D&E Take on D.C.

Hello! Welcome back to Otterly Ridiculous. If you followed my posts before, thank you! I hope you will stop back this semester to check out all my new content.

In the spirit of education, I thought I would start with the most cliché topic for the beginning of every school year: what I did this summer. However, instead of telling you about my awesome job and amazing internship, I want to tell you about the most spontaneous thing I did. But do not worry, I will get to the job and internship stuff later.

Most likely the highlight of my summer was my trip to Washington D.C. It was almost completely spontaneous and it was “otterly” cool. My boyfriend and I had been trying to figure out something cool to do for a few weeks. But, being college students with limited income and time off from our jobs, we could not find a solution no matter how much research we did. I had basically given up and accepted that our Fourth of July was going to be just like any other year. For some reason, I thought my boyfriend had done the same thing. I should know by now that he never gives up.

I was at work on June thirtieth when I got a text message from him asking if I wanted to go to D.C. together the next day. He had already figured out the plan for how we would get there and where we would stay, along with about how much it would cost each of us. My instant instinct was to tell him there was no way we could pull it off and we should just stay home. But before I did that I took a minute to think. I realized that you are only 20 years old once and it is important to reach outside of your comfort zone occasionally. So instead of saying no, I told him we should go. Let me tell you, it was completely worth it.

We were only gone for two days and we spent approximately eight hours in the city. But in that short time here is what we experienced together.

• We found an A&W root beer stand on the way there, we did not know that we both love it before we stumbled upon it.
• Witness the beauty of Annapolis, I am sure they see a different sunset than we do because it was stunning.
• My first subway ride.
• A giant blue chicken sculpture roughly as tall as my house.
• Pieces by VanGogh and Monet. I was way more excited about that than he was but hey, it was awesome.
• Dresses worn by the most important first women in history.
• Plus, all the must-see destinations. Including the Capitol, the White House and several memorials.

These experiences were incredibly cool, but we both agree that our favorite part of the trip was none of those things. What we enjoyed most was the total of 16 hours we spent together in the car. Having so much uninterrupted time together meant we talked about anything and everything. We laughed for hours and we made so many memories. Which is why our spontaneous trip will always hold a special place in my heart. It taught me that you are only young once and it is important to seize unique opportunities that come your way. They will take you to amazing places.

What is the coolest thing you did this summer? Let me know in the comments!