I flew into Washington D.C. yesterday to attend the orientation for the Critical Language Scholarship before leaving for India on Friday. During a break, I hoofed it down to the capitol building; saw the Washington Monument and the White House. I love the fact that Michelle Obama could have planted her organic vegetable garden on any of the solitary acres of land that the White House sits on, thus making it more private. Instead she planted it a dozen yards from the looky-loo fence so anyone can see and be inspired by the lush, well manicured and fruitful garden.
Keeping with the Obama theme, I visited Five Guys Burgers. Watching the news coverage of Obama making a burger run at Five Guys makes it seem as if it was some kind of D.C. landmark. In fact, Five Guys is a fairly non-descript, In-and-Out style burger joint with 400 franchise locations. I arrived at the front door before they opened at eleven, so I decided to be adventurous kill some time in the gay bookstore next door. Why does every book in a gay bookstore have to do with sex, where to find people to have sex with and how to be good at it when you do find it?
Eleven o’clock rolled around I made my way back to Five Guys. I ordered the most expensive thing on the menu: a double bacon cheeseburger with A-1 sauce. The burger was worth the price and while I was eating I decided to snap a few pictures. One of the guys behind the counter caught me and playfully yelled over in a high girlish voice, “Gotta take a picture of my burger!” We struck up a conversation and it turns out he has family in Lansing. He recommended that I visit the Smithsonian. Apparently even fast food jockies are impressed by the Smithsonian’s vast collection of art and artifacts. I’m leaving at 1:00, so I won’t be able to take his advice, but having ridden the metro, eaten at Five Guys, visited Lambda-Rising Rainbow Colored Bookatorium, seen the White House and had my glasses tightened in a fancy optical boutique, I feel like I have gotten quite a nice single-day visit to our nation’s capitol.
