Yesterday was the first truly HOT day of the summer here in Seattle–up to the mid 90s, they say–and today should be similar. I however am sitting in my over-airconditioned office with a cardigan on, considering popping downstairs for a hot chocolate. The reason is that part of the building has had unreliable air conditioning for a couple weeks now, which means our AC tends to overcompensate.
But I’m not complaining. No sir. Northwest summers are relatively cool and beautiful most of the time (at least on the coast–it’s murder in the high desert) and relatively dry, too. The little-known secret about Seattle–known for it’s “year-round” rain–is that it doesn’t actually rain here from about late June through mid-October. My lawn is brittle and dead, just like any lawn in a desert area. Now, it’ll come back to life as soon as the rain comes back in the fall, and it’ll be green almost through the winter (thankfully, though, I won’t have to mow it most of the winter!), but for the next few months we have some amazing biking, hiking, swimming, camping, and in general outdoo
rsy weather you could imagine, and not nearly as hot as pretty much any other place I’ve lived.
Except yesterday and today. Yesterday I thought of going for a run, but opted for ice cream instead. I rarely eat ice cream–it’s just not something I think of first–but it’s definitely ice cream weather.
But the real reason for this post is behind the cut. Finally, I’ve uploaded and am now sharing with you some highlights of my ALA trip!
In front of the original Smithsonian building, author Tiffany Trent flanked by friends and podcasters Jeff Crews and Eric Ehlers. Hear their interview of Tiffany!
While at the Air & Space Museum, we ventured into the section of the American History Museum currently housed in that building, due to renovations in its own building.
It’s Kermie!
The Folk Life festival in D.C. was starting a week later, and we walked past some of the preparations for it on the Mall.
…including this awesome truck. I think it was in the Thai/Vietnamese/southeast Asia section, but it could be Eastern European as well. The signage wasn’t too clear, what with it still being in the setup process.
Here’s my very big head at the White House. Whatever your politics (I’m a centrist myself, neither extreme appealing to me, though I’d vote for impeachment with everything happening with the not-quite-pardoning stuff going on right now, but that’s not what this post is about!), this building is a symbol of this nation’s great history, along with the Capitol, which I posted pictures of a while back. It was a moving moment for me to see the building, despite our current situation.
That was all the first day, before the show actually began, when I had a few spare hours to see a little bit of the city.
Now, on to the actual show! That’s in the next post. This one’s has a lot of p
ictures already.