Washington, DC. Memorial Day weekend. Nuff said.
Of course that is NOT how we roll on this here blog. There's always the standard story of going to
DC and seeing the sights that I will spare you with because who needs to hear
all that again?
At the end of a very long,
hot day filled with extra people visiting DC, we were hoping to get dinner at
the Hard Rock Cafe, right up the road from our hotel. As we were walking to said restaurant, it
started raining just enough to leave us pretty wet but not soaked by the time
we got to the hostess stand. We were
told there would be a two hour wait which was just not an option for us.
As we stood in the doorway
trying to figure out where to go, the fire alarm went off. No one in the building was exiting but Ben
was on exit patrol with our group. The
girls had separated from us to look in the gift shop so there was a moment of
panic while we were standing in the doorway trying to figure out whether we
needed to exit (it was raining harder now) or stay in the building. The girls, having been trained for years to
exit a building upon the first sound of an alarm, were standing outside in the
rain next to a curb (see, public schools DO teach kids all kinds of things,
like survival). We managed to find a building
with a small overhang a bit up the block and stood under it while looking for
another place to eat. Dad friend found a
restaurant with no wait. Ironically, it
was a restaurant literally next door to our hotel. We walked around the block to the restaurant,
NOPA.
By the time we got there,
we were completely drenched in our touristy clothing (read: t-shirts and shorts/capris/jeans),
hair dripping wet. We were greeted by a
host wearing a suit. He didn't bat an
eye as he sat the six of us at a table near the entrance and center of the
dining room. We were greeted by a waiter
also wearing a suit and a person that I refer to as the water boy who filled
our glasses after every sip (not an exaggeration).
I was really uncomfortable
upon being seated as the restaurant was quite fancy for our dress, even if we
had been dry. However, the waiter was
fantastic - even getting information from the chef concerning a few dishes that
we had questions about for dietary reasons.
Once I got over the initial shock of feeling out of place, I moved on to
just enjoying the experience.
Each of us ordered
something different and we all tried each other's items, all of which were
impeccably delicious! Little one had a
side called potato air that she didn't share with anyone and I still think
about that dish today. She shares
everything so it had to be good and I have considered driving over there just
to try it. The description is as
follows, "Potato Air, Black Garlic Jus," something that sounds so
incredibly simple but must be magical because I can't replicate it (of course,
having not had a sampling, how could I?).
After dinner, we went back
to the hotel and had dessert at their on site restaurant while the girls played in one of our two
hotel rooms. What had originally started
as a potentially disastrous experience turned into yet another fun moment in
travel.
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