D.C. - Day 0 - Dean and I ride the bus??

So, as everyone knows, one doesn't want to drive in D.C. because of the traffic. So we decided to get on the metro, get our feet wet, purchase passes, etc. The first metro stop is about a mile away from hotel #1 (see previous entry), and there's a bus stop near the hotel. The hotel staff said that the park-and-ride at the Metro was going to be full, and the bus comes every half hour, so we decided to go down and wait for the bus.

Whilst waiting, we were approached by a very drunk young blatino woman. This woman was so drunk she could barely stand and she could barely think. Every few minutes she would ask us for something: cigarettes, a lighter, 25c, 20c, 10c. In between these requests she would scream loudly, "where is fucking damn bus?!?" What is really funny, is that every time we said, "no," she would dig into her plastic bag, take a large swig from her 44oz budweiser, and then pull out the very thing she had asked us for. After waiting a half hour, we decided that we really didn't want to ride the bus, we didn't feel all that safe, and we didn't know when it was going to come.

So we decided to risk driving to the Metro park-and-ride. I'm glad we did! Of course, the bus happened to come as we were driving away (ha!), but the park-and-ride had plenty of parking spaces, and since it was Sunday, it was free! A very friendly Metro worker explained all the options for riding the Metro and getting passes, and we purchased some, and then rode the Metro to Union Station (where the Amtrak operates). We browsed the shops (most were closed because it was Sunday after 6pm), and then came home. Overall a pleasant experience.