Washington DC Trip: Day 3

The general plan for the day: ride bikes around the Mall, see assorted memorials and monuments, etc.

Scholar: Hello. If I said today was fabulous, amazing, and beautiful in every way imaginable, with unicorns jumping over rainbows and what not, I would be lying, for an assortment of reasons. We have both literally and figuratively gone to hell, and back.
Unlike Flobots, I cannot ride my bike with no handlebars.
Not that I tried.
But allow me to give you some backstory.When I learned how to ride a bike, at the generic age for learning that (7-10), I hated it. I didn't understand it, I remember both my dad and myself getting frustrated, with a healthy amount of crying involved (me, not my dad). Now, my neighborhood has these giant hills, on both sides of my house. Not even the driveway is vaguely flat. I learned how to ride my bike somewhere else, but the trauma from the flat field made riding the bike on the large hills that much more terrifying. I don't remember the last time I road a bike (prior to today), likely because after learning how I avoided it like the plague.
Flash forward to today, 10:00 am. I very quickly discovered, upon our arrival at the bike rental place, that I had no idea how to ride a bike. The most I had was that you move the pedals with your feet, the bike moves forward, handlebars control direction and (on these bikes) the brakes. Simple, in theory. But I couldn't get moving, couldn't turn, among other things. The next hour was spent with me riding up and down along that building, figuring out how to get it to move, how to turn without crashing, and a lovely revisit to my childhood terror, but with an added bonus of embarrassment (although I love every single person in my troop so much right now, because they were so patient with me, and encouraged and taught me! Thank you so much, guys!). But in DC, bikes share the road with cars, and with my inexperience/terror, I did not want to ride to the Mall (where bikes are on sidewalks). Thankfully, everyone was okay with walking our bikes over there. Once at the mall, as we rode around and looked at monuments/memorials, I slowly figured out how to ride a bike, and turn and whatnot, after running into poles/fences, sudden bad stops. On the bright side, I didn't run into any person! I gained some semblance of confidence, but we got near a major road with a lot of fast cars and it just went POOF! and disappeared. Eventually, I got it back. Whenever we went anywhere, Padawan would wait for me to get going, and Doll was extremely patient (thanks again, guys). During a break, Catnip, Padawan, and I went into this little circular building to see the Divine Comedy Art Exhibition. Little did we know, the building was actually a Tardis and was gigantic on the inside, underneath the ground. The Exhibition was really, really amazing (it had a Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven section, each with related art and sculptures that were giant and really cool. No pictures allowed though). The other two were tired, and we got lost, and we started bickering with each other. A lot. But I'm blaming it on tiredness. Other stuff happened after that, but since I've rambled on enough by now, I'm gonna let the others talk. Scholar out.


Doll here . . .
What an adventure! Bikes and sights and cars and DC at its finest. We met nice people, We saw historic sights. But most of all, we had an MVP in our midst. The Scholar was amazing and brave and worked through a difficult challenge. Way to go! You are the bomb! And Lacrosse, we miss you!
Doll out.

Cat Nip: *spins around in spinny chair*It was soooooo much fun! No doubt that my muscles got sore and I got angry at Scholar. None the less I am happy that my wish for biking for a long time with a lot of freedom. Too bad we couldn't find Jefferson's lap dance. (When we were planning someone thought that "Jefferson's lap desk" was "Jefferson's Lap dance") We also went to the pool and the whirrlpool.
Meow,
Cat Nip

Hello friends, Padawan here i don't have much to say but the thing is that Citrus is afraid of glass dishes. and i was on the metro and this cute guy was sitting/standing next to me an i was freaking out. well you heard the rest from all but we go caught in a storm and an umbrella flew out of someones hands like in the movies. so ya. . . LUV YA~<3
LOVE PADAWAN

CITRUS:  friends i am back with more of my unfortunate adventures!! i don't know how many people are reading this but allow me to tell you of a magical place called an all you can eat breakfast hotel FREE special (not that it was special since it was everyday but still) anyhow our hotel has one, haha i mean i knew that it did but until today we had gone to the one at the very front of the lobby where anyone could go and you didn't even need a key card to get in just like a smile or something corny like that. you used paper and plastic everything and it was very homey, so i loved it, i was happy i mean im a girl who loves to eat so this was amazing truly! so yesterday doll suggested that we got to the other one since we had not gone there before and we like to do new things. so its about like 8:00 am and im still groggy from the previous night and wowie i was exhausted. so we walk into the room and i am immediately caught off guard. i mean there is no noise in this room except for the tv and a very small chatter.... allow me to explain, im form a family that doesn't even set out fancy stuff for thanksgiving and other holidays, it just paper plates form the dollar tree! so i was very uncomfy when i came to find that EVERYTHING IN THIS ROOM IS BASICALLY MADE OUT OF GLASS AND OH GUESS WHAT?? CITRUS IS A KLUTZ!!!!  so i was beyond terrified that i would somehow screw up and get us all kicked out of the hotel. i know this is an irrational thought but yes, my mind always jumps to conclusions, normally the worst ones. other than that terrifying experience we made our way to the bike rental and had a marvelous time while it was quickly apparent the scholar was not. i understand though, for ive never heard of her riding a bike until today so she did very well!!! other than that nothing really happened today. we got caught in a crazy thunderstorm and then went swimming but that's all i can think of at the moment :) haha oh and the bikes hurt buts. spread that around! BIKES HURTS BUTTS!!!


Raccoon Killer:  Yes, as Scholar's mom, I am PROUD of her!  She kept trying.  She did not quit. We offered to get a tandem bike so she could ride with someone else in front.  She said, "No, I want to keep trying."  The bike ride was fun.  By far the best way to see the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, and the Jefferson Memorial. This was the first time I have been on bike since about 1987. My feet and knees (which were hurting after sight seeing yesterday) said, "Thank you, Thank You!!" after the bike ride. My bottom said, "What the HECK just happened?"   There was a small blow up between 2 girls over "going to hell and back" and getting an ice cream.  I'm glad that everyone involved are still friends.  For dinner, we went to an Italian restaurant called Mama Lucia.  Hands down, it was the best Italian food that I have ever put in my mouth!  And you know how much I love Provino's.  I could easily eat there the rest of the week for the nights we have planned to eat out. However, others are already requesting "Asian" food next.  Crazy Girls!  I took the girls to the hotel pool tonight.  They swam, I read and made phone calls. There was evidence that the hotel had a Life Guard (Life Guard Chair).  I guessed  he/she were off duty.  We went about 8:45 at night and the pool closes at 10:00.  When we arrived, there was a grandma watching her grandson play in the pool. There was a guy wearing a blue jacket, sitting in a chair, with a towel covering his legs from his ankles to his waist, playing on his cell phone.  It looked suspicious to me.  30 min later a family of 3 come in and go to the jacuzzi.  15 min. or so later, their son goes to the pool and starts playing with the grandson.  Next thing I know, suspicious man is walking around the pool.  The towel is gone.  He is still wearing the blue jacket, but now you can see the white t-shirt with the red cross & life guard written in red on it and wearing red life guard swim trunks. So ends our day.