My Trip to Washington D.C., Day 2

As if it weren’t emotional enough to honor my dad at the Grant Writers’ Association conference, we also honored my step-mom’s first husband, Bruce, who died early in the Vietnam War. She was married while in college, and he left soon after their wedding to go to Vietnam, so they did not have a lot of time together. They did spend some time in Hawaii once when he was on leave. His death broke her heart and changed her life. She left college and travelled in Europe for awhile, and when she came home, discovered she could not bear to live in California anymore, there were too many memories. So she went to visit a friend in Portland, fell in love with it, and ended up moving there. She took up yoga as a way to help her through her grief, which changed her life and became her life’s work. She went from student to yoga instructor, and eventually opened her own yoga studio. She is the highest ranked Iyengar instructor in Oregon, and is very involved in that community.

If you haven’t seen the Vietnam Memorial, it is devastating and heartbreaking, so many names. So many names. The Memorial lists the names of the American soldiers killed in the war, in order of when they died. It’s overwhelming.

After the memorial,we spent a little time with Abe, who is always worth your time, and then walked to the Supreme Court.

We came across two demonstrations along the way, one at the Capital Building (I think this was the one that Jane Fonda is at every Friday, though we didn’t see her), and one in front of the Court, which was made up of Dreamers in preparation for the Supreme Court case the following week.

We had an appointment for a lecture in the chambers where they hear cases, though of course the justices were not present. It was very interesting to see where they sit, know why the sketches are always at the same angle, see where the President sits when he is there (in my imagination, the President was not Trump, just like how I didn’t want to picture him in the White House either). It was great.

From there we moved on to the Library of Congress. You need to request ahead of time to have access to where they keep the books, so we didn’t go to the reading room, but we did see it from above, an observation area.

The building itself it pretty stunning, as you can see from the ceiling.

They also had an exhibit about women’s suffrage that was pretty cool, including a beautiful picture of Harriet Tubman.

After all of that architecture, walking, and history (We ended up walking about 10 miles that day, according to my nephew’s Fitbit…), we were ready for a lovely dinner. My step-mom had made us reservations at an upscale Indian restaurant her friend recommended, Rasika. It was elevated Indian, and every bite was delicious.

Above you see sweet potato samosas, with a peek of palak chaat (crispy baby spinach) in the bowl behind it, and on the right is Tawa Baingan, which is eggplant, potatoes, and peanut sauce. REALLY good. And of course, the group of us. My sister Maya in the glasses, my nephew Justin, me, my step-mom Julie, and my niece Chloe. We had other items as well, just didn’t take pictures. We had crispy cauliflower, halibut curry, and tandoori chicken. Everything was delicious, and if you are in DC, I highly recommend it. My only complaint was that they cleared the table while Julie was still eating. I never know when restaurants do that, whether it is because they need the table (this is a place where you NEED reservations, it is very popular and I guess the Obamas like it a lot) and want you to move on, or if it is because they don’t know that it is rude, or perhaps that most people don’t know that it is rude and want their dirty dishes cleared away, don’t consider that someone is still eating and might feel rushed. Regardless, it bugged me a bit, but the rest of the service was perfect, the food was delicious, and I would go back in a heartbeat. We were too full for dessert, and enjoyed our walk back to our Air BnBs.

My sister Maya is great about taking a lot of pictures, so I did not take many on this trip. I took the one of Harriet Tubman, and the eggplant. I took a picture of Abe, but got some guy in it that would confuse you if I shared, since he is a complete stranger. So full credit for photos goes to her.