A Short Visit to Washington DC

It was a scorcher today! About 98 degrees. Tony had plans to meet some VMI buddies for lunch in Washington DC, so I went along for the ride and hopped on a metro to the Eastern Market on 7th Street SE. I hadn't been there before and I do enjoy visiting markets.



This is an indoor market filled with wonderful foods: Seafood, meats, fruit stands, a cheese stand, a lovely flower stand, and a place with delicious looking pastries and pies. There were even foods that were vacuum sealed, such as the pollo asado. One meat stand had a variety of sausages: Italian, Argentinean, even Mexican.



I enjoyed a tasty crab cake sandwich at Market Lunch. The line was long with people waiting to place their order. There was a nice variety of seafood to choose from, as well as burgers and BBQ sandwiches. There's a long table with bar stools for the diners. I bellied up and ate my sandwich while talking with a couple of guys next to me. One had just moved to the area after living in Japan for 20 years. Navy guy.

I understand that this market is quite packed on the weekends along with vendor stands outside, so today was fairly quiet. I'll have to return on a weekend...on a cool day.

I walked up 7th street and headed over towards the capitol. Along the way I passed some very beautiful homes. I also saw a small garden with hibiscus the size of small dinner plates. I had never seen them this large!





Nearby I saw this squirrel trying to keep cool in the shade by laying flat on its belly with legs and arms spread out on the dirt. He didn't move at all. Another squirrel was rolling around in the dirt.

I headed to Union station where I knew I could cool down, window shop a little and wait for Tony to pick me up.


We don't get to Washington DC that often and being there today made me realize we need to take advantage of its offerings: The museums, a visit to Chinatown, the monuments, and the Eastern Market...but next time we'll go with a cooler in the car so we can bring home some meats and seafood. I saw some fresh octopus - that would be tasty on the grill!

PS: I was in bed awake at 5:00am this morning and felt the earthquake (5:04am). After the occurrence, I thought to myself: Big truck in the area? No. Airplane? No. Earthquake? Here? Hmmmm. Had to be. Lying in bed, it shook me side to side along with a low, long rumble. The news this morning confirmed what I felt.