon area called Hard Times Cafe to watch the South Carolina/ECU game (one of JMC's friends went to USC for undergrad and we were meeting some of his friends there). After that, we went to Rhino Bar in Georgetown and had a great night! I wish I would have taken more pictures of this night, but we were too busy having fun I guess.

Sunday, we got up to have brunch, but in the frustration of trying to get into the city, ended up eating at Shake Shack (which just opened in DC near Dupont Circle). Although I had been looking forward to a nice mimosa to start off the day, Shake Shack was so delicious and I'm glad we got to go there. I had been to one location in NYC near the American Museum of Natural History, but none of the boys had ever been before.

After we were finally fueled, we walked around downtown for a while, checking out the White House and the Washington Memorial, etc. Our last stop was the American History Museum, which I had been wanting to go to FOREVER. It was really awesome to see everything and my favorite part was the inauguration dresses of all the First Ladies. I was disappointed that we didn't have much time to REALLY look around, and when we got to the 9/11 exhibit it was 3:30 and the exhibit closed down at 3. But otherwise, the museum was really cool and I can't wait to go back to get the FULL experience.

Since our weekend had been so busy, we were all pretty tired and Sunday night became sort of a chill night. We went to dinner at the Dogfish Head Alehouse in Arlington that was right around the corner from our hotel, which just about made JMC jump out of his pants. Their food was DELICIOUS and their beer was obviously amazing. If you have access to it, you MUST try the Punkin Ale. They only release so much of it every year and JMC and I couldn't find it within 100 miles of Chapel Hill or Charlotte. But its totally worth the hunt.

For a 4 day weekend, we got A LOT accomplished. 

Things I would do over and over again:

1. Georgetown. Everything about it.

2. Taylor Gourmet

3. Dogfish Head Alehouse

4. Nightlife

Things I wish I wouldn't have missed:

1. Close-up Washington Memorial & Lincoln Memorial

2. Arlington National Cemetery

3. Air & Space Museum

4. Newseum

5. More time at the American History Museum & 9/11 Memorial Exhibit

6. Food Trucks

Guess this means I have to go back soon!!

The B-friend's Obsession with Beer.

JMC loves everything about beer. He homebrews, reads about it all the time, tries as many different kinds as he can, and has even started a blog about it (BrewNC.blogspot.com). He and his oldest brother (he has 3 older brothers) have sort of fueled each other in their dream to start their own brewery. So naturally, through his obsession, I have become somewhat beer-obsessed as well. Which means I'm totally okay with being a part of this "opening a brewery" idea so I can drink delicious beer for the rest of my life (with the only downside really being the extra calories).

I'm not talking about plain old Bud Light or anything; it had even gotten to a point before we graduated that we brought our own good beer to parties. Sure, some might consider us "beer snobs," but I'm okay with that. It used to be that when someone asked me what my favorite beer was, I would say "Blue Moon." Don't get me wrong, Blue Moon is delicious, but it was just the gateway beer to the ridiculous amounts of amazing craft beers there are surging through America right now.

Whereas for a long time America was scoffed at for our choice of beer, we are emerging with a craft brewing industry with a creativity that, I think, blows many of the European beers out of the water. JMC and I have the privilege of living in North Carolina, where brewing laws are pretty lenient and craft brewing is booming. Asheville has been named "Beer City USA" for three years in a row now, beating out the usual contenders like Denver and Portland. The Chapel Hill/Durham/Raleigh area has some great craft breweries as well, including Carolina Brewery, Fullsteam, Roth, and Aviator.

Last weekend, we toured Roth Brewery in Raleigh and it was awesome. The people there were so nice and willing to talk to us about anything we were interested in. They even told JMC that he could come brew with them sometime! We got to taste all of their beers, and my favorite was definitely the Raleigh Red. It was very drinkable, but unique with great flavors.

Besides Roth, we have been to a number of other breweries in NC as well, including Top of the Hill and Carolina Brewery in Chapel Hill, Olde Mecklenburg Brewery in Charlotte, Fullsteam Brewery in Durham, and Lexington Avenue Brewery in Asheville. If you want more info about our experiences at any of these places, JMC has written posts about most of them on his blog (linked above).

What I'm most looking forward to right now is the Beer, Bourbon, & BBQ festival in Cary this weekend that we bought a Groupon for. The Groupon was for a $35 VIP ticket that includes all the beer, bourbon, and BBQ that you could want. Considering JMC and I basically LIVE for beer and barbeque, this event should prove to be right up our alley. I will definitely give the deets after going on Friday!