Washington and Philadelphia

Here's the recap of what happened during my week-long vacation in Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia, following the successful completion of my qualifying exam.

Saturday:

The last night in Davis was spent in deep  and meaningful discussion, well into the hours where distinction between late night and early morning is ambiguous.  Waking up late, I threw together my necessities (forgetting my iPod... bummer), and was at the airport just in time to board.  The long night before came in handy, as I spent most of the day sleeping at 30,000 feet, making the journey feel satisfyingly brief.

I had failed to mention to my parents that I was in the process of growing a mustache during my studies, so it was fun to surprise them at the airport.  My mom was ready to hug me, but paused when she thought she was about to hug a stranger.  I was somewhat surprised by their positive opinions of the 'stache, since it had gotten such mixed reviews from friends.

If you're wondering why my family was in DC, my dad had a medical conference.  If you're interested, it was the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) conference, "the worlds largest educational meeting specializing in interventional vascular medicine."  Whereas my dad would usually leave meetings early to keep my mom company, my presence this year meant he was able to attend meetings all day, which is why won't appear in any of the daytime activities below.

Sunday:

We met up with our gracious "tour guide" Heidi, a friend from high school and recent transplant to DC.  She was generous enough to take time out of her week to show us around the city.  While waiting for my mom to join us in the lobby, she snapped a few photos of the goldfish that called our hotel home. 

After a long breakfast at the hotel, we headed to the National Mall to go to one of the many museums there.  Once we arrived, we decided to see "nature's art gallery", also known as the botanical gardens.  The building is located near the capitol building; here's photo opportunity with my mom captured just outside.

A photograph of a photographer.  The flora was very photogenic; Heidi taking advantage of this fact.

The fountain in the main courtyard was serene.

After the gardens, it was too late the go through a whole other museum, so we opted to get a snack in the National Museum of the American Indian, one of the newest additions to the the mall.  It's one of the best places for food among the choices on the mall, as they served native foods in leu of the standard cafeteria fair.  Of the myriad of ethic foods, we only tried the mexican hot chocolate, which was quite delicious.

After picking up my dad from the conference center, we went to dinner.  Its almost certain that any time we visit DC, we'll eat at the nearby persian restaurant at least once, and due to a brutal rush hour in the metropolitan area, Sunday night was our best bet.  We all ordered a kabob dish, and had an excellent meal to close the day.

Instead of turning in early with my parents, I ended the night by chilling at Heidi's apartment.  I met her roommates, saw her cool "space" (bedroom made out of half a living room), and chilled until taking the train home just before they stopped running.

Monday:

We met Heidi at a restaurant called Busboys and Poets; a very fitting name.  It was a very bohemian locale, with a bookstore at the front, cafe style sofas and comfy seating amongst the tables, and artful, eclectic design throughout.  

I ordered a PB and banana panini, then kicked myself when I realized that Columbus day was a holiday, and I could have ordered some delicious french toast from the brunch menu.  The panini was good though, as was the mocha latte I ordered to perk me up for the day.

After breakfast, Heidi left us to finish some homework and mom and I headed to the National Mall again.  We stopped for the cliche tourist photo with the Washington Monument, as well as a quiet courtyard between the museums.

I felt like starting the day off with some fun, so I strongly encouraged by mom to accompany me to the National Air and Space Museum.  A had some lingering memories of the place from when I visited as a child, but most striking was the distinct smell that I instantly recognized as I walked through the entrance.  My guess is that it's the lingering remains of lubricants and fuel on the air- and spacecrafts, but whatever it may be, it smells like fun.

After reliving part of my childhood ambitions of becoming an astronaut, we walked directly across the mall the the National Gallery of Art.  

The enormous central rested under the dome you can see topping the central building.  The  room was surrounded by massive marble columns, and at the center was an ornate fountain, the waters of which worked well to drown out the echos bouncing around the large space.

Each wing of the gallery had it's own garden court, providing a quiet, serene place to sit and relax.

Looking at a couple hundred works of art really inspired me use my artistic abilities to try painting sometime soon.  Here are a few highlights by Van Gogh, Cezanne and Monet...

Since we got there late, this visit was only brief, to be continued the next day.  From here, we picked up Heidi and my dad and headed to dinner.

Chinatown would be the location of this night's dining.  Despite it's name, there is very little Chinese about this place.  It can be summed up as a highly commercialized tourist district, where all the franchise restaurants put some chinese characters on their signs because they reside within the bounds of this imaginary zone of ethnicity.  Luckily, Heidi had been to a tapas restaurant here before, and knew it was good.  Naturally, we had a delicious meal, enhanced by the variety provided by that unique style of dining.

The night ended with a highly abridged nighttime tour of the monuments.  Our first, and basically last stop, was at the world war II memorial.  This is a highly popular nighttime tour bus destination, so our visit was punctuated by a waves of noisy, irreverent out-of-towners.  We didn't count cause we had a local with us.  The fountains were beautiful at night...

Yet another cliche tourist pose, this one being in front of the place of birth for both Steve's of the family.

I called this the last stop because afterwards we just drove around a bit more, didn't see much, and ended the night in with a quick stroll through the main throughway in Georgetown.  My parents headed back to the hotel, while I stayed behind to join Heidi and her friend Brad in some painting.  This pic is taken as we packed up for the walk to the train station. 

Tuesday:

Repeat of the day before, starting with a surprisingly delicious lunch in the cafe at the National Gallery.  It's located underground between the West and East gallery buildings, with nice natural light coming from the triangular skylight "sculpture" the protrudes above ground and throws light on a large waterfall cascading into the cafe.

Following lunch, my mom and I parted ways in order to cover the museum at our own respective paces.  I spent the next four hours wandering both West and East galleries looking at almost every painting a sculpture there.

My parents spent the evening having dinner with the future in-laws at a cajun style restaurant.  I took the train to meet Heidi in one of the older neighborhoods of DC, where we walked a very short distance to find one of the best Ethiopian eateries in the city.   It was my first time having any kind African food, and it was an excellent experience, accented with live music and dancing.

After dinner, we headed to a concert at a nearby venue, The Black Cat, which seemed to be a popular destination for indie bands.  One of the many bands I enjoy, Ra Ra Riot, played the night before.  This night was Heartless Bastards and Langhorne Slim, some artists I wasn't as familiar with.  The concert rocked, and I throughly enjoyed both acts, particularly the Heartless Bastards.  This is a photo I got off their myspace page, but its basically a mirror image of what we were looking at that night.  I'm now a fan, especially of their song Blue Day, which they rocked the crowd with that night.  I was very impressed by their drummer, who appeared as if he was possessed by the music, playing so hard he destroyed his stick... impressive.

Langhorne Slim rocked the joint as well.  His music was heavily influenced by early country music, sounding like it came from right around the time rock and roll was being created.  His set had a bit more giddyup to it, and the bassist was incredible on his upright.  This photo kinda sums up what  kind of show these guys can give.

One of my favorite songs they played that night, and the one with the most boogy, was I Will.  The link leads to YouTube because they don't have a free sample of that song online.

After a throughly enjoyable show, we headed back to our respective 'homes' and called it a rather successful night.

Wednesday: 

To be continued...

The post thus far has taken quite a long time to write, so I'll finish recapping the remainder of the vacation soon.  Thanks for reading and stay tuned for more in a few days.

Welcome Back!

After a very long hiatus from my blog, I am finally making my triumphant return.  Having successfully passed my qualifying examination, my stress levels are at an all-time low and I can get back to doing the things I enjoy most.  This is short flashback post to the events several weeks ago; I need to get warmed up before writing the epic post of my week long vacation in Washington, DC and Philadelphia.  This should suffice in getting your tastebuds ready for a feast of an update, arriving in just a few short days.

Most of you have probably already heard me talk about the Treasure Island Music Festival we attended near the end of September.  Here's a quick recap of the sights and sounds of the day.  Two important notes; 1) the following photos of the performers came from the Treasure Island Festival website, where you can go to see more photos from the event, and 2) you can click the links of song names mentioned below to download a mp3 of that song, which I highly recommend.

John Vanderslice started playing as we entered the festival grounds.  He opened with White Dove, one of his best songs, which we listened to in the car right before getting on the bus to the island.

Keyvan just happened to be visiting Davis that same weekend, so he decided to come at the last minute.  Here he is with Lily right after the John Vanderslice performance.

Port O'Brien followed Vanderslice.  I had never heard of them before, so I was happy that I enjoyed their set.  They played loud, which made it sound a bit less musical during some of their songs, but it was a overall good show.  Here's one of their songs, I Woke Up Today.

There were lots of interesting booths and merchants at the festival.  We had some fun between musical numbers.  We also saw some Baha'i friends of ours working at one of the T-shirt booths.

I wasn't sure what to expect from Tokyo Police Club, so I was pleasantly surprised by a high energy, rocktastic show.  They played some doozies, including In A Cave, and we had a grand old time.  Lily described the lead singer as "dreamy", while I found it very unique and fun to see a band fronted by the bassist.

We watched the Fleet Foxes play some songs, including He Doesn't Know Why.  They were exceptionally good at layering and harmonizing their voices, and their on-stage banter was the most entertaining of the day.  After that we had lunch while waiting for The Dodos to come on stage.  It was well worth the wait, as this was my 2nd favorite set of the day, and I was able to stand only one row from front.  I've probably told you this before, but they are amazing.  They played some of my favorites, including Fools and Red and Purple.  One song they didn't play, but you should hear is Ashley.  I highly recommend picking up their new album, or going to their show in San Francisco with me on Nov. 6th.  Let me know if you want to come.

Next up was Vampire Weekend, which was another band on my 'must-see' list.  Unfortunately, they are not much fun to see in concert.  They feel into the trap of sounding exactly the same live as they do on their album, which made for a very boring set.  They did play my favorite song, A-Punk, and if you listen to the mp3, you will get the exact same experience as I did at the show.

The crowd had grown considerably by this point, so we made the decision to skip the last two shows on the small stage in order to hold a spot closer to the main stage.  Keyvan wanted to see the Kills, so we parted ways, never to see each other again.  We managed to sit down within the crowd as the sun set over the venue.  As you can see from Lily's face in the photo, the temperature began to drop to a mildly uncomfortable degree, or she just doesn't like having her picture taken.

Tegan and Sara were up next on the main stage.  They were alright, but too 'pop'-ish for my tastes, not to mention their somewhat whiney voices.  The worst though, was their banter between songs, which was just annoying.  Thankfully, it was basic music, so it was relatively easy to listen to.  No photos of this performance necessary.

Finally, after a long wait, faintly hearing The Kills play in the background while watching roadies wearing matching gray uniforms set up the equipment, The Raconteurs took the stage.  In both mine and Lily's minds, Jack White is an epic figure; a master at his craft.  We were excited to see this performance, and boy did they deliver.  This was a face-melting show that topped everything we had seen that day.  It was the delivery of rock at its finest.  Here's a free sample of what they played, but their albums are nothing like their live show, which is exactly how it should be... unforgettable. 

Following the Encore, they made a curtain call... first time I've ever seen something like this.

As great at the final show was, the end of the festival brought with it the dread of having to wait in line to catch the bus back to our car.  Thankfully, Lily had the genius idea of running from the stage, across the entire festival grounds, to the exit.  We got to the busses ahead of about 95% of the people there, and getting to sit down after 2 hours of standing in place is an indescribable feeling that was just great.  We stopped for a late dinner at IN-N-OUT, then made it home in time to catch the guys playing video games and cuddling.

Keep your eyes peeled for a new post about my vacation in a few short days.  Thanks for reading.