Last weekend was jam packed with action. On Saturday morning we picked up our friend Kelsey, who was in town for the weekend, at the Eastern Market metro and got started on the weekend activities. We walked through Eastern Market to do a little Christmas shopping and perusing before heading to the apartment for lunch.
After letting Kelsey spend some quality time with Dexter and Mosely, we jumped in the car to go pick up our friend Abe, who was joining us for the Army vs Navy football game. Ben and I had always wanted to go to the "Game of Honor" and it just so happened it was in DC for the first time this year.
We didn't expect the football game to be particularly good as neither team had a great season and Navy had a nine year winning streak in the match up. We did expect a lot of pomp and circumstance. And that started before we could even get in the door. We were stopped to wait for the President and Vice President's motorcade to come through.
Once we got to the front gate, we had to wait as everyone went through extra secret service checks and metal detectors. We made it in and got to our seats before the action started.
To kick things off, the President flipped the coin to determine game's first possession.
Once the game started, we were reminded that neither team were big passers. In fact, the picture below may have been the only pass of the first half and it fell incomplete.
Football without passing leaves a little to be desired. It was fun to see all of the cadets out cheering on their respective academies.
Also, there was still some scoring and that led to booming celebrations. The game was close at the end of the first half.
At halftime we all got a little extra dose of patriotism courtesy of Mr. Lee Greenwood the Grammy award-winning multi-platinum selling artist famed for "Proud to be an American."
Also at halftime, the President took the ceremonial walk across the field. During the first half the President sits on one side of the field and then switches sides for the second half.
Unfortunately, the temperature dropped significantly from when we left the house and none of us were prepared for the frigid weather. Ben didn't even take a coat and simply relied on the warmth of his tuxedo sweatshirt. At one point the lady sitting next to him started to try and warm him up by awkwardly rubbing his arms.
We made the collective decision that we already had the experience of the Army vs Navy game and now we were just watching a really bad football game, so we left shortly into the 4th quarter.
A perk of leaving early was that we avoided the traffic, particularly that which would have been created by the presidential motorcade. In fact, we made it home just in time to see the Navy get the victory on TV.
Normally, we would have considered ourselves to have done plenty and just called it a day. However, about three months ago, we bought tickets to the Christmas Carol at Ford's Theater. It just so happened to be on the same day as the Army vs Navy football game. So, we ate a bite of dinner and then headed to the theater.
The play was really good and the theater was beautiful, very small and quaint.
The Presidential Suite, where President Lincoln was shot, is kept the same, including the original portrait of George Washington and bunting that sat in front of his box the night of the assassination.
We chatted with a volunteer that gave a historical rundown of that night, including how Booth escaped out the back door into the alley.
On Sunday, we went to brunch with Kelsey at Busboys and Poets before taking her over to the MLK memorial before heading to our flag football game on the mall.
Sunday's game had playoff implications, which was exciting because of the people that showed up for the game. We had some of our best players all there on the same day, which never happens, which is all the more reason we were disappointed when the other team didn't show up. Nonetheless, we got the win and earned a playoff birth next weekend.
We decided to head home and watched a little football, made pretzels and caught up with Kelsey much of the afternoon. We decided to go out for dinner at H Street Country Club. It is your typical bar, mexican restaurant, mini-golf joint. The beer was decent, the mexican food was good and the mini-golf was awesome.
As many of you know, Kelly hates mini-golf, primarily because she hate putting, and the very real possibility of losing to someone that has never played "real golf". After a solid even par round, Kelly began to see the merits of mini-golf and decide to reevaluate her opinion of the game.
No comments:
Post a Comment