When I heard I’d be taking a work trip to Reston, Virginia for three days, I was elated. We’d be just outside of Washington DC! It’s always a weird feeling being all over the world, but not having been to your own nation’s capital. I booked a few extra days, changing hotels from one outside of town to one right on the National Mall. Those who read the blog regularly know I’m a huge fan of museums, and this trip would be no different! I booked directly across the street from one of the Smithsonian museums at a Holiday Inn, and soon the anticipation began building!
The first three days (Monday to Thursday) were spent working, with dinners and late nights following that took their toll on my overall ability to be excited for more than the work we were doing… but Thursday night a coworker offered to drive me into Washington and we ended up walking around quite a bit.
Short of about two blocks, we actually walked the entire Mall, saw the Washington Monument, the Capitol Building (from afar), as well as walked up to see the White House (having no idea which side is which, I’m still not sure but I think we ended up behind it by mistake).
We ended up near the World War II Memorial before swinging down to “the wharf”, a place someone at my hotel had suggested while I was checking in (my coworker deserves all the credit for this recommendation that has paid dividends at this point!). It would end up being about another mile of walking, and by this time my feet were already hurting, but we were in search of good dinner and maybe a good beer or two, and we’d find them both along the wharf.
Not really having any idea where we were headed except its name and a general direction thanks to a sign, we spent time meandering the south side of Independence Avenue and eventually heading under a bridge to find our way to a rather dilapidated boat dock with a restaurant advertising “CRABS” in big letters. The signs and flags were faded, the boats rising and falling alongside swells of water, and few people were anywhere near what I feel justified in calling the “crab shack”. If not for the odd, large line of people heading around the corner… we probably would have turned around.
“Hey…” my coworker asked one of those in line, “what are you guys waiting for?”
“Miku Expo!” he explained, before saying “By the way, I love your ‘Texan’!” (My coworker has a bit of an accent, but he’s actually not from Texas). His friends chimed in on the event:
“We’ve been waiting a long time! This show should have come here a long time ago!”
We walked until we found the venue, a 6,000 seat theater called “Anthem”, and then found seats on the patio next door to watch those in line. There were people dressed in costume, and it honestly looked much like a crowd you’d expect to appear outside of one of the “ComicCon” events across the nation. There were quite a few people wearing outfits with bright blue hair that extended into two pigtails that were so shaped (and almost sharp-looking) that they looked like two swords dangling down. A few were dressed as other anime characters as well, and after a bit of Googling I found out what we were witnessing. Hatsune Miku, I’d find out, is a character that has been generated following the popularity of a synthesized voice program that was originally created (I think) to voice video game characters. Since then, this voice synthesizer has taken on a subculture of its own and has followers and fans across the world through projection screens at concerts. However it worked out, we watched the crowd grow and grow, and commented on the people we saw from those with short shorts (and high socks) to fathers exhibiting malaise while escorting their young daughters into the event.
I try to never judge others on their interests (being a nerd and spending way more than I should on hobbies of my own… like this travel one…), and we debated buying tickets just to say we’d gone to the show (assuming there were any left) but elected for more drinks instead. We’d wander to one more bar, and the further we headed away from the crab shack… the better the wharf got. By the time we made it to “District Wharf”, which was where we’d meant to head and which is pinned on the west side by the crab shack I mentioned, things had completely turned around and an oyster bar sat next to an open fountain shooting spouts of water into the air for children and adults to enjoy.
We enjoyed drinks and dinner, and after wandering to find where we’d left my coworker’s car (DC’s public parking is all underground from what I can tell), I headed to bed. I had an early morning ahead of me the next day…. I’d booked a day with USA Tours visiting as much of Washington as I was able in a day.
