Bachelorette Weekend

From NC I took two short flights to DC to celebrate Jessie's upcoming wedding with all of her bridesmaids. The maid of honor, Sarah, and I landed soonest so we met in a salad restaurant in Capital Hill  (on Capital Hill?) and sat with our collection of luggage while busy political types in smart clothing brisked through for a quick lunch. Being that I'm not from DC, I gave bad directions to my Lyft driver from the airport and he had to take me all over until I could figure out where I was supposed to be. Did you know you have to specify cardinal directions in that town? I'd never make it. 

While in DC I pretended I was a handful of people I know who once lived there. For a time I was Brett, fresh out of college wandering U-street with his brother's friends. I thought of Katie Hon and wondered how often she ventured into the city as a youngster. (She's from real close by - according to my pocket googler.) I was Will Hon living with a buncha fellas and Petey, the big leaning dog. I was Papa Clint, kicking butt for shipping policy and putting my foot in my mouth. Did I venture into any of the same spots as all of these beloved people? Did I wander into Clint's favorite coffee shop or a place Brett may have taken a gal on a date? Is this what everyone thinks about when they go somewhere their friends have been?

Finally I found Sarah in the salad shop and then we talked and gabbed until our rental house was ready. We rolled our luggage down the mean streets of DC and I kept an eye out for purse-snatchers and yankees, though that Capital Hill area was quite pretty. We got to our house just as Jessie, Lydia, and Madison were unloading a car full of groceries. So then we all talked and gabbed until the weekend was done. 

Here is our beautiful bride in a crown that Sarah insisted she wear. I thought the bit of tulle looked like a toilet paper square - so it became the toilet paper crown and Jessie dutifully wore it around town. Sometimes, she would sneak it off of her head and look at me with great relief. 

We hit lots of DC highlights that you wouldn't expect from a group of gals on a bachelorette weekend. While I didn't know what to expect, I didn't imagine that Jessie's closest friends would be the drunken trollop type. Jessie is gentle, thoughtful, especially intelligent, giggly, and creative. Bimbo's aren't usually very creative. 

The group of us gals covered a spectrum of personality types and interests but somehow we all fell into perfect harmony right away. What a lovely group of girls. They're all quite smart (everyone had a masters or PhD), easily amused, appreciative of individuality, and shared a fondness for cheese plates. I kept trying to pick a favorite girl and I just couldn't. They all brought something irreplaceable to to the group. 

Here's the bulk of us.

We had quiet girls, loud girls, girlie girls, athletes, hippies, and scholars. We did all the things you would do on a wild bachelorette weekend. 

We wend to the natural history museum, the botanical gardens, assorted monuments, and toured the swanky neighborhood with all the international embassies. We did draw the line at the postal museum - the PhD wanted to go there but it was a tough sell. She ended up going in briefly by herself and came back with all kinds of neat things to share. Suddenly we all wished we had had time to go to the postal museum. 

This is Lydia. She made me laugh the hardest. I wish I had taken a proper picture with her. 

Here I am at the botanical gardens, just beside myself.

No one warned me what a hot place that DC is. It was 85˚, 95˚, 98˚, and 100˚ on the four days I was there, and it was a strange kind of hot - as though there was not a thick moisture barrier protecting your skin from the sun. You just dry roast there. I did get to experience the phenomenon called, shade. Down here in Charleston, when you walk into the shade, it's not really any cooler, you just don't have the sun on you. Up there in DC, there is a legitimate temperature difference in the shade! I could hardly believe it.

Three times over this weekend I became genuinely frightened about the temperature. It was too hot to be aimlessly wandering. 100˚ is dangerous. I quietly panicked in the back of the group until we got wherever we were going. Then I'd douse my snappy towel in cold water and send gratitude up to Jesus. I also experienced the phenomenon of having no exit strategy. When you're on foot in big city (Is DC big? It was new and confusing so it felt big.) you can't just get out of the elements. You have to endure until you get where you're going. Here, if I get hot, hungry or tired, I just get in my air-conditioned car and go home. I felt stranded out there on those clean city streets... I'm a real weenie. 

We made sure to stop for sweets n' treats whenever possible. One of Alex's sisters (Alex is Jessie's groom) lives in DC so she took us around in her car and dumped us out at the best sweet spots. 

Jessie is an organized and logical type so she couldn't fully hand over the weekend plans to Sarah. She did some research and found a jazz club she wanted to go to. So we all oozed that way and listened to some live tunes while we ate supper. I sent Brett a grainy photo of the space and he wrote back immediately, "Are you on U-street. It that Jojo's?"

We were. And it was. So I DID wander into an old favorite. Turns out that Papa Clint was a regular at Jojo's back in the day - they knew his name and his favorite cocktail. Papa Clint said Jessie must have good taste.

From there we wandered over to a "speakeasy" that someone had read about. In true speakeasy fashion, we couldn't find the door. We mulled and toiled before Madison just called the place. She was cheerfully chatting on the phone with the host when a couple walked past us and opened the secret door. We all turned our heads to look inside and the host on the phone was just standing there in the doorway. He looked out at us on the street and said in to the receiver, "Is that you all?" to which Madison replied "Yes." 

We all felt very silly. Madison spun around, I guess to break the tension, and continued talking, only to turn back around and find that the host had hung up and everyone had gone inside. I found the whole thing riotously funny but I was alone in my amusement. 

Our final day together was one where Sarah made us wear matching tank tops and took us on a booze cruise on the Potomac. Clint told me to keep an eye out for floating bodies.

It was less about the booze and more about the cruise, but this was the hottest day of our trip and me and another couple girls got to feeling a little woozy. We stood in line in the blazing sun to get onto the boat and then discovered that it was overcrowded, not air-conditioned, and to make matters worse, they were blasting electronic music. Sarah and I began to have wee panic attacks. It was too muggy, loud, and crowded in there for a two hour cruise. I decided it wasn't worth the mental turmoil for me. I decided I'd hop off the boat and wait in a chilly coffee shop in Georgetown. I told Jessie and Sarah my plan (I saw Sarah consider joining me) and in the same moment, we pushed off the dock. 

"Guess we're going to have to survive this."

The girls decided that the direct sun outside of the boat was better than the muggy factor inside the boat, so they all went to the upper deck. Lydia was too close to sunburnt to sit in the sun, so she and I cowered in a strip of shade on the back of the boat where the motor fumes came out. We breathed in that heavy exhaust and were thankful for the shade. 

Shortly after, it clouded over and we were able to join everyone upstairs. There was a real dance party going on up there with two other bachelorette parties. Our bachelorette group was definitely the least fun one on the boat. I spent most of my time talking to Anna (to my right up there) who's fella is from India. They're getting married and have to have two ceremonies -one in the US and another traditional Indian wedding in the city his family lives in. Anna is very non-traditional (doesn't actually want a wedding at all) (hates the implications of the terms "husband" and "wife") and is very unamused about all of it. It was a riveting conversation... and I think I secured Brett and myself an invite to the Indian celebration. 

On our last night together we had a 20's themed murder mystery party and a supper comprised of the leftovers in our fridge ... so, cheese and cake. The only thing more surprising than the sheer volume of group pictures we posed for, was just how much I'd enjoy this group of strange gals from the assorted highlights of Jessie's life so far. 

Papa Clint was right, Jessie has great taste.