After New Jersey, we continued our trek southward making a quick stop in Washington DC to see a few friends and family members. During the short 3-hour drive from NJ to DC, the weather decided to turn cold and rainy. Arriving to the DC area around 3:30 in the afternoon, we drove straight to see Clemson friend Courtney Jordan, now a teacher at an all-girls Catholic school near College Park. Although we could only spent a few minutes with her, Courtney showed us around her school while we reminisced a bit about Clemson football games and how much life had changed for us all over the last year since we graduated.
Having dinner plans in DC, we fought a bit of rush hour traffic to meet up with sisters Jacey and Kate Bennis, some of my old friends from North Carolina who now both live in the DC area. Jacey is finishing up her last year of an MPH/PA program at GWU, and Kate is working as a recruiter for a very cool law firm in downtown. They suggested a fantastic new place on Pennsylvania Ave (only a few blocks from the White House) called Founding Farmers, which serves only farm-to-table foods using all-organic ingredients. YUM!!!
Saying our goodbyes, we made our way to the charming apartment of Ashley Lusk (a Clemson friend) and David Allen up near Adams Morgan. We dropped our luggage and hopped a taxi for a hip little coffee shop/bookstore/bar in Dupont Circle to meet up with Mary Beth Ritchey, another friend from North Carolina, who is now putting her PhD in Epidemiology to work with the FDA keeping our medical devices safe.
The next day, Stef and I attempted to see what we could of DC despite the wet and rainy conditions. The shops of M Street in Georgetown were the first hot spot we decided to hit before we met up with my Aunt Radi for lunch at Poppa Razzi, a delicious Italian restaurant in Georgetown near her office. Wanting to escape the weather and fit in some education, we headed to the Smithsonian’s Museum of American History. Very educational indeed! From there we walked up to the South Lawn of the White House, passing the Washington Monument, since Stefany had never seen either up close.Weary from the weepy weather, we met up with Ashley and David at a cozy little diner near their apartment for a fantastic home-style dinner and dessert. We discussed the products and business opportunities that MonaVie has to offer and then finally called it a day.
The next morning, we were up and out of the apartment by 7:30am, attempting to beat the rush hour traffic to get out of DC. Success was ours; however, Bella (our GPS system) was less than helpful and in my frustration decided that we were better off without her for a while (AKA we turned her off). On our way down I-95 we stopped off at the King’s Dominion exit to meet with Julie Byrd, a traveler interested in Emv who had called the number on the back of Billie on our way up the coast. After hearing her stories of flying deer heads and iguanas and discussing the MonaVie opportunity, Stef and I hit the road again. Destination: Greenville, SC
