Washington, DC (USA)

Woke up around 0800 and had breakfast with Pat and Mike - there were some snow flurries and some accumulation overnight. Spent an enjoyable morning with them in Rockville before heading down to Camp Springs. Took I-270 and I-495 all the way (still saw nearly one cop per mile of highway...) and checked into the Colony South (it's nice to get the same digs as during my last Inspection trip here) at 1130. Next, I drove over to the Andrews Terminal to wait for Keith, Eric and Steve to arrive. During this time, I saw Bobby C. - he's another distant relative and people (mostly in the Navy) always confuse the two of us... By 1400, I was back at the hotel. My ND buddy, Bob W., showed up around an hour later and we drove up to the nearby Metro station (Branch Avenue). We took the Metro into DC and got off at Chinatown. Looked for the noodle place we visited before (see APR 2007), but it must have closed (?). Saw Obama's picture everywhere - they really love him around here - and lots of street hawkers selling Obama souvenirs... After we got tired of trying to find the noodle place, we settled for another Chinese restaurant nearby. It turned out that it was Chinese New Year today (I didn't know before we came), but they weren't planning any festivities until Sunday (too bad!!!). After dinner, walked over to RFD (pub with around 200 different beers) for some drinks. Watched a little of the ND-Marquette basketball game and tried some Belgian beverages before leaving for home. No problem on the Metro going back. Hopefully, we'll be able to get together another time soon - we used to hang out all the time and I forgot how much fun we had... Called Nicky and the girls and then got ready for Tuesday (lots to do). Bed late.  "And now, for something completely different..."