socializing and duck stamps

[gurdonark]

This morning we hit the road to Washington, in the District of Columbia. We first arrived at Arlington, a town in the Commonwealth of Virginia, where we dined in a neat cafe with my wife's cousins, a few years older than we are. I had an elegant turkey burger, and we particularly enjoyed the walk from their cute older home to the burgeoning area in Arlington. The cousins had been in government work, about which we learned only a very little, and it was all a picture-window into a different world than our own. We had a good time.

We went to Union Station and parked, with the idea of catching a shuttle to the US Arboretum, but we had spent too long at lunch, and we could not get there in time. We visited instead the Postal Museum, at which I am always, for some reason, proudest to view the National Duck Stamp collection, which was almost as good as the National Slow Growing and Dwarf Coniferous Plant (i.e., National Ornamental Shrunken Lawn Shrub) Collection at the Arboretum.

After a detour to a Kinko's to deal with certain computing needs arisen due to the latest cell phone matter with which the week has been punctuated, we went back to Union Station and rode up to Silver Spring.

We went to a Red Rock Canyon Grill in Silver Spring, where we met up with microbie, msggoat and spleenless. I had met microbie twice before, and msggoat once before, but it was our first meeting with spleenless and my wife's first meeting with msggoat.

I'm always intrigued when "different sections" of my friends' list meet, but I was very pleased that the conversation and company were enjoyable in the extreme. I am sure I will, as I usually do, recount to myself 100 faux pas I committed during the evening, as I find myself uniquely able in social settings to unwittingly critique something someone holds dear, to monopolize conversation or to simply be oblivious with a single-minded skill that is either nature or nurture or both. But we had a great time together--it was a great night. The salmon was salmony. It was great meeting with three LJ friends who are such nice people. Next time I hope to meet more people in the MD area, but it was good to see whom we saw.

Our potential trip to Pennsylvania appears not on, so that we'll spend Friday here at the lake. I have to do a few calls in the morning, and then we will be free. It will be good not to be one state over on Friday evening. It's been a fun week, but a really travelling week.

Comments

[marstokyo.livejournal.com]

what lake are you on??

[(Anonymous)]

Lake Anna, which has been a very good place to be.

[hummingwolf.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a fun day. I'm glad you had a good meetup with people! Also glad you got to view the duck stamps, which sound like worthy collectibles to me.

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

I love the duck stamps! I love stamps in general, too.

[microbie.livejournal.com]

I think yours and your wife's terrific personalities have a lot to do with LJ meetups going so well.

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

You're far too kind. But I appreciate it.

[spleenless.livejournal.com]

'Twas lovely to meet you both, as well as the ever charming MSGoat & Microbie. Hopefully it won't be the only time we see each other, everyone was charming and smart.