Washington DC

(Monday, March 13th to Tuesday, March 14th, 2006)

My drive to Washington DC was relatively uneventful. It was very foggy when I left Myrtle Beach, but other than that, the trip went smoothly. I didn't get lost or take the wrong roads or anything! There was one little thing: I saw a guy standing beside a parked State Trooper car in North Carolina. They were watching what I assumed was the guy's car which was completely engulfed in flames. The poor guy.

I got to Peter's and Rob's house at about 1:05pm or so having left Myrtle Beach at 6:00am. Peter wasn't feeling well and had gone to the doctor's that morning but was home when I arrived.

Peter and I met in September of 1992 at the World Science Fiction Convention #50 (Magicon) when it was held in Orlando, FL. Through Peter and his friends I became familiar with gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender/etc. science fiction fandom. Peter and Rob are involved with the Gaylaxians http://www.gaylaxians.org and Lambda Sci-Fi http://www.lambdasf.org. I even started a glbt sci fi group in Orlando. The Orlando group was actually well attended and had quite a few members, but I ended up having to do all the work and eventually disbanded it.

My visit to DC was nice and relaxing. Peter and I hung out together on Monday. We had to get a parking permit for my car and we did some walking around Dupont Circle (which is a gay district of DC). Peter is a big architecture buff so he told me all about the buildings that were built or being built around the area.

We came back to the house and I spent some time trying to catch up on my blog. Peter made dinner of chili and cornbread. I have to admit, that was some of the best chili I ever had. It was delicious! Rob didn't get home until late because Monday is bowling night. I'm sure there are some things I'm missing, but I can't remember what they were.

On Tuesday, both Rob and Peter had to work so I was left to fend for myself most of the day. Actually, Peter and I walked to his office (which is just a couple of blocks from all of the monuments and museums) and I continued on to the Washington Monument. Unfortunately, they were out of tickets for the day so I wasn't able to go inside. I've had communion (before giving up on religion) on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and marched for glbt rights (I was at the marches in 1987, 1993 and 2000). But I've never been in the Washington Monument. I did touch it though.

After touching the Washington Monument, I went on to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. It's my favorite museum. It chronicles our history of flight since the Wright Brothers. There is even a piece of moon rock that you can actually touch. I've touched the moon!!! And for you Star Trek fans, if you go into the basement of the gift shop you can see the actual model of the USS Enterprise from the original Star Trek series. There aren't any signs leading you to it, so you have to go searching to find it.

After that, I met back up with Peter and we went to lunch and did some clothes shopping. I needed some nice dress shoes and a belt. We also stopped at the bank because my debit card was getting declined. I found out that, because of all my traveling, the bank placed a security hold on my card. We were able to clear it up, though so my card started working again. I knew something was up the day before because I went to 3 separate ATMs and none of them would dispense cash to me.

After lunch, I went back to Peter and Rob's and caught up on some television watching. They had the season finales of Battlestar Galactica and Stargate: Atlantis recorded so I was able to watch those. I also spent more time trying (unsuccessfully) to catch up on my blog.

After Peter and Rob came home, we went to a very nice Moroccon restaurant for dinner. After that, we went back to their house and all kind of went to do our own things. I had to prepare for my trip to New York City the next morning.