NATURAL JUICE

Jamdown:

WE DON’T COOK WITH
NO SALT
NO PORK
NO MSG

Tasty Caribbean served by the friendliest people ever.

Driver Carries No Money

He’s Married

Paleo

Matt is rocking the crossfit/paleo combination so I picked up on paleo while I was visiting, crossfit can wait. Nothing beats a big-ass steak and some sautéed spinach.

Anthurium superbum Tail Flower

I guess it is probably pronounced SUPERB-um not Super Bum, but I have my own preference. At the Smithsonian portrait gallery, where you too can see an original Shepard Fairey Obama collage thing.

wikipedia:

In January 2009, after Obama had won the election, Fairey’s mixed-media stenciled portrait version of the image was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution for its National Portrait Gallery. Later in January 2009, the photograph on which Fairey based the poster was revealed: an April 2006 shot by former Associated Press freelance photographer Mannie Garcia. In response to claims by the Associated Press for compensation, Fairey sued for a declaratory judgment that his poster was a fair use of the original photograph. The parties settled out of court in January 2011, with details of the settlement remaining confidential.

It just wouldn’t be the US without a good ol’ fashion lawsuit.

The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library

The Public Library
District of Columbia

Performance Art Space

I helped Matt with a bunch of reno type work at his new place in DC, and one of the first improvements we did was to lay out some parquet on his back deck to make it way more comfortable than the patch up concrete that was there to start with. Also tore off the rotten and rusted old railings to make it a bit safer.

Alley

The Bozekitty

On yet another Home Depot trip. In a past life I used to go to the grocery at least once a day, but when we’ve got houses to fix it necessitates daily trips to the home improvement outlets instead.

And how can you not have a giant grin on your face when driving a convertible in perfect weather after dark?

Fast Gourmet

Fast Gourmet takes the gourmet food truck concept and jams it into a gas station. From this viewpoint you can’t tell there’s anything going on, but inside is a cute little Ecuadorian place serving up great fresh food. Wasn’t that fast, but maybe the name “Fresh Gourmet” was taken.

Oohhs & Aahhs

SOUL FOOD
RESTAURANT
WILL BE OPEN
EVERY
FRIDAY & SATURDAY
UNTIL 4AM SERVING
CHICKEN & WAFFLES
AND SHRIMP & GRITS

Transporter Mobile Lounge

I’ve been in some strange vehicles over the past year of travels, but the giant buses to move between terminals at Dulles are right up there. I guess they’re from the time when everything about an airport had to be awesomely custom-made, and regular ol’ buses just wouldn’t do. As far as I could tell, these things are symmetrical and can be loaded and driven from both ends so they never have to be reversed.

Edit: Intrepid traveller Grant has identified these things as mobile lounges. The related vehicle the plane mate raises and lowers the cabin on a scissor lift, and has an accordion canopy like a jet bridge to mate directly with a jet out on the runway somewhere.

wikipedia:

Washington Dulles International Airport is one of the few remaining airports to use the mobile lounge/plane mate system. On January 26, 2010, the MWAA replaced the mobile lounge system for passenger movements between the Main Terminal and the A, B, and C-Gates with the AeroTrain. However, some mobile lounges/plane mates remain in use for passenger movements to and from the D-gates, to disembark international passengers and carry them to the International Arrivals Building, and to convey passengers to and from aircraft on hard stand (i.e., those parked remotely on the tarmac without access to jet bridges).

Sadly I only got to ride a mobile lounge and not a plane mate.

Hat

If the Dulles transporter vehicles mobile lounges weren’t strange enough as it is, our driver wore an expertly balanced newspaper for a hat.

Matt, Meg & Me

During my last week at Matt’s, his sister Meg came up for the weekend. It was great to finally meet someone I’d only heard of for the past ten years, and get her awesome perspective on her world.