Morning in Santa Barbara

Arrival

We arrived in Santa Barbara on a beautiful, clear night.  We could tell that wonderful things were in store.  

Ensnared in the Tea Party protest against health care

The visceral shouting and overblown rhetoric was scary!

Walking through the Tea Party protest...

After blankly staring down at the protesters for hours, some Republican staffers finally figured out that they could stir up the crowd by holding up signs, though they were kind of weak! Caitlin said that she would have been out there in an "Evita moment" much earlier on!

Malini hit a cop

It's true.  We were talking with a Capitol police officer outside of the building, discussing the minutia of the process for passage of the bill when, out of the blue, Malini hit the cop on the arm.  David, who was speaking to the cop at that very moment, interrupted his (surely) important words to say, "Did you just hit him?" to which Malini, sheepishly, replied that she had.  Thankfully, the cop was in a forgiving mood and laughed it off, continuing to give us his very well informed thoughts on the bill.

The first of two simultaneous protests

It turns out that this pro-immigration protest was rather uneventful compared to what was to come!

Glamor Shots

Recalling our senior photos on the steps of the Supreme Court.

Roofdeck II

After the Dupont Circle farmer's market, we went up to Katherine's roofdeck for some brunch.

Hotel Party

The highlight of the evening was a Hotel Party at the Hotel Rouge.  This boutique hotel was a perfect spot for our wine and Thai food fest!  Though the dance party never got going, we did enjoy our cocktails, birthday cake, and the robes provided by the hotel.  The red theme was good for concealing the red wine that was spilled on the red carpet, but not so much for that which spilled on the white sheets.  Ooops!

Despite these mishaps, it was not all that raucous a party.  Tellingly, only one of the following items from the minibar was used:  a) the intimacy kit or b) a bottle of Aquafina.  

The answer, unfortunately, was b).

On Caitlin's roofdeck

The twilight hours of our evening... Beautiful!

This photo is courtesy of a friendly neighbor of Caitlin's, who approached us and offered to take it.  That niceness, however, didn't get him an invite to our little gathering, which he was clearly fishing for.

March madness

Malini is in disbelief over Kansas being eliminated from the tournament.

Friendly neighbors across from the hotel

HRC's headquarters

Tea at the Mayflower

The gang of four met at the infamous Mayflower Hotel, site of many dalliances throughout history.  The meeting, however, was not for anything salacious.  In fact, it was for the opposite: High Tea at the Mayflower's tea room.  The room was grand and a harpist serenaded us for most of the meal.  It was an enjoyable and classy experience all around , despite numerous faux pas.  These included tea spillage and dribbling; loud clinkage of silverware; and photo taking.  We think that most of these things, plus the pilfering of the keepsake (paper) menus, went undetected.  [More details to follow.]

Clearly this memorial was built with Malini in mind

A walking tour

Malini and David awoke and sped out the door to get down to the Mall to begin their preselected walking tour. Their guide, Tim, a DC By Foot tourguide, greeted them at the appointed corner. The tour was a free tour open to anyone (the guides work for tips), and Malini and David quickly scoped out the other tourers to see who they would befriend and who to avoid. The guide was a fun guy, a former high school teacher and guidance counselor who had a seemingly endless knowledge of the area. As we walked he pointed out the big things that we were seeing, plus giving little anecdotes. For example, we learned that Constitution Avenue, which is on the north side of the Mall, used to be a canal that was really smelly and stunk up the White House. Another story that was very memorable to David (though Malini must have been daydreaming because she doesn't remember this) was about one of the early presidents who awoke every morning at 6am, walked down to the Potomic, and went for a naked swim! Clearly, these were different times. The two hour tour was wonderful on account of the fun guide, the perfect weather, and the beauty that is DC.

Leaving the Krisko-Lobo residence

The weekend begins

The weekend commenced around 9:00 with Malini's grand entrance. David was in full revelry, already on his second happy hour of the evening. He was at Poste, an outdoor bar in DC on a beautiful and warm evening, with Kinga and Paul. Malini's arrival was a joyous reunion, and the group headed off to dinner. Food was good and conversation was grand, but it had to be an early evening, since Malini had been on call the entire night prior. Off to the Krisko/Lobo home for the evening and a good night's sleep.