Have you ever gone back to someplace that used to be intimately familiar to you, like the neighborhood where you grew up or your college campus? Being there is instantly familiar to you and of course the scenery is part of your history, but at the same time you feel disconnected from it. Well, I've got to say that there are big parts of my life I've felt this way about since my surgery. Just the other day, on an unusual 65 degree February day, I bundled up in my dry suit and went kayaking. As I launched, the thought that popped into my head was, "oh, yeah. I remember this is something I used to enjoy." Hmmm.
Anyway, I had wanted to see the lanterns display at the Kennedy Center - a garden of artistic versions of what I would call Chinese lanterns placed there in honor of what I would call Chinese New Year. Apparently, for the sake of pan-Asian inclusion they called the exhibit "Winter Lanterns". Jeez, it's the War on Chinese New Year!
The display was there for just a short time and the previous night I had planned on going turned out to be inclement. That left Friday. Except I already had plans to to meet some old work friends for a happy hour. We met at Meridian Pint in Arlington, where there was a celebration going on in honor of the release of Talking Backwards IPA from Ocelot Brewing. The atmosphere was pretty festive, and we each had a few of the 11% alcohol Talking Backwards beers. The impact of the high ABV wasn't is as bad as it might have been, as they serve the stuff in smaller glasses to balance the higher alcohol content. Let me say, an 11% beer packs a wallop and two full pints of the stuff would have put me on the floor.
When happy hour broke up, perhaps the sensible thing to have done would have done would have been to have gone straight home, just few blocks away. Instead, I headed to my office where, after going upstairs to use the bathroom (because, beer) and grab something out of my office (a whole other story), I left my car, walked out of the building and grabbed a Bikeshare bike. I took the bike down onto the Mount Vernon Trail, which was pitch f-in' black. Bikeshare bikes have only tiny little LED headlights on them - just bright enough to allow me to follow the painted stripe on the bike path if I really concentrated. Fortunately, I know this path well and was able to navigate without issue. Once I made the turn onto the bridge visibility was better. I biked across the river to the Kennedy Center, where I found the Bikeshare rack full. There was another one nearby with an open space.
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| Rabbit zodiac sign |
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| Undersea |
As I hope you can tell from the photos, the display was super cool. There were different themed areas - Asian zodiac, undersea, pandas, plants/mushrooms, and for some reason some giant squid-looking things. I had brought my Micro 5/3rds camera, which looks like something of a "real camera". Interestingly, people kind of get out of the way when you're shooting with an impressive-looking camera rather than a phone. There were lots of people there and it was a fun atmosphere, like looking at a big public Christmas display or something.
I wandered for probably an hour, including going in and checking out the new building they recently opened at the Kennedy Center. Then I grabbed another Bikeshare bike and pedaled my way back across to Rosslyn, where I picked up my car and went home. If they do this again next year it's a must-see.
