DC & NYC

Table of Contents

About this quest

This semester one of my motives was to be able to travel more, given that I was working part time I took advantage of the opportunity for remote work. DC was on my hit-list as a place to visit since my former roommate, Ben, was living there this semester and I promised to visit him. NYC was the next logical step, where I was planning on visiting some friends in the area, which partially panned out. Being a newcomer to the east this was a great opportunity to explore both of these cities which I have only stepped foot in once or twice before.

The Siedman Family

Waiting for me at the airport was Ben, where he graciously showed me the way to his house, right on the edge of DC & Bethesda. While that may not seem like a big deal, Ben pointed out that you can see the difference in the border based upon the type of stone on the sidewalks! Ben's family opened me with welcome arms, both of his parents are very kind and very sweet (especially Milo their dog). At their house Ben and I took on the task of setting up the pride flags & fixing the bikes which we later used to ride into the DC metro area.

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DC Metro Area

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Exploring the Monuments

After fixing up the bikes, we rode all the way into DC (about 10 miles each way) in order to check out different monuments & museums in the area. We took a detour for lunch to check out the George Town university area. The area is quite old and feels historic like Boston in the way the architecture was designed. The picture on the bottom left from the Modern Art Museum, the glass roof was designed by the same guy that made Louvre!

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An Unexpected Visitor

While exploring DC I realized that someone I had met recently was also in the area. Following my brothers graduation we ran into 2 other sets of identical twins... Katie, on the right here is one of them. She also happened to be in DC for an internship at the Department of Energy, given her degree in Sustainability Solutions and her Master in Public Policy. Although I had only met her for a few minutes at graduation it was an unexpected but welcome introduction and reunion.

Arizona State University Thunderbird Graduation Photo

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The Kimball's

The second half of my journey I continued on my Amtrak Journey, which led me to Long Island, New York where I was able to find lodging at Jasper Kimball's. I was initially surprised by his house, I didn't know what to expect for the Long Island suburbs, I for one, was not expecting to see a mansion. Jasper lives in the wealthy suburbs of Port Washington which is where the Mansions and setting of the Great Gatsby is Based upon.

Jasper's thinking room

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Cooking Tikki Masala at Jasper's with his childhood friend

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New Friends?!

After my stay at Jaspers for nearly a week, I had planned on going into The City where I would go and see a comedy show, followed by sleeping in Erica's car and then a return Amtrak to Boston. Alas things don't always work out, I was informed mid meeting that I could no longer sleep in Erica's car, leading to me desperately trying to find a housing accommodation. Thankfully NYC is full of hostels which let me explore the city.

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In the evening, I went to see Austin Nasso's standup, a comedian known for his skits on tech workers and impersonations of Biden and Trump. Following the show, with no further plans I "networked" with some other fans of the show. On the left is a 38? year old from SF Bay area who is in the middle of divorce and the right is a 28? year old who just got a position in San Diego, CA. We ended up going out for drinks at a bar in the Gayborhood of NYC and bonding over all of our shared experiences and convincing the New Jersian girl to move to San Diego.

Olympus XA | 28mm | Harman Phoenix 200