the first red line train leaving alewife on sunday morning is 6:08. the walk to porter square was brisk, the sky still full of stars. only 4 other people were waiting on the platform when the train arrived. still too early for chatter, we all silently rode into boston. i got off at south station to transfer to the silver line bus into logan airport, terminal B. jetblue was my carrier to washington DC, my first time flying with them. i bought the ticket through their website ($100 to DC, $60 back to boston), selected my seats, even printed out my boarding pass (since i wasn't checking any luggage). all i had to do was wait to go through the security checkpoint. once i was through, i had an hour before we boarded for our 8:50am departure. i had the last seat on the plane.

can i just say how much i love jetblue? first, everyone who works there seems to be having a good time. it was our captain's birthday and our stewardess was on the intercom joking he was 150 years old. there's no class seating - all the seats are the same and leather seats at that. and the best part? each seat comes with an LCD screen that carries about 40 channels worth of free satellite television and 200 XM satellite radio stations. unfortunately i forgot to pickup a free set of headphones when i came in so i just watched without audio. we had blue corn potato chips for a snack and because i was sitting all the way in the back, the stewardess tossed me a few extra bags. the whole trip took just 1:10.

washington DC has a few airports. the only bad thing about jetblue is it goes to dulles international, which is 22 miles outside of DC. to get into the city i needed to take a $9 private shuttle bus. i managed to catch the 10:30am shuttle, about a 30 minute ride. the shuttle only drops you off at the east falls church station on the metro orange line on the outskirts of the city. to get into the city itself involves another 30 minute train ride. i called amanda when i got off the bus and she told me to meet her at dupont circle. this gave me a chance to ride the famous washington metro for the very first time. i wasn't impressed until i arrived at metro center to take the red line north: the place looked like an underground cathedral. once i met amanda at dupont circle, we took a bus back to her place in mt.pleasant north of adams morgan.

amanda lives in a predominantly hispanic neighborhood. i marveled at all the different restaurants and stores we passed in our short walk to her place. she lives in a shared house with 5 other housemates. i met her housemate tia who hails from lunenberg, MA. after i dropped off my backpack, we walked down to the asylum, a dungeon bar in adams morgan, to have brunch with her boyfriend brendan and his friend seth. i had a hearty cheese and bacon omelette washed down with some freshly-squeezed orange juice. afterwards amanda and i walked down to dupont circle and took the train to the national mall, that expanse of green between the washington monument and the capitol building, flanked by the various smithsonian museums.

as it was sunday and peak cherry blossom season, the area was mobbed with people. we swam in the sea of heads, towards the tidal basin. it was so crowded i only bothered to take a few confused photos, none of which prominently featured the blooming cherry blossoms. it seemed an awful lot of effort to come out and see some flowering trees - we've got cherry blossoms in boston too i seem to recall. seeking some relief from the crush of humanity, we went to the WWII memorial by the rainbow pool, walked around the washington monument, and then north. we stopped to get some popsicle action on this hot spring day, sitting on a bench and making fun of people as they walked by. we then continued to the white house (amanda told me a flying flag meant the president was home) and kept on walking north up 17th street NW all the way back to dupont circle. we grabbed the bus back to mt.pleasant.

walking to amanda's house i spotted my first black DC squirrel. on the sidewalk a woman had mysteriously left her sandles on the curb. i met more housemates: joel, outside painting, and garcia, returning from a motorcycle trip. we hung out on the deck, watching the sun slowly set, listening to all the birds chirping (i thought i spotted a flicker).

when evening came around amanda and i went out for pizza. we went to a video store to see if we could rent a movie but nothing interested us. we decided to go back home, where amanda borrowed a mattress from her housemate joel so i could have something to sleep on. i took a shower in the basement bathroom before going to bed.