Washington, D.C.: Week Nine: One More Week Left To Go...

So as I step into my ninth week here in Washington, DC, I am pressured by the idea that I only have one more week left here at our Nation's Capitol. There is still so much more to do and so much more to see! Yet rather than cramming in last minute site seeing trips, I've decided to take a much more laid back approach and enjoy the remainder part of my time here on the east coast.

On Monday, DC had its biggest snow day of the year. I believe we made it up to 8-9 inches of snow. It may not sound like much to the people of Michigan or or even New York. But DC is in no way prepared to handle more than 1-2 inches of snow. DC goes into a panic attack when they hear of possible snow showers in the weather forecast. So naturally, when the snow storm brushed DC's streets, the city practically closed down. Schools were closed, businesses closed their doors for the day, and the federal government had a two hour delay (Opened at 11:00am). Now even though Capitol Hill delayed their hours of operation, my office still made me come in at 9:00am! ...So much for my first snow day!

On Tuesday, I got off work early and headed over to the Library of Congress (the Jefferson Building.) to do some research for my paper. Luckily for my staff ID, I was able to go on the floor where only staff and researchers are allowed to access (it's the same floor you see in the sequel of: National Treasure). I spent a few hours reading up on some material, but I couldn't really focus because of where I was at.

The rest of the week was really low key. On Saturday, since it was about 70 degrees outside, I grabbed my research materials, and took a stroll over to Downtown DC to have lunch at one of my favorite places, Gordon Biersch. - Avocado Chicken Burger, no cheese, with a tall draft of GB's Hefeweizen. It doesn't get any better than that. After lunch, I headed over to a park that just happened to be in front of the White House. The weather was almost San Diego perfect. I sat at one of the park benches that faced directly toward the White House. In between studying, I took the occasional glance down Pennsylvania Avenue and of course, the big white building right in front of me...I mean it was no more than 100-150 yards away from me. I could practically touch it....ok not really; but you get the jist of what I'm saying.

That night, my entire floor was having this goodbye bash in one of the dorm rooms...but given my connection with most of the students in the program, I decided that I'd rather sleep and get a head start in the morning. So that Sunday morning, I woke up at the crack of dawn, got dressed, and headed over to the National Cathedral. This place is huge! I attempted to take some pictures of it, but the only way I was able to get the entire cathedral in the shot was to step back about 150 yards. Now even though the National Cathedral isn't Catholic, believe it or not, I still wanted to visit the historic site where several important services have taken place; including: The funeral service of President Ronald Reagan and the traditional presidential service for President Barack Obama (held the day after presidents are inaugurated). Now going into my last week here in DC, I'm trying to plan a few more site seeing trips before I leave. I'm thinking maybe the Kennedy Center, the viewing deck of the Washington Monument, sitting in on a Supreme Court Case at the Supreme Court, or visiting Kennedy's home in Georgetown. We'll see. But in the meantime, I'll be writing my research paper on Education and getting ready for my move back to San Diego...