Making my way up the East Coast....

Last Thursday I woke up hungover. It might of had something to do with the girls night out...or quite possibly it had to do with the booty shaking contest I somehow got roped into recruiting guys for at Paddy Murphy's. Regardless, I woke up with a hangover. Brady and I spent a good part of the day running around and preparing to leave Naples. After the world's most frustrating oil change (apparently my drain plug was stripped), Brady and I left Naples for Miami around 4:00PM. Since one of the main highways in Florida was shut down due to a major fire, we were forced to take the slower more alligator infested route over to Miami. Yay! I finally got to see gators--and about 3 dozen more than I expected!
Once we arrived to Kirsten's we walked down to Cafe Versailles where I had my first empanada. A perfect ending to a perfectly stressful day. Ahhhhh...sleeeeeeep. Kind of.
We all arose bright and early--well dark and early really--so I could get Brady and Kirsten to the airport by 5:00AM. Yuck. When is a 6;30AM flight ever a good idea? Well at least it got me up and after a nice shower back at Kirsten's house I was on the road to North Carolina by 7:30. Boy was I tired. So tired in fact that I gave my body something it hadn't had in years--an energy drink. Bad idea. Although it did the job and got me to Greensboro, NC in time for a baseball game, by the time arrived I felt like I was coming down off of a hard drug (not that I would know what that feels like but I can imagine). After the game I checked into the scariest motel on my trip to date--and yes it beat Fort Stockton, TX due to the fact that I din't have Rose there with me. A broken dead bolt, a powerless phone and a toilet paper-jammed peephole--what kind of crap hole had I paid $41.75 for anyhow? Fortunately I eventually passed out and woke up breathing in the morning. After a load of laundry and a soggy waffle I was out of there--off to Virginia Beach to meet Danielle. I spent a night with Danielle and then stayed acouple more nights on my own in order to catch a front row spot at the Kings of Leon concert in Norfolk Monday night. I really couldn't have been more in the right spot at the right time. Seriously guys, I was front row--sweat-spray distance from Caleb Followill. Kind of a dream-come-true for this girl who's ga ga for lead singers. Anyhow, good show followed by a couple rounds of cut throat with new found friends at a nearby bar. I should probably mention also that my pool game is significantly improving--I beat Stevin and his brother. No big deal though.

The next day came in another wave of heat as I set off for Washington DC. I arrived around 4 o'clock, checked into my hostel and then drove down to Chinatown and the epicenter of my first experience with hockey fans. The level of enthusiasm over here when it comes to sports really is quite impressive--a lot different than West coast sports fans. I ended up in a familiar pub (Fado) watching the Capitols/Rangers game, eating chicken pot pie and washing it down with Smithwicks and Guiness. I made lots of friends that night, oddly enough all with the last name Ovechkin printed on their backs--apparently he is the Michael Jordan of hockey. When I arrived back at the hostel I spent some quality time with Rashad and Tom who were on duty that night. We swapped stories and youtube sensations as we laughed well into the night.

So that brings me to today when I oh so naively decided to drive into the city to do museums and sight seeing. Lets just say I saw more middle fingers than exhibits as I only made it to one museum after like 2 hours of driving through the most stressful traffic I've ever experienced. East coast sports fans have my vote, East coast drivers do not. RUUUUUUUDE!!! Once I got into the Sithsonian Museum of Portraiture and American Art I could finally breath deeply and relax a bit. I especially enjoyed the Alec Soth photography and found myself in front of his portrait of a young French rollerskater for more time than what a quarter would put on a DC meter. It was the most serene part of my day, for shortly after that I was back in the mess of traffic on my way to Georgetown to catch a movie. I went to see Duplicity but the projector was broken so I saw The Soloist instead. It was a good movie--intensely moving, but it left a little bit of conflict inside that I am still trying to sort out. Good though. I followed the movie with a bowl of Soupe de crab at Cafe Russe and then headed back to the hostel where I am now--typing away and hopefully not boring you all :)
Tomorrow I head to Boston to meet Conn and some of his friends in the city. Very excited to be on my way to a new place and a familiar face!

♥ Yours Truly