Gareth: Washington DC is out-of-control and fucking rocks man - put that in! :)

Uncle George's place

Gareth and I took a drive down to Wsahington DC early on saturday morning. It took us 8 hours to drive 666 kilometers.

We passed through such amazing cities as New York, Newark, Baltimore, Philedelphia. New York is a lot bigger than you think. From the Bronx, we took the I-95S around the northern parts of New York and saw the manhattan skyline on the horizon, on a beautiful spring day.

Mind blowing size, bulging budgets and a great appreciation for rock. America is the home of rock, you flip thru radio channels and are greeted with the sweet tones of Led Zeppelin, Blue Oyster Cult, Lost Prophets, Metallica. If there was another reason for me to move to the US, it would be for the music.

The american road driving experience is an interesting one, especially when you get pulled over by a sweaty-state-police-pig after doing 83 in a 65 zone. $180 is way too much apparently. Phew. But that set a tone for the driving, chilled 75 miles an hour with everyone else on the road. At most of the overhanging bridges american flags flapped againt the railings, multitudes of flags of all sizes. Trucks keep up to the speed limit and everyone just cruises along, as if all attached by cables. I have never seen so many different types of cars before, all burning clean fuel with little or no visible emissions. Trucks the sizes of football fields, shining chrome in immaculate condition.

In the prideland

Our timing couldn't have been better.

It was memorial day weekend. A time to remmeber fallen soldiers fighting for america's right to have war when they wanted.

It was also HOG weekend, close to 10 000 Harley Davidsons were in Washington, as many veterans pursue the passion of comradery on their steel horses. "Rolling Thunder" is really the only phrase to descibe a thousand harleys dragging up the main streets in Washington.

Every year, around this time of the year the indigenous cicadas emerge from 17 years of slumber and pupation. In an eerie forest born chorus they entice mates and intrigue the locals. While it does remind you a lot of the bush in SA, it seems as foregin as this country is.

Bliss, this is.

Our hosts, Chris and Heidi are an amazing couple. Heidi is a part-swiss-part-barbadian-all-american-economist and Chris is a cardiologist with a great appreciation for life. They recently moved into a beautiful apartment in a "transition-neighbourhood" in north western washington.

We arrived at about 4PM, so Chris decided we should walk through the Rock Creek Park which literally divides Washington DC in half. It was mind-blowing walking through an all-nautral forest in the middle of a huge city. We finished off our walk with a beers in Georgetown, then stumbled down to the Potomac river to see Virginia, some of the local wild-life (SA girls still rock) then caught a cab back to Heidi's and Chris' place. When we arrived, Heidi had been preparing a wonderful meal. Tilapia, served with a white-wine, brown-sugar and garlic topping with a side of nutty-greco salad. Such an awesome meal topped off with hot apple pie and melting ice-cream. I was literally dozing off, but the old farts had enough steam to go out partying till 3AM, visiting a jazz club and knocking back a few bourbons and G&T's for $6 each. I fell asleep to honking hispanics and birds chirping in the faux-day provided by the street lights.

The next morning we cycled everywhere! Chris took us for sojourns through the Mall area of Washington, we saw all the memorials we could, visited the Franklin D. Roosevelt memorial which left us totally gob-smacked. We spent about 3 hours totally oogling at the Natural History Museum and grabbing a bite to eat. Then we went to an olde american restaurant called the Chophouse and Brewery and had some home-brewed dark ales. When we got back home, Heidi had been industrios in the kitchen again. I felt guilty for some reason, Heidi went through a lot of trouble to accommodate us and our stomachs. Kudos!

Chris has an awesome taste in music, so while chillin' to some kewl tunes and flipping thru photos it was soon time for bed again.

The next morning, we were back on our bikes again and headed down to the Botanic Gardens. There was another veterans parade, consisting of few authentic jeeps, bikes, APC's and even amphibious vehicles. The botanical gardens were mind-blowing. All the plants were flowering with health, so much so, we spent about half-an-hour in the Orchid area. It doesn't get better than that.

Back to Boston

We're now on our way back to Boston stuck in traffic after the long weekend yet revelling in the awesome times we had over the last 72 hours.

A few thoughts:

• Chris and Heidi are so in love it was beautiful. Adoration in the eyes, respect in the mind.
• Americans are truly patriotic, almost bordering on fundamentalism.
• Frankling D. Roosevelt was and is an amazing man.
• Washington was a lot less clinical than I thought it would be.
• Gareth has some amazing friends.