Washington, DC

We awoke on Saturday eager to pack our belongings and navigate towards our reserved U-Haul in Cumberland, Maryland. We supplied our information and quickly loaded the truck feeling spontaneous and full of life; we were headed to the place we had so patiently waited to explore and were doing so in an adventurous manner. It was easy to appreciate a trip aboard four wheels as my ears continuously popped whilst climbing significantly in elevation. Yikes. We stopped at a Bob Evans for a free meal thanks to Kevin Sunde, test drove our dream touring vehicle, the Mercedes Sprinter, and laughed our way straight into the heart of Washington, DC. Who knew that the government shutdown would have pointed us in such an unexpectedly fun direction.

We immediately began our exploration with a bike ride around the Capitol, the Washington Monument and the White House. Although we weren't able to enter any of these famous attractions due to the federal shutdown, it was shockingly fun to maneuver our way through crowds on our two-wheeled beauties while admiring, or in my words, window shopping the 'Mall' of DC.

Although Cons and I headed due east before traveling west, it was very important to both of us to visit Washington at the beginning of our trip. Though surprising to many, the shutdown did not scare us away from reaching our destination, for us, this was an opportunity to be a part of history and an opportunity to experience the city in rare form.

As we traveled through all corners and subcultures of DC, we found that, unless personally effected through occupation, there was no sign of outrage or discontent with the city's current state. The moments where darkness, frustration or hostile attitudes were present was from fellow tourists outraged by their change in scheduled events. I have no doubt that those personally effected by the shutdown are hurting or frustrated, but it was my experience that the locals from DC are making the best of the situation. Cheers to making lemonade.

We spent the week eating deliciously recommended food, educating ourselves with tours of privately owned museums, creating friendships with locals and enjoying our time with our DC hosts. What an incredibly fascinating and thought provoking week.