Nomad Life - Day 209

This morning, I slept until 0630 (alarm needed) and then started teleworking.  At about 0730, I went down to the kitchen at Kim & David's for breakfast.  Sadly, I missed being able to say goodbye to the David...  Immediately after getting done with this meal, I returned to work.  Meanwhile, Kim was teaching a piano lesson (lots of good music).  After my meetings ended and Kim's lesson was done, I got to visit with her until she had to leave for work (1130).  I continued working, with a short break for lunch (stayed in the condo).  Like yesterday, my cell signal was wonky all day.  Fortunately, it didn't appear that I missed any important calls.  I teleworked until 1545 and then got ready to depart from Kim & David's home.  I'd been invited to a whiskey tasting party in DC by my friend, Amanda!  By the time I got in my car, it was VERY hot (high 80s to low 90s F) and sunny.  When I drove to the nearby West Falls Church Metro Station, which I used a few times during my last visit, I encountered horrible roads and major construction in the area of the parking garage.  Fortunately, I still managed to find a place to park and got on an eastbound Orange Line Train pretty quickly (1600).  I rode the same train all the way to Metro Center and then switched to the Red Line.  When I arrived at the NoMA / Gallaudet Station (1640), I started to have a strong feeling of Deja Vu.  The reason for this became quite obvious when I passed the El Presidente restaurant, where I'd met Amanda, Bridgette and John in early September.  It was still very sunny and warm and I started to sweat as I walked to Union Market.  Since I'd made good time getting to the area, I had a chance to explore and do some birding.  By 1655, I found the Minetta Tavern DC - it would have been very hard to locate without my Google Maps because it was in an alley.  I made my way upstairs to the (very fancy) Lucy Mercer Bar, where I met up with Amanda and John.  Since the event didn't officially start until 1700, I was one of the first guests that had arrived for the Milam & Greene whiskey event (celebrating a new business relationship between Minetta and the whiskey distributor).  I didn't realize when I arrived, but it was also the anniversary of the 62nd birthday of Chris' (Amanda's dad and my friend) - this eventually led to some good stories.  Along the way, I tried several cocktails that featured Milam & Greene bottles: "Ladybird Manhattan" (Very Small Batch Bourbon), "Pinewood Derby" (Rye), "Resolute Revolver" (Provisions Bourbon).  All of them were delicious!  At the end of the evening, I also tried a "Paper Plane" and a "Gold Rush".  With these drinks, we also had fancy appetizers: steak tartar, foie gras, deviled eggs with caviar, cheese puffs, etc.  During the evening, I met several of Amanda's work colleagues.  I'd only thought I'd be there until about 1900 but, instead, stayed in the bar until about 2130.  By then, a lot of other patrons had arrived to enjoy the swanky and classy cocktail lounge. After saying goodbye to Amanda and John, I walked back to the Metro Station, passing lots of National Guard and DC police officers.  Next, I rode back to the west on Red and, later, Silver Line (after switching at Metro Center).  At each stop, I walked to the next car - this was something I'd done over the years to make sure I reached my step goal. I had to get off the Silver Line at East Falls Church but then caught the next Orange Line to West Falls Church Station (arrived at 2215).  I decided to continue walk for more steps because I saw some sports fields lit up nearby.  There was no rush - Kim and David had left for the Eastern Shore while I'd been in DC.  However, it turned out that they had forgotten something and Kim started calling right at that time.  She had a lot to explain about the trash can in the back of her house but (like I'd seen for two days), my cell signal was poor.  As a result, the instructions transitioned to text and I had enough time to finish my walk and 10K step goal. Back at my car, I returned to the house and, without much difficulty, took care of the trash issue (done at 2240).  I should have been tired but spent a good bit of time reading, working on Duolingo exercises and planning for the next day of packing.  I went to bed at 0005 and fell right to sleep.  It's hard to believe that I've only got one more day to get ready for my month-long trip!