After doing so poorly at skeet shooting in Illinois, I decided I needed some proper instruction in the finer parts of shooting a moving target with a giant gun, so back in June some friends and I took the “Learn to shoot” class at the Bull Run Shooting Center in Centreville, VA (does that qualify as real Virginia?). If you live in the DC area and have any desire to learn how to trap shoot, I highly recommend the class. Here are a few photos from that shooting session. I went back a few weeks later to shoot a few rounds with Wayne and Olga and even bought a fancy Browning shooting vest (I desperately needed the recoil pad insert, and the giant pockets to hold the shells). I gotta say I am pretty hooked on this new hobby. Now I just have to purchase my own shotgun. I guess that’s an important thing to own, or whatev.

Me

Laura

Liz

Nick

Olga

Wayne

I still have a ton of Costa Rica photos to upload, but here are a few photos from this past weekend when Liz, Nick, and I went to the Joint Service Open House at Andrews Air Force Base. You basically spend the day checking out all the cool military equipment that your tax money buys and eating junk food like hamburgers and funnel cake. Mmm tanks and funnel cake. What could be more American?

AWACS

Chinook

Bunker buster

F-35

Cockpit of a DC Air National Guard F-16

The Golden Knights (U.S. Army parachute team)

Liz and I in the Huey

Nixonian

Crazy Red Bull helicopter that did a bunch of tricks

Seahawk

Stryker

Manning the Mk 19 grenade launcher atop the Stryker. Liz and I had to wait in a line full of seven year-olds for our turn to climb up there. No, seriously, everyone playing in the Stryker was at least 20 years younger than us.

Patriot missile battery

Hawkeye

I’m on a boat, I’m on a boat, everybody look at me

USAF Thunderbirds. These guys put on an amazing show.

Assateague Island National Seashore is perhaps my favorite place on the East Coast. Assateague is a barrier island located off the eastern coast of Maryland and Virginia and is a scenic three hour drive from Washington. I love it out there because it’s undeveloped (no gaudy boardwalk scene) and there is plenty of room for people to spread out. Of course, when it’s April and 59 degrees you don’t really have to worry about crowds. Here are a few photos of today’s trip to Assateague:

Tucker loves the beach

American pose…in America. Don’t usually do that.

Tucker thinks he is a lapdog, BTW.

Beautiful weather this weekend, so hiking around Great Falls Park in Northern Virginia sounded like a good idea. I had never even heard of this place until a few years ago when a dude from Texas mentioned it.

I would like to be a park ranger and walk around with a snake in an adorable carrying case

The remains of the Patowmack Canal, the first canal in the United States that used locks to raise and lower boats.

Ditto


Rock climbers

I want to go kayaking here

The Potomac River appears to be much cleaner up here

Jack

Ah yes, of course. I leave Columbia Heights and a “British” pub that sells Strongbow on draft opens a few blocks from my former house. Nevertheless, still happy as hell to be out of that neighborhood.

But if you do live there and enjoy Strongbow you can order it by the US or UK pint at CommonWealth. I went there over Inauguration weekend and had lunch with my mom, Cheryl, and Annie. The food was good, but much like The Heights, is pretty overpriced. Sixteen bucks for fish and effin’ chips? Wow.

Also, a reader informed me that you can now drink Strongbow at Ben’s Next Door, the new restaurant started by the family behind Ben’s Chili Bowl. Strongbow + Ben’s chili half smoke = heaven?

Updated list:
- Fado Irish Pub in Chinatown (draft)
- Elephant & Castle Pub (draft)
- Finn macCool’s Irish Publick House (draft)
- 51st State Tavern (draft)
- Chevy Chase Wine & Spirits (500 mL cans)
- Circle Liquors (500 mL cans)
- Whole Foods Market on P Street (500 mL cans)
- Sherry’s Wine & Liquor (500 mL cans)
- Brickskeller (500 mL cans)
- Rocket Bar (500 mL cans)
- RFD (500 mL cans) (reader submitted)
- The Red Derby (500 mL cans) (reader submitted)
- Big Hunt (draft) (reader submitted)
- D’Vines (500 mL cans)
- CommonWealth Gastropub (draft)
- Mackey’s Public House(draft) (reader submitted)
- Rock N Roll Hotel (500 mL cans) (reader submitted)
- Ben’s Next Door (500 mL cans) (reader submitted)
Just outside DC:
- Flanagan’s Harp & Fiddle (Bethesda) (draft) (reader submitted)
- Lost Dog Cafe (Arlington) (500 mL cans) (reader submitted)

We took Tucker to Lake Frank yesterday. He enjoyed chasing after sticks and doing other dog things.

He would only go a few feet into the lake. When the stick we threw in the water was too far out for his liking, he would bark at it in the hopes that it would come closer to shore. It never did.

Mmmm…water with a hint of leftover caramel frappacino.

On Monday it was snowing and I was wearing boots.
On Saturday it was 73 degrees and I was wearing flip flops.
No wonder this place drives people insane.

A few photos from Inauguration weekend (yes, I realize this was over a month ago). Most of these photos are actually from Annie and Cheryl.

My mom and I with the Patino side of the family from LA. They were in town because Tom was doing some shots for Leno’s Tonight Show.

We took a tour of Lincoln’s summer cottage in NW DC.

Checking out Lincoln’s top hat at the newly renovated Smithsonian American History Museum.

Waiting to pick up our tickets from Mary Bono’s office.

Yeah, these were pretty much everywhere.

The Obama store…INSANE.

I LOVE YOU ANDERSON COOPER!

Annie and I

Cheryl, Annie, my mom, myself, and Katherine in front of the Capitol a few days before the Inauguration. All of the tourists were so happy they would say “Happy Inauguration!” to each other. It was a giant love fest.

Pennsylvania Avenue in front of the White House

Obama’s viewing stand

The morning of the Inauguration, a little after 5am. We stepped out of the Courthouse and there were already thousands of people pouring out of the Judiciary Square metro station chanting “O-BA-MA! O-BA-MA!”.

It was really, really cold that morning.

Waiting at the blue gate.

Did I mention it was really, really cold? Thank god for those instant hand warmers. I stuck them in my boots, back pockets, hat, and uh, basically anywhere I could.

Annie, our professional photographer. She was using a metal barricade to boost herself up and the dude in front of her was nice enough to allow her to use his head as a tripod for her camera.

Obama, as seen through her zoom lens.

I-395 was shutdown to traffic so that pedestrians could use it to get to the other side of the National Mall.

Goodbye, Bush!

A man who drove up to the U.S. Capitol complex and told police he had a delivery for President Barack Obama was arrested by police after telling them he had a rifle in his truck, police said on Tuesday.

The man “told officers that he had a delivery for President Obama so the officers began to question him further and he admitted to having a rifle in his truck,” said Kimberly Schneider, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Capitol Hill Police.

Wow, looks like somebody fell asleep during their high school government class. Dude, the President lives and works at the WHITE HOUSE, not the Capitol building. Jesus.