Tourist Schmourist

Dear DC,

Upon moving here I made a pact with myself that I would enjoy the cultural opportunities in DC to the fullest. So, at least once a week Kyle and I venture out of our cozy little apartment and find something interesting to do/attend/visit. I'm happy to report that there has only been one week we haven't met this goal.

However, we refuse to be tourists!

We pretend to be annoyed with all the little tourists and never take a camera with us in fear that we might be seen as one. When we are out we loudly talk about how much we love LIVING in DC and what we will do tonight when we are at HOME. We can't be seen dallying in the museum bookstores too long for that is so not DC-ish.

In case you are interested, here's a few places we've been so far.

1. National Portrait Museum - This was by far one of the coolest museums in DC. In addition to the traditional portraits of famous American figures, it had a photography portrait exhibit with some amazing contemporary portrait photographers. Some of the photo series' were so touching I almost started to cry.

2. Ben's Chili Bowl - This is a famous long-standing chili-dog place on U Street. It has been open since the 50's. We regrettably swallowed our pride and stood in the long line outside the door, just like any tourist. Happily someone in line turned to me and asked if the line was always this long (acknowledging me as a local) so I felt better. In case you are wondering, the chili wasn't thae good.

3. Politics and Prose - Probably the most "local-esque" thing we have done. There is a bookstore in the NW of DC up by American University that specializes in political books. It has all other types of books too, but an enormous selection of political books. We went one Saturday to a book signing/discussion by Chuck Todd, Washington bureau chief for NBC News. His book was about the 2008 presidential election. We underestimated how far in advance we needed to show up and ended up in the crowded back of the store watching the event on closed-circuit TV. Not quite the same. We ended up leaving early.....but it was so local!

4. National Gallery of Art - The best part about living in DC is that we can go to a museum and just go to a few exhibits, knowing that because we live here we can come back anytime! The Gallery of Art had an exhibit of my favorite photographer, Robert Frank. It is some anniversary of his famous photo book called Americans. This exhibit showed all of the photos in that book plus background documents. It was so inspiring. We went back the next day to see an exhibit of Ansel Adams which was extraordinarily disappointing as it was only four of his photos and not particularly good ones! Can't win them all, but we'll be here to see them all.....as a local!!!

As we visit more, we'll post more.

With "I'm NOT a tourist" Love,

Julia