Date Night Review

Hubby and I went out to dinner in DC last night.

We had planned on taking the Metro, but that fell through when we discovered (online, thankfully) that Metro Center was experiencing serious delays for maintenance. Blergh. Good thing it's only $10 to park at the Ronald Reagan Building on the weekends.

The restaurant wasn't bad, but frankly, it was overpriced. The server was nice enough, but you could tell that he wasn't terribly interested in us (we weren't dressed to the nines like some of the clientèle). Hubby's lamb loin was pretty yummy, but my risotto was somehow over- and under-cooked at the same time. Don't ask how that happened, because I don't seem to have that problem with my risotto. In any case, dessert was the highlight of the meal - I had a "modernized" tiramisu that was fabulous! I enjoyed my toscana, but hubby was less impressed with his chianti. As we were leaving, we had to make our way through a packed bar populated with a bunch of sorority/fraternity alumni that clearly needed to learn that choosing fashion over survival (it was 20-something degrees outside!) is simply not attractive. Watching two scantily clad blondes try to defrost by the bathrooms was mildly entertaining.

Following dinner, we went for a walk outside. We were only a couple of blocks from the Mall, and I had hoped to see the various monuments romantically lit up. Unfortunately, poor hubby is still recovering from the flu and it was just too dang cold outside to do much walking. We ended up getting in the car and attempting to find a parking spot close to the Lincoln Memorial.

What a total bust that was.

Washington Monument parking? Bust.

WWII Memorial parking? Bust.

Jefferson Memorial parking? Nice view across the water, but too dang far to walk. Bust.

We did get good (probably illegal) parking outside the US Capitol, but the digital camera kept trying to focus on the closest source of light (nearby lamp post). So decent pictures? Yeah, that was a bust too.

The monuments were beautiful, and I'm really sorry that we couldn't see them up close. My hoped-for night of romantic walks in the moonlight didn't turn out as planned.

Sigh.

On the upside, we came home to discover two out of three children asleep on the couch. The babysitter, hubby's cousin, got handsomely rewarded for that amazing feat.

Maybe I'll get a chance to try this again next month when it's a bit warmer. However, notes for next time:

- don't waste time at "highly reviewed" but completely overrated restaurants - we're hittin' the pubs
- wait until the Metro isn't experiencing delays so we don't have to drive (but thank heavens for GPS!)
- screw dressing up, I'm wearing jeans and sneakers
- think about buying cheap disposable camera that won't try to auto-focus

Sigh.