Adventures in the Southwest!

This weekend I had the pleasure of going to New Mexico to attend my friend Sam's wedding. Sam and I went to college together, so I was excited to see some of my college friends. We had some down time between the events, so I got to go on some adventures with my buddies. On Friday before the ceremony, we went to the zoo. I was pleased that it was only $2.50 to get in :). I had been to the Smithsonian's zoo in DC several times, but this zoo was kind of neat because I got to see some animals that were native to the southwest. I got to see an American bald eagle, a bobcat, a lemur, and this huge turtle. Apparently there was a jaguar, but I didn't get a chance to see it. Of note, Benjamin Franklin was quite displeased with the bald eagle becoming our nation's animal; he felt as though it bad moral character. He would have preferred a turkey. But I digress. Overall the trip to the zoo was fun though, it was a pretty big zoo considering how small a town Alamagordo is.

 

On Friday afternoon we went to Sam's ceremony up in the mountains. It was incredibly beautiful, there was amazing foliage and views, and Sam looked amazing. The ceremony was simple but elegant; they did their own vows and it suited their personalities. I felt like it was a tasteful and appropriate expression of their love. After the ceremony they had champagne and then they signed their wedding certificate. I offered to counsel Sam as her lawyer. :)

 

On Saturday morning Aliea and I met up with Becca and we went to see a space ship being refurbished. Yes, that's right. The groom's godfather is an engineer and he was working with a team to refurbish an old space ship called the DCX. He told us he was doing it, and invited us to come see. It was definitely a once in a lifetime experience. He told us that the ship was designed by the navy to transport soldiers to different parts of the world, and it was unique in that it could move sideways, vertically and horizontally and go up into space without much difficulties. NASA was against this ship (we think because it wasn't theirs) and they fought to have control over it. When they finally got control, the ship suddenly lost one of its legs and was unable to work after that. The rumor was that NASA did this on purpose; they wanted to melt the ship down for scrap metal after that. Apparently the engineers didn't want that to happen and took measures to stop this. They would move the "melt" stickers to other objects, and a bunch of them took parts of the ship home and stored them in their garage. Lynn (the best man/engineer) said he had a friend in DC who said he had part of the ship in his garage! This ship was unique because all of the parts were from other ships, so it did not cost much to make. Now they are trying to preserve the ship and are reaching out to engineers who had parts of the ship in their garages all over the country. NASA had melted the outer shell of the ship, and they agreed that if the engineers got all of the ship refurbished that they would build a new shell. I would have liked to take pictures but legally this wasn't allowed. So below is a picture of us after seeing the space ship!

After this we went to lunch at Si Senores. The wait staff probably thought we were crazy because we had gone there 3 days in a row. It was a problem, but the food was amazing, OMG. Juice cleanse after this... After lunch we went to a store called "Dollar Boots & Jeans". We were excited at the prospect of dollar boots and dollar jeans, but were woefully disappointed. There were a ton of expensive boots. It should have been called "$100 Boots and Jeans". Bummer.

After our failed shopping extravaganza, we went to the site of the worlds largest pistachio. It was amazing! Haha it was 30 feet tall. I got a picture with the replica. We also got to look at the pistachios growing in the field. Apparently the dry weather is conducive for their growth as there were several farms in the area. We also got to sample some of the wine that they had cultivated as well. I ended up getting some pistachio white wine which was really good. I wished I could have bought more, but getting on a plane deterred me. I also bought a ton of pistachios and pistachio brittle. It was amazing, and looking back on it, I'm a little embarrassed about how much money I spent on pistachios. But really, how often do you go to see the world's largest pistachio?

 

That evening we all attended Sam's wedding reception. Sam looked beautiful, but that was to be expected :) the evening consisted of frequent dancing (including a mass "oppa gangnam style" dance as part of the couples first dance), stunna shades, and a picture of me lecturing a cop. Sadly I can't share the picture online as part of the agreement but it is available upon request. I had an excellent time, and the evening ended with a huge bonfire out in the woods with home brewed beer. It was so relaxing to hang out with good friends and not feel like I had to filter myself.

 

Aliea left on Sunday morning, and I met up with Sam, Suze, Becca, and Elizabeth to go to White Sands National Park. There were a ton of sand dunes which were perfectly white. It reminded me of the Outer Banks in North Carolina...except no ocean. Sam (who is a geologist) told me that a long time ago there used to be a large lake there millions of years ago, but it dried up. It is now the largest gypsum sand dune in the world. Apparently most plants and animals can't survive there based on the intense southwest winds. Overall I had a wonderful time- it was so great to see my friends and be myself without a filter. I hope to do it again soon!

 

 

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Eating and Learning

So I've managed to have a bit of fun this long weekend. On Saturday I took a knife skills cooking class with Nicole and Susan. Probably 1 minute after the instructor lectured us on knife safety I cut my finger. Fail. Anyway, on Sunday I went to Taste of DC with Nicole. It was magical. I had heard of it last year but obviously didn't get a chance to go. I met up with Nicole and we made a pact to share the food we got and to try things that we hadn't before. Taste of DC has a ton of restaurants that come and give samples of their food for reasonable prices, for those who don't know. Nicole and I had gotten some deal with Living Social, where we got a free beer and coupons for $10 worth of beer.

 

 

I started out getting some Jamaican patties from the Patty Boom Boom Room, which is a bar on U St. I got a spicy beef pattie which was super yummy. We then went to get some beer at the bier garden. I got a blonde beer from C2 imports, which I had never heard of. Pretty good. Next I went to a food truck- chupacabra. I got a chicken taco which was amazing. I was quite pleased that there are no food trucks near my job. Next Nicole got poutine, which I had had once. It looks gross and the ingredients together seem gross, but is amazing. We then split samosas from Mayur Kabob house. We wanted to split an empanada but the place we went was out, which was an epic fail. Then we each got a cupcake from Cake Love. It was a pumpkin cupcake in my case. OMG so good. We still had beer coupons so we sampled some more beers. My last beer was the Virginia Lager from a place in Nelson County, in an effort to keep it local :). While we consumed our beer we watched a professional food eating competition- they were eating bens chili bowl! There was one competitor who I recognized, the black widow. So I rooted for her. Sadly she did not win. :( Overall it was a ton of fun, and we got to sample a lot of different kinds of food and beer for very little money. That's my kind of day.


 

 

On Monday I was able to tour the Frederick Douglass House in southeast DC. The house sits on top of a hill in Southeast so I was able to get an awesome view of DC. Frederick Douglass lived in the house for the last 10-15 years of his life. He bought it from the Van Horne family. Mr. Van Horne had built the house for himself and his family, and he made a restrictive covenant against the land for blacks, Irish, and other foreigners. Obviously this was bad business practice and he went bankrupt soon after. Frederick Douglass bought the house for today's equivalent of $1.3 million. At the time slavery had ended 12 years prior, and he was focusing much of his efforts on women's suffrage. I thought that was interesting because I always saw him as an abolitionist. He was very wealthy because of his books and giving speeches.

 

The front of the house had two parlors. One was for guests to discuss politics and the other was for family. He had 21 grandchildren! Most of the stuff was from the original house, and if it was not original it was recreated based on a photograph. He was an ambassador to Haiti, so the wallpaper in the one parlor had palm trees to reflect that. The study off the parlor had all of his books- he taught himself to read and was able to speak French and German as well. The dining room table had all of their original china, which was cool. When Frederick Douglass bought the house from the Van Horne's, he added an edition to the house, making it 21 rooms. There was a stable and other things in the back with several acres, but they were sold to pay off taxes.

 

The upstairs had several bedrooms. As a Victorian house, the rooms were divided by gender- one side of the hall for men and the other for women. Even if you were married you stayed in separate rooms! Both of his wives had their own room, but his first wive's room was closed off after her death. There was a beautiful bay window with a view, and apparently Frederick Douglass would put his table in front of it to work sometimes. His grandchildren also had a sleeping area in the attic, and he had a room for his trunks since he traveled so much. When he died of a heart attack he left his house to his second wife, but this caused drama and so his children eventually got it in a will dispute. His second wife worked to turn the house into a museum, and it was turned over to the National Park Service in the 1960's. They've been giving tours ever since, but they have done several restorations. The last thing I saw was Frederick Douglass' growler house. It's basically the original mancave! It was a small cottage behind the house with a table and lounge for him to work in solitude. It was kind of funny. Lastly I saw a movie about his history, which was okay but mind of cheesy :). Overall it was very educational and the people were so helpful. It was definitely worth the trip!

Mancave!

Note: this last one is from the house porch. I thought it was a cool view, hence it is larger :)

 

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