The Ol' Hood

Aw, Georgetown. This is where the hub and I began married life together. Sniffle sniffle. It was the most magical time of my life. Going back is always such a joy. Our hotel was by G. W. University so we just walked over to Georgetown. We crossed over the Rock Creek Parkway, and I had to stop and take a picture of the creek as we passed over it. It was so pretty.

Of course, I introduced the hub to one of my favorite stores, "Paper Source" and he sat in one of the welcoming leather chairs while I hit both floors. I could spend days in there. I found out they had just opened one in Old Town (Alexandria), so I made a note to visit that one before I left (which, I did, or course). We had already spent all day working at my mom's house in excruciating heat, so we were pretty tired by this time and in need of a good meal. It had been many years since we had eaten at J. Paul's, so this is what we decided upon. We made it just before the Saturday night rush which was fantastic. We just wanted to sit down in a cool place and have a nice dinner. It turned into a perfect evening.

Instead of bread, they bring you soft pretzels with mustard. (I had them wrap the ones we didn't eat and took them back to the hotel room with us.) We ordered spiced shrimp (chilled--too hot for steamed ones) and they were the best I have had in a long, long time. I guess I've been away for too long. Old Bay spice holds a special place in my heart. YUM. We both enjoyed them soooo much. We were just ooohing and awwing over them. People must have thought we were delirious!

The hub ordered crab cakes with spiced shrimp over potatoes and I ordered the skirt steak salad. Both were out of this world. I don't' know if we were just dead tired, but everything tasted like gold. We were so satisfied with our meals, I think we were both glowing, as if we had just been married.

Afterwards, we strolled next door to Georgetown Park where we walked around in the air condition. It's quite lovely for a "mall." I love visiting at Christmas time. They hang huge golden cherubs from these large chandeliers. It's really quite magical.

When we were finished, we walked outside along the C&O Canal. The last time I was here, there was no water in the canal. It's been a long time since I remember it having water. I don't know if it was because of the current floods they had weeks ago or not. It was beautiful to see it flowing again. I remember when they used to have mule-pulled barges up and down the canal. I wonder if they have brought that back.

The famous Wisconsin & M Farmers and Mechanics Bank landmark.

The next night, we came back to one of our old haunts--Thomas Sweet's Ice Cream. We lived right around the corner and frequented this shop every weekend. They still had my favorite--home-made sweet cream. It's grown since we lived here over 20 years ago, of course, and they have added a lot of new flavors and soft-serve yogurt--went fancy schmancy on us. (I even heard someone say they have another location somewhere--eeeek!)

This is very typical architecture in Georgetown, the old row houses with bay fronts. The one we rented on Q Street looked very similar to this except it was unpainted brick. I wish I would have taken a picture of it, but it was night time and I never got back during the day. Pout. I should dig up a picture one day and post it.

The hub and I had such a wonderful time. Even though we worked like dogs during the day, we sure did have a ball at night. I hated to see him leave on Monday going back to Nashville. I knew then the party was over and it would be all work (well, almost).