{"id":1982,"date":"2017-05-20T08:08:42","date_gmt":"2017-05-20T13:08:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/?p=1982"},"modified":"2017-05-22T06:48:02","modified_gmt":"2017-05-22T11:48:02","slug":"chicago-to-dc-and-back-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debslunch.com\/blog\/2017\/05\/20\/chicago-to-dc-and-back-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago to DC and back again"},"content":{"rendered":"

Or, between two breakfasts. Here’s the first one:<\/p>\n

\"\"

Steelcut oats at Corner Bakery in Chicago. Quite a healthy breakfast, with black coffee, and a little toast crisp made from one of their breads on the side, that would also be good with cheese. Made me think I have not been cooking my oats long enough, or maybe it’s not enough water. They’re crunchier than these were.<\/p><\/div>On Tuesday morning I got up at Omigod (4:45am) and drove to the train with Mark. We were in Chicago at quarter to 9:00 and my flight wasn’t until 12:10, so I went looking for breakfast and ended up at Corner Bakery. After breakfast, I took the Orange Line to Midway, and spent a long day traveling to D.C. When I got there, I walked through the terminal – 12 minutes – to the Metro and bought a new card, and rode into town, and by the time I checked into my (faded & dingy, but OK hotel, Hotel Harrington<\/a> “Washington D.C.’s tourist hotel”, suggested by my local friends, the only place under $300\/night I could find – it was GW’s<\/a> graduation weekend, plus probably others of the numerous schools in D.C. as well), it was 6:30. I yelped around for dinner and ended up getting a burger at this brew pub<\/a> that I’d been to before, during library conferences, because it’s near where the convention center used to be. I thought about going to Bolt Burger<\/a> but the hotel was funky enough that I kind of wanted something cleaner for dinner.<\/p>\n

\"\"

This is Compass Coffee on I Street in October ’16, while waiting for breakfast at Founding Farmers. I didn’t take a pic of my coffee at the F Street of 7th one I was at on Wednesday.<\/p><\/div>On Wednesday, the first day of my workshop, I left my dingy hotel and went hipster – got coffee at Compass Coffee, the first one we ever went to, last October, our last trip to D.C.<\/a> – and then walked to Library of Congress, hereafter LoC. Lunch was in the employee cafeteria – I had a big salad. It was really hot; I dressed like all the other D.C. women office workers: cotton dress, bare legs, sandals, and a cotton sweater. I got a little nervous about being late while I was walking. Google maps doesn’t do the slanty streets in D.C. very well, it keeps saying stuff like turn left to stay on K, when it’s more like veer. And LoC hides – it has a dome, but it’s behind the Capitol, and you can’t see it. Anyways, I had to take off the sweater before I got to LoC, even though I needed it inside. And, at the end of the day, walking out of air conditioning into the humid heat felt really good on my sore leg. I stopped at a really crowded Starbucks and had an iced coffee and did a little work, then back to the hotel and decided to go see a movie instead of dinner right away. The E Street Cinema<\/a> was approximately 4 minutes away. I saw Norman<\/a>, and had half a bag of gummy bears and a bottle of water – even though they had Phillips crab cakes<\/a> (but they weren’t real Phillips crab cakes – they were some kind of movie theater concession stand microwave version). After the movie – which I liked –  I felt sugar sick so got a yogurt tub and a bun and a banana at Pret a Manger. The yogurt seemed like the best thing I had ever eaten, when I snarfed it down while watching the last 20 minutes of Thor<\/a> (2011) on TV back at the room. A movie that has to take the prize for some of the lamest-ever dialog in a super hero movie, and it’s a good super hero movie. I saved the banana for breakfast.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Our much picked over chips & salsa<\/p><\/div>
\n

\"\"

We had to sit at the ceviche bar – three private events going on in the restaurant, but one was a work party that one of Suz’s friends was at, so I got to meet her<\/p><\/div>Thursday the workshop moved over to George Washington University (GW). I got a bagel and Starbucks to take with me, and didn’t take pictures of any food during the day. On my walk to GW, I went right past the White House, and it was all surrounded by yellow police tape. All the bikers were on the sidewalk. Or maybe:<\/p>\n

\n

No wonder the White House was surrounded by yellow police tape when I walked past yesterday\u2026 https:\/\/t.co\/vfy6BPDZg9<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Debra Shapiro (@DebsLunch) May 19, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n