Day 1 in DC

I arrived in Baltimore around noonish and caught the Amtrak to DC. Met up with Alex exiting the Subway and then found ourselves at the wrong hotel. The hotel has a tunnel system underneath and there are 2 Marriotts connected to the tunnels. The Crystal Gateway and the Crystal City. A bit confusing. Hiked the few blocks to the correct hotel to meet up with one of the many groups we'd hang out with that week.

We quickly changed and met up with everyone. One group decided to head to Mt. Vernon (only to find it closed) and we decided to head to the zoo. Had some fun waiting on the trains.









Hello Zoo!



First stop - the baby panda.



Who was sleeping. Stinkin' panda! Doesn't he know I've been watching him on the panda cam since before he was born!?

The daddy panda was also taking a nap.



He moved around a bit for us though.



Here's Panda Central



Me and a very hot bronze panda



Saw a cool red panda (that was awake!)



a dead bird



with a hungry vulture nearby.



Toucan Sam was asking for his Fruit Loops



We also got to see the baby gorilla





a meerkat



and the elephants.









After our zoo trip we swung by China Town for dinner. Afterwards to went to meet up with the rest of the group only to find they'd already left for the apartment we stayed at and took our luggage. Mad props to those that hauled my luggage on the subway. My bags were heavy!

After this we made a stop for some food and drinks at an Irish pub by the apartment. I missed the Irish Car Bombs though.

Before turning in for the night, we had some adventures at the grocery store.



End of Day 1.