Jase Takes On...

Saturday was the bulk of my time "doing things" in D.C. with my friend D.. (See Part One if you missed the introduction to my trip and Friday's happenings.)

Being a baker, D. offered to make breakfast for me that morning, after we'd walked his adorable rescued dogs, Zoe and Elmo. I chose his offer of extra-special waffles. They really were extra-special; it said so in the cookbook! Topped with good maple syrup, walnuts and chocolate chips, they were quite yummy and a good start to the day. I was interested in doing the touristy things, so that's what we did: a trip to downtown D.C..



Our first stop was the Capitol Building where we joined the throngs taking photographs. Then we walked across the mall towards the Washington Monument, but didn't make it all the way there -- I wimped out due to my knee.


We visited two of the Smithsonian buildings, and I got to see all sorts of cool things. Among them were the Hope diamond, various dinosaur displays, the fossil cleaning room, Dorothy's Ruby Red Slippers, a variety of Muppets including Kermit and the Swedish Chef (but not Miss Piggy!)... I could go on all day, and that was only from two of the buildings.

Our next priority was lunch, and we ate downtown at Old Ebbitt Grill. The food was good, but the service was not. The words "inattentive" and "sluggish" come to mind. Full from the late meal, we took the driving tour of the other parts of D.C. on our way home, which gave me glimpses of the Pentagon, Arlington National Cemetery and the Jefferson monument. It was heading towards early evening, the way the sun sparkled off of the Potomac River was beautiful. D. was playing a CD I'd burned for him, which reflected our recent non-relationship, and in turn a couple of its tracks are now burned in my mind with the sunshine of our drive and the sparkling of that river... precious memories to add to my collection.

On the way home we passed through the infamous tunnel -- a tunnel that D. often drives through while we're on the phone, which usually causes his phone to drop our call. It was cool to actually experience the tunnel.

One last stop was to buy a gag gift for a going-away present to one of D.'s friends, who was the guest of honor at a party that night. D. wanted to find something big and possibly fragile, that would be awkward to move. I was pleased to spot the chosen gift: tiki torches! He bought two, and was pleased with the find.

That concluded our afternoon, and we went back to his home where the kids were happy to see us. Elmo took a particular shine to me, but I gather he likes guys in general, whereas Zoe is more standoffish. Doug took a nap while I went to use the phone. We had some tension because I was frustrated with our lack of communication, or our inability to explore our thoughts and feelings. After all, the purpose of this visit was to reconnect; to explore where our almost-two-years of shared history and not-quite-dating could take us today.

The things is, D. and I have never both been completely single, free of other emotional ties and prepared to date -- at the same time. We've both been in love with each other, and we both still do have feelings we label as love, but there was the question of actual romance and if there was any such feeling after six months apart.

There were definitely some feelings to explore, and things took a turn for the ugly, as will be described soon in D.C. Part Three.