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Zan Entertains a Teenager in DC – Part 2

31stDecember2008

(Yesterday: Part 1)

Sunday:

We had a low-key day since we’d done so many different things on Saturday, and knew we’d also be doing a lot of walking on Monday as well. I took him to the Austin Grill in Old Town for lunch (a Tex-Mex restaurant where I’ve taken a number of out-of-town visitors), we saw two movies in the afternoon at a local theater (Seven Pounds with Will Smith, and Yes Man with Jim Carrey…both were good, but I liked the first one the best), and then we ate at Mai Thai, my favorite Thai restaurant, for dinner.

I ended up scaring my mom that night…I meant to be funny, but I wasn’t able to explain myself right away. You see, she sent me a text asking how everything was going. I responded, “I left Isaac at [my other brother's house] on Friday. He said he changed his mind and didn’t want to come with me. Haven’t you seen him since then?”

I got a call from someone else right after that, so I wasn’t able to send my follow-up “just kidding” text. Mom called me about 10 minutes later, kind of freaked out that Isaac had been at Ben’s house for two days and not told her. I assured her I was only joking…bad Zan.

Monday:

1. National Zoo — My brother is like me…he’ll pause for a little while to look at something, but then he’s ready to move on. We saw everything we wanted to see at the zoo in about an hour. In and out.

2. Lunch at Old City Cafe of Jerusalem — I wanted Isaac to try a falafel sandwich. I had falafel for the first time when I was in Amsterdam in 2004, but I’ve only had it once in DC since then. He approved.

3. Cupcakes! — Next stop was Hello Cupcake in Dupont Circle. (This was the same place I went to a few months ago when a very kind blogger gave me a cupcake-y surprise.) Isaac had a peanut butter-flavored cupcake, and I chose one that had a tiramisu-style frosting. Yum-yum…

4. Georgetown — Isaac wanted to go to Urban Outfitters, so we got off at the Foggy Bottom metro and walked over. He bought a pair of jeans, I got a shirt, then we walked to the Georgetown waterfront and back to the metro. (We did a lot of walking yesterday. I would guess it was at least 8 miles, if not more.)

I sent him back to Richmond last night on Amtrak (he’d never been on a train before, either).

And now…MORE PHOTOS!

Here is Isaac at the Zoo…

…and sitting on the steps at the Georgetown waterfront.

Isaac waiting for the train at the Woodley Park/Zoo/Adams Morgan metro station.

And myself, at the same spot.

Passing the time at the metro by taking photos. Gotta love it.

All in all, it’s unfortunate that I waited so long to bring my brother up for a visit. I had a great time and ended up taking advantage of things to do that I probably wouldn’t have done otherwise.

(Note: the entire Isaac visits DC photoset can be seen at Flickr.)

By Zandria | Comments (8)

Zan Entertains a Teenager in DC – Part 1

30thDecember2008

My brother and I drove back from Richmond late Friday night, and I woke him up at 9am on Saturday morning so we could go to the shooting range (apparently that’s pretty early for an almost-16-year-old on holiday break, but he didn’t complain).

So, on Saturday we:

1) Shot guns at the Blue Ridge Arsenal in Chantilly, Va — We met my friend Crazy Tripp there. He’d brought a few of his handguns and also his assault rifle, and Isaac and I had a lot of fun. Tripp was a very good instructor.

2) Visited the Air & Space Museum near Dulles airport — It was just a few miles away from the shooting range, which was really convenient. It was a lot bigger than I expected, too.

3) Watched the planes land at National Airport from Gravelly Point — Wikipedia says that its “unique location just a few hundred feet from the north-end of Reagan’s runway 1/19 makes it one of the best spots in the United States for plane-spotting.” We found a spot to stand where we could look up at the underbelly of the planes as they came in…that was pretty cool.

4) Walked around my neighborhood — Isaac really liked Old Town Alexandria. He made several comments about how pretty it was, and I was glad to get the little-brother stamp of approval.

5) Ate Ethiopian food — We went to Dukem on U Street in DC. My roommate was with us, too. I’d had Ethiopian food only once before, Jen hadn’t had it in a few years, and Isaac had never tried it. It was very, very good. In fact, I had Isaac eat a number of things over the weekend that he’d never had before (Ethiopain, Thai, falafel) and he approved of all of them. Yay!

6) Saw an improv comedy show — Washington Improv Theater‘s production of Seasonal Disorder. They had us fill out information cards before we went inside, asking various questions like name, occupation, favorite holiday gift, etc. I used my real first name but made up everything else (my occupation was “stripper,” for instance). My card ended up being pulled for one of the main characters to use, so throughout the performance they referred to this woman as “Zandria” quite a few times. It made me laugh every time they said it, because I’m used to being the only Zandria and I’ve never heard anyone else being referred to that way. Great show, very funny.

Now…PHOTOS! YAY!

This is Issac just after we walked into the range at Blue Ridge Arsenal. He looks a little nervous right here, but he got over it quickly. (Check out the ultra-cool required eye and ear protection!)

This is right after Tripp handed him the assault rifle.

Tripp, explaining to Isaac how to use it.

And then…he goes for it.

I shot the handgun…

And received rifle-instruction from Tripp as well…

(Here I am looking like a bad-ass. Mm-hmm! Although, yes, I can see that I’m not holding the butt of the rifle as low as I should — it’s supposed to rest beside your shoulder, not up as high as I have it.)