Trip home for Easter

The typical agenda for my Maryland trip always involve: helping out my folk’s business (a small shop in a low-income area mall), squeezing in some to hang out with family and if time permits, finding time to catch up with friends and explore the DC area a little. Cramming all this into a two-and-a-half day period leaves me thoroughly exhausted.

It’s another Sunday afternoon at another airport -- this time, at Washington’s National Airport, waiting for the flight back to Toronto. As I sit by the gate, I can feel the fatigue soaked in thoroughly to the bone. Although I’m sipping on a 20 oz Diet Coke purchased at the newsstand as I’m typing away on the keyboard, I know that once I settle in to my seat on the flight, I’ll be dozing away before the aircraft takes off the runway. 40 minutes before boarding.

Some highlights on memorable dinners/pubs:

Dogfish Head Brewery Pub/Restaurant in Gaithersburg, MD (Thursday). Dogfish Head’s motto is “Off-centered beer for off-centered people,” and with brews like World Wide Stout, it truly takes an aficionado to truly appreciate their brews. Heading straight to the pub after landing at Dulles, sitting back with a pint of Shelter Pale Ale marked my first alfresco dining experience of the season. Conversation with an old buddy about my latest views on ‘friendship’ turned unexpectedly confrontational. It’s sad to see ‘married life’ claiming another victim.

Japanese dinner and Sake with an old college buddy and his girlfriend. (Friday) While I’m always up for beer, I also enjoy a nice bottle of warmed sake with a sushi/sashimi dinner. This particular couple’s is the only successful long-term relationship I’ve ever seen – going strong for 4 years and counting – and although our dinner was regrettably short, I was reminded that it’s the quality of the company that you remember about an evening -- all other details tend to be ancillary.

Capitol City Brewing Company in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor (Saturday). I’ve been to their location near the Union Station in DC many years before, and I do not remember being particularly impressed. Their beers tend to lack depth and most of their offerings tend to be pretty good representations of various styles; however, ‘pretty good’ rarely leaves me satisfied. Nonetheless, it was great to be out in the bustling weekend Inner Harbor scene after a long day in the mall’s store, and conversation with another old friend was just as good as I have hoped it would be; we both seem to be walking rather lonely paths, but it’s heartening to swap stores and share canteens when the paths cross.

15 minutes before boarding. Time dreadfully marches toward another long work week (especially weary on an extended trip away from Chicago), and that bottle of Diet Coke really hasn’t done much to pick me up. Remembering family and good friends, however, cheers my spirit considerably, and whether it’s an unexpected text message from a friend or finding mom’s note taped to a bottle of water in my laptop bag that reminds me of good friends and loving family, it’s the memories of those who I carry dear to heart that ultimately keeps me going strong.

I think I’ll drop by Sam Adams Brewhouse by gate 27 for a quick swig before boarding. Cheers, mon ami!