It's always networking in D.C.

A bit of a change going from Philly to D.C.  We stayed at the Tabard Inn which has got to be the funkiest place we've ever stayed at.  Seriously, listening in on some of the conversations in the restaurant while we were taking in our free breakfast was hilarious.  Me, in my pajamas with my Boston hoodie and my NY hat listening to some of the stuff being bandied about by people who were perfectly coiffed, donning handbags that cost the same as my second car (an 87 Supra, natch).
We stayed in the Dupont Circle area, which is the place to be, apparently.
D.C. is weird.  We did all the touristy things and checked out the White House (Obama wasn't up for hoops), the Lincoln memorial, the Capitol, the Jefferson memorial and the Space and Aviation museum.
We also went through the memorials for the Korean and Vietnam wars, which were both exceptionally poignant and haunting.  It was very sombre and I'm glad to have visited them both.  We also ran across the bridge to the Arlington cemetery in Virginia which reduced me to tears as we gazed over row upon row upon row of white markers.
There's a huge tangent that can be discussed and explored and extrapolated here about the American war machine and the industrial war complex and people entering the army in the hopes of getting a free education and losing their lives, and Michael and I had this discussion as we were leaving, but I won't get into it here.  Regardless of politics, hundreds of thousands, millions paid the ultimate price.  The cemetery was beautiful. It was quite and lush and you could hear the birds and the wind in the trees and it was tranquil.
Georgetown was another place we went through a couple of times.  Talk about high end: we didn't go into a single store.  What was interesting about Georgetown was the canal system there, with a series of locks.  Additionally, their waterfront had a great seawall that went for miles and miles and we did a rather slow 8 mile run out that way.
We ate well in D.C. too, using the cheap, highly rated eats search on Urban Spoon.  We even had lunch at our hotel one day and it was probably one of the best lunches I've had in my life, both food wise and for people watching.
The piece de resistance though had to our epic trek to the Shanghai Lounge in Georgetown on our last night (after passing Michael McDonald on our way out.  He's really freaking tall and way hotter than he ever was on MadTV and he smiled at me, mostly because I was staring at him like an idiot trying to remember where I knew him from).  Holy god.  We are very picky about our Chinese food, and this was the best that we had ever had.  On the one hand I'm glad we ate there (curried shrimp, green beans and a beef dish), but on the other hand every subsequent Chinese meal is going to pale in comparison to the Shanghai Lounge.
To wrap up: I always love Boston and New York.  Philadelphia, for me, was the surprise.  I'm not sure that I will ever make it back, but I would hands down return to Philly again over D.C.  I'm still trying to get a bead on D.C.  It was a bit antiseptic and a lot touristy, and we caught some nice jazz at the Black Fox, but if you're on the East Coast with limited time?  Philly's a great place to visit.