9 April 2022 Washington DC: Drinks and Dinner

 

 The zoo has 2 entrances, one at the top of the hill and one at the bottom of the hill. When we reached the bottom of the hill we figured we would leave through this entrance and call a Lyft from there. Somehow the Lyft software  Messed up and 5 consecutive Lyft rides canceled on us. It was almost 45 minutes until we got in a car. That made it hard to go back to the house so we went to our dinner place instead. We were a full hour early so we took a stroll around the neighborhood and stopped in at a fun little bar, Lucy. We ordered the Pickle Plate and the Olive Plate and a fancy mocktail for Gavin.   Then we went to the owl and rooster for our dinner which was most excellent. They have a James Beard award and a Michelin star. Gavin looked so fancy that he was the hit with all the servers

Blue tones at this hip bar

Lots of tasty ingredients!

Our fresh pickles and olives

Gavin performed surgery on this pickle

Go Lucy!

We tried a new gin

Dinner!

Octopus starter

Salmon and citrus 

Pears pecans and parmeasan salad

Mocktail and cherry blossom cocktail 

Three kinds of mushrooms

Scallops and salmon roe. Fish fish and fishy!

Scallion pancakes

Steak Dianne

Branzino

Bonus birthday dessert 

 Chess cake with bourbon ice cream

Pecan cake with Strawberry ice cream

Chocolate chocolate chocolate chocolate dessert

9 April 2022 Washington DC: The Zoo

 

 After our delightful lunch we took a lift out to the zoo. A cold front had blown through and it was just a little bit of rain falling on us so it was a great time to get into a car. Traffic was pretty bad so when we got to the zoo, we were ready to walk.  The rain continued on and off so we ducked into as many indoor exhibits as we could.  We had a great time even though there were a lot of people.  We still got to see a lot of different animals but many of them were shy and/or sleeping inside their houses. 

The Fishing Cat. There were pools of fish in the enclosure with this cat 

The small clawed otter

We  Watched the keepers put a bunch of food out in the enclosure perin the enclosure. However they did not let the elephants out to enjoy their treats so we kept on moving

 Attack of the giant panda!! The keepers were able to rustle Gavin away from this beast before any permanent damage was done

Gibbon Ridge

Can you lend me a hand?

From 11 to 11:30, weather permitting, the Orangutans are allowed to climb on a series of towers above the walkways 

The Orangutans tower and lines for them to climb

 Unfortunately there were no staga sources in the reptile house

Beautiful markings 

Gecko high five

Gnarly skin

A great "how to" set of instructions 

A feather boa without the feathers 

Long necked turtle 

Prarie dogs are not dogs

The king of snakes, the King Cobra and his old skin

9 April 2022 Washington DC Cherry Blossom Festival

 

We walked to the Cherry Blossom Festival. On the way we went through Union Station and passed by a memorial to the Japanese interment camps.   The festival is the largest Japanese festival in the United States is the cherry blossom festival.  It runs for 7 blocks along Pennsylvania Avenue and featured Japanese foods, martial arts demonstration, sushi demonstrations, a coral group, a group of folk singers and so much more.   There were a lot of people dressed up in various levels of exotic clothing.  From HarIjuku girls to cosplay people.  We walked the whole length plus some. The plus some was our attempt to get some food. We had to bail on that attempt as the lines were extremely long. So instead we went to Pho88 a Vietnamese Restaurant.   Yum indeed!

 Yes another banquet that we were not invited to

 They just don't build them like they used to

 This is a reflecting pond with rocks inside it a crane sculpture and in the back is a a listing of the internment camps with the numbers of Japanese Americans that were forced to live there

 If you look close there are numbers listed under the names of the camps

Lots of Kimono stands

A company building space related items

Folk singing

 The line at the hello Kitty cafe was unbelievable

This woman's costume was too much for her to handle

This dog was dressed to the T's

 In a matching outfit with her owner

The booth behind us featured games that you could play with a specific hostess

 A coral group

A man dressed as Super Goofyo

 Another intricate outfit

A Japanese American cheer squad

Totally dedicated to the scene

 DC does not disappoint when it comes to planting flowers

Lunch has arrived

It was decided that the Pho was spectacular 

 Goodbye Chinatown