Who knew?

I arrived here in DC a little before noon today and was totally beat. I spent the night at Motel 6 near DFW airport last night, for a couple of reasons -- first, I needed a place to park the van while I was gone, and second, I wasn't sure I'd be able to get up early enough to make the drive from Cville. It was a good move, but I probably didn't get much more sleep than I would've at home. I just don't sleep well on the night before I travel, regardless of where I'm sleeping.

A generous guess might say I got three hours of sleep. I would've slept on the plane, because I really was pretty tired, but there was this adorable toddler in his mom's lap right next to me, and he varied between brilliant smiles and piercing shrieks. You just can't sleep when an icepick is being bored into your right ear. Can't be done.

After a satisfying nap and after watching the series finale of Stargate SG-1 on Sci-Fi, I went restaurant hunting and found a little Burmese restaurant. Burmese... it was something I'd never tried before, so I took a chance. And I honestly think I have never eaten anything so absolutely outstanding in my LIFE. I kid you not. I had a slow-cooked beef with curry and coconut sauce, and I am going to HAVE to try to make something similar when I get home. WOW. I don't normally get so wound-up about food, but I think I could eat that same dish every day for a really, really long time before I got tired of it. It's just that good. Who knew Burmese food was so unbelievable? And why did they keep it a secret for so long? Sheesh.

And now I'm going to bed. Tomorrow I will be going to visit the National Gallery; someone recommended that I build at least a couple of days into my schedule to see things that are important to me, and the art museum in my nation's capitol is one of those things. Sunday thru Tuesday is pretty packed with the conference, and Wednesday I'm going to the Mall. They're supposed to be having a folk-art festival of some kind down there, so it should be interesting.

I don't know how much I'm going to be able to blog about my time at the Holocaust Museum, to tell you the truth. For one thing, they've pretty much packed our schedules from early morning to late at night, so there won't be much (if any) free time. For another thing, even though I've tried to inoculate my emotions sufficiently, I'm not sure I won't be pretty wiped-out emotionally from the experience. We shall see.

For now, to bed. I am, as some of my wayback relatives might've said, plumb tard.