Marine Corps Marathon

30,000 runners registered. Mile marker 23 for the marathon was right out front of my apartment. Though Val and I had no problem crossing the street on our way to church just before 8am, I had to make a break for it to cut across them on my way back around noon. I caught a ride with my visiting teacher after we met, and she just had to drop me on Jefferson Davis since the one-way Clark street that runs alongside it, where the turnoff for my apartment building is, was filled with runners, not to mention blocked off. ;D  I hopped out of her car and onto the sidewalk where a couple of people were cheering. I started visiting with them. They’d been there a half hour. I stood with them for about 15 minutes before there was a slight clearing. I felt as though I’d get ran over. :S Betsy and Val spent 2 hours down there cheering. What troopers! I just sat in our apartment and watched the last 4 episodes of Prison Break season one.

Jefferson Memorial

The Jefferson Memorial is my favorite place in all of D.C. Oddly, I had not yet been there since moving here until Saturday. After the Navy Yard, even though it was getting late, Sam and I went over to the Jefferson. It's kind of a hike from the metro, but it really is worth it. It's outstanding, secluded from the rest of the bustle of the National Mall with all the other monuments, and right on the river. It's so serene and inspirational. We got there just after sunset.
                                      

U.S.S. Barry

Saturday we, Sam and I, went to the Navy Yard to meet up with a few of my friends from my ward. It’s over by the Nats stadium. Sam and I got super lost, so we missed the museum we were supposed to meet up at. When we finally caught up with them, we were able to tour the U.S. S. Barry all together. It was pretty cool. The guys were in heaven. Haha!

U.S.S. Barry

Sam and I finally making our way over to the ship.

Sam wanted a picture with the boat. Such a guy! ;D

The Nats Stadium. I love all the baseballs lining the outside. Creative.

Didn't make it to a game this season :/

We, the Pizza

Sam and I went to We, The Pizza for lunch by the Capitol this last Saturday. iMuy buenisimo! It was SO delicious. We got their buffalo chicken pizza. Blue cheese, buffalo sauce, chicken wings, mozzarella…now that’s what I call a pizza!! :D Plus, the crust was perfect. Best pizza I’ve had in a while.

Happy Halloween!!!...weekend

Friday night, this last weekend, there was a Stake Halloween Dance in Maryland for all of the D.C. singles. I went with my friends Vanessa and Karen from my ward. It is so funny because at Institute on Tuesday night, Karen told me we were all gonna go as zombies, but about 10 minutes before that I’d talked to Vanessa and she said they’d been discussing it and had no clue what they were gonna go as. I asked Karen if she was sure. Karen said, “Oh yeah! We’ve been planning it for days.” I had a feeling Vanessa wasn’t quite convinced. Haha! Anyway, the next few days I made preparations to go as a zombie. I loved that it was such a simple costume because I could easily just buy make up and tear some of my clothes up. Cheap, cheap, and didn’t I mention cheap? I have hardly the money, let alone the means to go shopping for some extravagant costume, and then there was the matter of time. Friday afternoon Vanessa texts me—though I didn’t get it until later in the evening after I’d already started ripping my clothes up—and she tells me that they’ve decided we should all go as Two-Face, from Batman. I was a little ruffled because I’d just started ripping up one of only three T-shirts I brought out here with me, the one I decided I cared least about. I was determined, since I’d been building up brain-eating excitement all week, to go as a zombie. So I did. The girls looked great. I looked gruesome. All was as it should have been. I met up with Sam there and met a lot of his friends. I did very little dancing, mostly just the mingling that goes on so rampantly here that I usually can’t stand. I used to LOVE (no understatement) dances, but since I started partner dancing earlier this year, I find it hard to enjoy just letting loose on the dance floor. A girl I met from Sam’s ward is in a Salsa dancing club, and she invited me to go this week. It’s on Wednesday though, so we’ll see how the weather holds up with Sandy hitting the shore this week. 

PROMISE I'LL ADD PICS of MY GRUESOMENESS LATER. THEY'RE ALL ON MY ROOMIE'S CAMERA.

Baltimore, Maryland

I went to visit Laura a little over a week ago, the weekend we had planned. I just went for Satuday and Sunday. It was a BLAST!!! The only slight problem...her roommate has 3 cats. Not so bad, right? For me, yes. I'm allergic. But, luckily we only spent time there sleeping mostly. We went did so much in one weekend, it's amazing. We first went to her house. She lives in a 4-story row-home. They're so interesting and compacted in these little neighborhoods. She kind of lives in a shady neighborhood (ghetto) so I was nervous. But...her block really is probably the nicest in that part of town. We took the Circulator (a free public bus that circuits around Baltimore) to Inner Harbor. We walked around and went into a few of the shops.

GIANT Barnes & Noble.

Historic Ships in Baltimore Inner Harbor.

                                                                   Ultimate candy store!!!!

Memorial for 9/11. Piece of Twin Towers.

Lunch at Desario's in Little Italy. Crab cakes :D

Laura's neighbors across the street. Their row homes are really no wider than 

the length of their car! That astounds me. 

We went to the Cylburn Arboretum. It was beautiful...and FREE. We had planned to go to the National Aquarium at Inner Harbor, but it was $30 entry, and it took me until noon to get out there. We decided not to spend that kind of money to go for only a few hours, so we referenced my 'to do in Baltimore free' list.

So many pretty gardens at the Cylburn Arboretum. There was a 

wedding going on in one of them while we were there. 

Haha. I love the little Laura and Michelle head shadows at the bottom of this pic. lol!

Before touching the plant.

After touching the leaf. This is a really cool plant! It is sensitive to touch

and shrinks up when you touch it. I guess that's some sort of defense mechanism.

Imagine if this were your yard!! I'm envious!

Mr. Tyson, the original owner of Cylburn, planted this Ginkgo tree in his front yard.

The Tyson mansion is built with stone from one of the many quarries he owned 

in the area. He traveled all over the world and brought seeds back with him

that he planted in his yard. 

Saturday night we went to this place called the Book Thing. It was actually a really cool concept. You can go and donate books and take any book(s) you want. You don't have to donate to take a book. It's really low-scale, loosely categorized, signs made of paper and marker, hodge-podge shelving. You just sign out when you leave and put the number of books you took and any comments you have. All the books are stamped as free Book Thing books that brand them so people can't come take them to resale. Books are expensive, so I love that it helps those who can't afford it, to educate themselves and enjoy reading. They have a lot of text books, books on wellness, history, the world, recipes, novels, and even books in other languages. Anyway...to say the least, I was impressed. I'd love to help them get a better operation going, possibly even make it nation-wide. 

We went to Potbelly sandwiches for dinner. I was somewhat relieved because early in the day Laura had suggested we go to L.P. Steamers. It wouldn't have been such a bad idea, but I was really intimidated by the fact that they just serve you an entire crab. You get a bib and tools to crack it and just go to town. I know it would have been "an experience", but I wouldn't have even known where to begin. Laura sensed my discomfort though I told her I was willing, plus she said we already ate crab for lunch so we should do something different for dinner.  Oh yay! I'll save that adventure for another day.

The singles ward there was surprisingly small. Everyone was really nice though. I enjoyed it a lot. It was a nice change of pace from the bustle of my ward that's huge and ever-changing. 

We went to Fort McHenry after church. It's where Francis Scott Key got his inspiration to write "The Star Spangled Banner." 

Nice, windy day for sailing.

                   I overheard a tour guide saying this cannon is the biggest in existence of its kind.
                             If I understood correctly, it can shoot accurately up to 3 miles away.

Entrance to Fort McHenry. It is a star-shaped fort. Reference map below.

                                                The inside of the fort is like its own little village.

This is a punch bowl that was given to a commander after the war of 1812 to commemorate the victory. It's made to look like a cannon ball from one of the British cannons.  

The flags flown at the fort had their own storage room. Wow!

The ramparts of Fort McHenry