March Update Part Two.

We did so much in DC it was crazy. We still haven't done it all, sadly. Haha. However, this is a common consensus of natives of DC. I think I am okay with that. Next time we will come back and own DC once again.

What did we do you ask? In no particular order, we stayed at a friends house across the street from Gallaudet University. We used Metro Bus, not to be confused with Metro, like I did!

We saw the Lincoln Memorial, the Monument, and where MLK gave his speech. We also went to the Holocaust Museum which was extremely moving and depressing. We stayed in the museum for four and a half hours. We read-looked at everything and anything there.

We went to a very popular restaurant called Busboys and Poets (image above.) We waited in the book store with tons of people and read a book called, "Wild Fermentation." We will definitely be fermenting in the future. Yum, sauer kraut. There was even an ASL jam posted on the events board. How cool is that? It has vegan options and is SO good. Wow! We both inhaled our food. (Sorry no picture!) We congratulated ourselves with a drink. I, Kim, had a Blue Hawaiian (left) and Bay (right) had a Bloody Mary.

We kept starring out the windows and kept pinching each other. We still couldn't believe we were finally in DC. We ventured outside to walk the streets of DC. The buildings are so different than Portland. Most of the buildings are made of brick and have a cone roof. No one really has a front yard. If you have a yard it is fenced in the back. Another thing that was crazy was how many times we heard and saw fire trucks as well as police vehicles. One any given day we would hear the vehicles six or seven times.The diversity of people is incredible, black, white, asian, ethiopian, chinese, japanese, etc. 

The weather was a bit wonky. One day it is sunny. The other day it is raining. The next it is snowing. It was freaking cold. We wore scarfs, sweatshirts, long-johns, jackets, wool socks, gloves, hats and were still cold. That's something we will definitely need to get used to. 

We went to the rally for "United for Marriage" in Supreme court at D.C. Yes, we were there! I was trying to explain what the presenters were saying. It was really hard to hear. Luckily, a man who thought we were both Deaf gestured to us. I spoke to him asking what he was trying to say. He explained he is going to lead us to the interpreters and speakers. Their were thousands of people there. Bay gave him a huge hug as he left. We were still outside of the circle. Two very tall men were infront of us making it hard to see. 

   

 I then asked the news crews if we could squeeze in to see the interpreters. Holy crap! We made it! We kept looking at each other with pure joy and happiness. We cried when each presenter came up and shared their stories. I felt so touched and moved by each presenter. The interpreters were AMAZING!! I aspire to be as good as them. WOW, just wow. 

Afterwards, we walked towards the Botanic Gardens. I held the sign saying, "Marriage: Freedom means freedom for everyone." I had people say, "Thank you." or "I want her sign." I couldn't stop smiling. I was and still as proud to be part of history. We arrived to the gardens and it smelled decadent in there. It was like a taste of Portland's Spring.

We noticed DC has a lot of incredible street art. We couldn't stop taking pictures of it.

Since DC is not the best place for vegans or plant based food eaters, our friend Jody took us to Mom's Organic Market where she works- REAL food!! She also gave us the grand tour of Gallaudet with a history lesson. I even bought a bright green sweatshirt for my Gallaudet swag. When we were in the university, everyone was signing and dressed very nicely. Gallaudet's Spring break had just finished and everyone was back to school. One teacher looked like our good old friend Gary from Portland teaching a lesson on how to sign to a large audience. While in the cafeteria the diversity group marched in a circle, each representing their home flag. The upcoming week would have different food groups like in their home land. I was fighting back tears. I was so emotional this day. I was surrounded by so much history and culture. I knew this is where I wanted to go in a few years to finish my masters. We even saw Gallaudet's president. Oh yes! We wanted to run up to him and take a picture. Instead we sat in awe, of how posed he was, as he walked up the stairs, chatting to fellow students, going back to his house on campus.