DC Adventures: ANNAPOLIS

Jess and I decided to go up to Annapolis for the day, after we struggled to find Mother's Day gifts in Dupont Circle. We left from Reston around 9 am and arrived in Annapolis, MD about an hour later. I have to say, that drive might be the only time I haven't hit traffic driving to Maryland. Anyway -

For those of you who live under a rock, Annapolis is home to the US Naval Academy, and all of the Navy students were out in their dress whites. We couldn't figure out why, but it was pretty cool to walk around with all the men in uniform around. The town of Annapolis is right on the harbor and in true Maryland style, there are tons of restaurants with rockin' crab cakes. We ended up wandering the cobblestone streets and poking into stores for gifts. There were a lot of tourist type things for sale, as well as nautical themed sailing mementos. I ended up buying quite a few things, including my very first caramel apple.

For lunch, we tried to find a waterfront restaurant and ended up at "Famous" Pusser's Landing. They're known for their seafood and rum, and we had a really nice lunch. The restaurant is right along the harbor, so we got to watch the boats going in and out. They have a lot of guided sailing tours, and we had to laugh about all of the pirate-themed adventures. It'd be really nice to go up when its a little warmer and take a sunset sail.

All in all, it was a great day and the oceanfront was beautiful!

DC Adventures: NATIONALS BASEBALL

There's nothing like a good game of baseball to ring in the Spring. We went to an afternoon baseball game on Earth Day at Nationals Stadium (Nationals v. Rockies). I have to say, I'm not a huge fan of baseball, but I love going out with friends and enjoying some much needed sunshine. The weather was great - a bit windy an overcast (and it did start to rain a bit during the game, but we were sitting under a roof thing)... but it wasn't beastly hot and I didn't have to worry about getting a sunburn.

The Nationals moved into a new stadium in 2008, and I have to say - its REALLY nice! They've got a few VIP type areas, and stores for kids like Build-a-Bear. They have concessions from some of the biggest names and staples from Washington DC. I ended up grabbing half-smokes with chili from Ben's Chili Bowl (est 1958) and Helmet Sundaes from Giffords Ice Cream (est 1938). There aren't a lot of Washington based traditions, but these are both very well known and have awesome food. The food prices were a bit high, but you pretty much expect that at a baseball game.

We had GREAT seats, right above the pitcher's bullpen, and we only had to pay $20 per ticket! I guess they have some cheap seats at the top of the stadium starting at $5. Can't beat cheap entertainment! The Rockies ended up winning 2-0 (but I was rooting for the Rockies anyway, so it ended up well).

The stadium is the first of many renovation projects to the downtown Navy Yard district, and its bringing a lot of new visitors and revenue into the area. I'd definitely recommend catching a game there, and hope to do so again before I move :)

DC Adventures: DUPONT CIRCLE

I decided recently that with the big move creeping ever closer, it'd be worth my time to make an effort to see more of Virginia/DC/Maryland before leaving. There are a lot of places that I've wanted to see and things that I've wanted to do here, but never seemed to get around to it.

On April 17, I went with a friend up into DC. We went to Dupont Circle to wander around and look at some of the shops. While we didn't know about it, they were having a celebration for the 40th anniversary of Earth Day called Green In the Circle... and we had a great time listening to live music, and watching people scramble around trying to participate in a scavenger hunt. It's a very bohemian area and seems to be a bit of a mecca for the gay/lesbian community.

We originally went down to Dupont Circle to see if we could go shopping for Mother's Day gifts, but what we realized is that there are a lot more restaurants down there than shopping. The shopping at Dupont is made up of coffee shops/bookstores, boutique/accessory stores, and a few higher end clothing stores. After doing a bit more research about Dupont, I learned that they have year-round farmers markets every Sunday morning, and it's also home to a lot of the Embassies in DC.

QUICK TIPS: Moving tips from a nomad

Moving around the world is a bit like those big 3-D puzzles... only in your puzzle, you have pieces to Big Ben, the Eifel Tower, AND the Taj Mahal. You've got to try and shove the pieces together, and while it looks a bit haphazard in the beginning, after a while, things start to take shape. A bit about my experience with moving in the past:

I was born in California and my family moved to Missouri when I was 1 year old. I can't really count that as "moving experience". However...
- In 2001 we moved from Missouri to Las Vegas, NV
- In 2005, I went on tour with the Blue Knights Drum and Bugle Corps. We were home based out of Denver, Colorado but visited 32 states in 3 months (ie, we lived on a bus). More to come on my future "how to live out of a suitcase" blog post
- After touring with Drum Corps, I moved to Honolulu, Hawaii for college
- In 2006, I moved back to Las Vegas and into the dorms
- In 2007, I moved from the dorms into a new house in Las Vegas. Some will claim that its harder to move from one house to another... and I have to say that moving in laundry baskets in your POV certainly has its disadvantages.
- In 2008, I moved from Las Vegas to Virginia

So... you get the picture. I love moving - it gives you a chance to reinvent yourself and to start fresh on a regular basis. Change is good my friends... just remember that you'll need to roll with the punches.

Anyway, as someone who has moved quite a bit, I have a few tips:

- You've heard it before, but the biggest tip I can give is to BE PROACTIVE. Sure, we're being helped with our move - but who's move is it? That's right... its YOUR move. This PCS isn't near as stressful for me as it is for some of my friends, because I'm really trying to own the process and take care of as much as I can, myself.

- Prepare for things to go wrong. Murphy is alive and well, my friends - and in every move, SOMETHING goes awry. Be ready for it, and prepare yourself to cope with it. Something will always catch you by surprise, but if you leave a bit of a cushion or a threshhold to deal with problems, they become far less stressful.

- Start going through your things, yesterday. It's never too early to par down the things you own. Even for someone like me who seems to move every two years, there's always room to "trim the fat" (so to speak). It's amazing how much stuff people can collect over the years - and if you don't use something now, chances are you won't use it after lugging it around the world. Goodwill is your friend.

- Clean out the pantry. I have a can of black beans that has made it through two moves with me now, because I never seem to start eating through my pantry early enough. True, you might be making meals with Jello and Green Beans, but do you really want to move all of that food? Again, the pantry is home to a whole menagerie of things you didn't know you had.

- Make sure your luggage is in good condition. There's nothing like pulling your suitcase out at the last minute and realizing you forgot to replace it when the faulty zipper broke last trip. Overstock.com has some GREAT deals on suitcases.

I'm certain that I'll come up with more tips before I leave, and as I do, you'll see them in this blog. The plan for the next few weeks is that I will be writing about some of the places that I saw last summer in Japan, and a brief trip review from my Dominican Republic trip. Stay tuned.

Where can wanderlust take you today?

Some say that life is a journey - that in every road there is a decision point, and in every fork, a path of less resistance. I say that life is an adventure with a well defined start and end point... but we all get a little lost along the way.

Who am I? I am a directionally challenged twenty-two year old with little life experience and big expectations. I'll admit to having a two-fold purpose behind this blog. First, I hope to share my experiences and my wanderings to those of you who may follow in my footsteps. Second, I'm trying to convince my technologically-challenged family to keep in touch with both myself and the twenty-first century. We'll see what comes of this project.

In either case, I hope you enjoy taking a stroll into my tangled webs of thought - and please, take the time to leave me comments or suggestions.

Without further adieu - Chapter One.