Who Is Old Ebbitt, Anyway?

Jonathan and Leslie's Northern Adventure Part II: D.C.

Jonathan and I love to travel to foreign countries. We love to learn about their history, see their landmarks, experience their culture. In our travels, we typically make a point to visit a nation's capital city if possible: London, Paris, Madrid, Rome. And yet as we prepared for this trip, I realized that I hadn't returned the favor to my own nation's capital.

To clarify, I had been to Washinton D.C. once in my life. It was my sophomore year of high school, Spring Break, and our youth group had completed a mission trip to Baltimore, Maryland. On the return trip, we stopped in D.C. for one day. As in, roll into the city in the morning, yell "You better be back on this church van by 5 p.m.!!!!" and hit the road for an overnight drive to Arkansas. Not exactly a thorough visit. To add to the limited time frame, I repeat, I was a sophomore in high school. And my boyfriend was on the trip. As were all of my best friends. So really there was not a whole lot of incentive to do much legitimate sight-seeing or museum-visiting. If I recall, we pretty much goofed around one end of the Mall, ate at Hard Rock Cafe, and took a lot of goofy pictures.

I considered searching for a few of those pictures and scanning them into this post, but for the sake of my pride and that of many of my readers, I will refrain. (Meredith, Julie, Polly, Melissa, and Emily: you can thank me in the comment section ;)

So this time we were going to do a Day in D.C. right.

We started with a classic tourist photo in front of the Capitol. And then I imagined what it must have been like on Inauguration day, filled to the brim with a gagillion people. Yowza. That is a lot of grass and a lot of bodies, people.

We spent the morning at the National Archives and viewed the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. Pretty amazing. As we waited in line, we discussed the difficulty Nicholas Cage must have faced when he stole that stuff. We walked most of the Capital end of the Mall, through the National Sculpture Garden, Air and Space, and the National Gallery.

By that point, we needed a bit of nourishment, so we stopped at the Old Ebbitt Grill. We had a great little meal of crab cakes and I snagged a few matchbooks like the classy lady I am. When we returned to Memphis, my new issue of Bon Apetit was waiting and there in the "Best Classic Restaurants in America that You Must Visit" article was Old Ebbitt. Do we know how to pick 'em or what? (Actually, we just know how to take a good recommendation, but whatever.)

The rest of our day was spent at the Smithsonian American History museum, where I was thrilled to see Julia Child's Cambridge, Mass. kitchen, which was donated, taken apart, and reassembled in the Smithsonian. I read My Life in France a year ago, in which she outlines the process of designing that kitchen, so it was really cool to see it in person! Bon Apetit, Julia...Bon Apetit!

After a bit more sightseeing it was back to Annapolis. But I left feeling as though I had finally experienced some of the national treasures of my own country with the same enthusiasm and interest that I have had toward those of other nations. While I definitely see the flaws in our nation, our government, and our culture, I am proud to be an American...where at least I know I'm free...and I won't forget...

Somebody stop me.

(Mandatory we're-a-couple-on-vacation-together-and-no-one-is-here-to-take-our-picture Photograph)

Coming up... CRIBS: Obama Style