Well, as you may have noticed, my blog has been a little bit dormant. That's because I was home for about 3 weeks--and my laptop decided to die somewhere between Louisville and Rockbridge. Drat! Oh well.
Let's get up to speed before I dive into my DC escapade! My weeks at home consisted of lots of work. I painted and power-washed my dad's house. He happens to live in an old two-story farm house. It took the better part two weeks to accomplish this task. Nothing like a little bit of hard labor before starting an internship.
As exciting as painting was, let's get to the fun stuff: traveling to DC!
On Thursday, I had planned on leaving between 9-9:30, so of course it was around 9:45am when I finally got on the road. Typical start. Roughly 35 minutes into the the drive, my car was beeping at me. Apparently, one of my tires was low. So, I had to pull over at a gas station before I got too far into my journey. It had been raining lightly the entire time, so of course, when I pull over to fill up my tire, it decided to pour. I quickly popped open my back hatch and grabbed my umbrella. After checking all of my tires-and airing up one-I was back on my way. Within the hour, my car was beeping again. I apparently had a tire sensor fault. After a quick (and slightly frantic) call to my brother, a ford mechanic, it was ruled that this was not an immediate problem. So down the road I went.
Mind you, throughout the entire day it was raining, at least until I got within an hour of Dayton. Luckily, there were no other issues for the majority of the trip. I'll spare you the minor details.
When I arrived in Fairborn, OH, I was greeted by my enthusiastic host. Jim is a 72-year-old retired fireman. He's a wonderful guy. We went his local "watering hole" the Quaker Steak & Lube, or just "the Lube" for short. The Lube is a sports bar themed (surprise) with cars and motorcycles. There are numerous old vehicles hanging from the ceiling and a few just on display. The waitress were friendly (and Jim liked to point out, quite cute) and the food was great! I had started discussing politics on the way over, but I quickly caught myself and told Jim I would avoid the topic. And I did, for the first 30 minutes. In my defense, however, he brought it up with the bartender/waitress! So, we then proceeded to discuss new and old politics, welfare (and the need for reform), and a plethora of other politically-loaded topics.
After leaving the Lube, Jim took me on a mini-tour of his neighborhood. There was a Five-and-Dime store that I would have loved to go into, but unfortunately, it was closed, along with all sorts of other nifty shops! It would be a neat place to visit again.
Upon arrival back at Jim's home (where I had my own, comfy bed and private bathroom), Jim decided coffee was needed. He has a snazzy coffee grinder/pot combo and we enjoyed nice warm cups of freshly ground-Starbuck's coffee. It was grand.
After a few hours of rest, I was up again at 6am to prepare for the day. By 7:11 I was driving into the raining morning. As I traveled through Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, W. Virginia again, and then Maryland I stopped for gas once. I refused to stop unless I absolutely needed gas. The drive was wet. I was hoping I was going to be able to drive out of the rain, but it must have picked-up some gusto because it rained for all but about 30 minutes of my drive. It was quite awful.
I have decided that each state I drove through had some very redeeming, or at least, notable, qualities. Indiana, for example, is an incredibly historic state. I swear, every exit I drove by was boasting about "Historic Town X" and "Historic Town Y". I never fully realized the true historic value of Indiana. Ohio was, by far, less historic. Dayton and Columbus were pretty easy to get through. I hit a small blip with morning traffic in Columbus, but nothing too terrible. However, once I left Columbus, the countryside was beautiful. Ohio is so green and lush with trees. Oh, and the most important part of Ohio: The 400+ Country Music Stations that exist outside of Columbus. There was an hour time span when every time I scanned my radio, a country station popped up. I had to utilize the tune button quite a bit in that hour to find something other than country to listen too.
West Virginia...well, the best I can say about this lovely little state...well...Ummm. To be honest, what I noticed about WV was how terrible the air smelled. It, quite literally, smelled like coal fumes. And I swear the clouds above WV were 2 shades darker grey than any other state.
I didn't spend much time in PA. I dropped down on 68 to avoid the turnpike and skirted the very, very outer edge of Pittsburg. It seemed to resemble a flatter version of Maryland, at least the part I was in.
Maryland was gorgeous-horrifying, but gorgeous! The rolling hills (or mountains, if you want to call them that) topped with low clouds made for a gorgeous scene. I kept trying to take pictures, but it was just too damp and hilly for my to effectively (and safely) drive and capture my surroundings. In the end, I gave up on trying to get a good picture every time I popped over another hill.
As I got closer to the DC-metro area, the traffic increased, exponentially! However, I was still able to make exceptional time. I arrived 30 minutes earlier than I had planned to my new apartment!
I will be living in the basement of a brother and sister's home. Their parents are currently visiting from California (where they are originally from) and will be here all summer. Joe, my host, is a wonderful guy. He showed me where the metro stop was and the basic area that I need to know (shopping center, gas, etc). My room is about the size of my dorm room, if you include the hallway. However, my bathroom is quite a bit smaller, but it's mine. So it will be just fine! The area I am in (Fairfax) is extremely safe. Joe says that within the past two year lots of new homes (and by homes I really mean townhouses) have gone up. He pointed out a construction site that was all forest 2 years ago.
I was wanting to go exploring once I finished unpacking (and by finished, I mean I have the majority of my stuff unpacked. I need to invest in a set of plastic drawers to keep my skivvies and shorts in), bu the weather was not cooperating. There were tornado warning out for DC and our area. So, alas, I continued rearranging my room and decided that I should probably update my blog (since my Internship begins on Monday and all).
The weather has died down and I think I'm going to see about venturing out into this intriguing city. Most importantly, I am going to get food. I have not received any additional sustenance since my original Cheerio's I had for breakfast at 6:45 with my cup of coffee. (I told ya, I only stop when I absolutely have too...and food is not a necessity on a day like today).
Well, I'm off to appease my grumbling tummy. I'll let you know how exploring goes (if I don't get blown away). I'm sure I can figure this place out--after all, I am an intern!
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