Thanksgiving – Nov 2024 – TravelWithTheSlowskys

Happy Thanksgiving to you!

As a family we have had a rich tradition of celebrating Thanksgiving, sometimes in somewhat unconventional ways, places, and circumstances. We have, as a family, celebrated Thanksgiving over the years at home either in Lexington, MA or Marietta, GA, in our trailer at Big Bend National Park in southwest Texas and in the basin of Death Valley; stayed in an AirBNB and celebrated at my brother’s house in Asheville, NC, met on a Zoom call during Covid, and who knows where else. All I can say is our kids must have great parents! And as always, there is always much laughter and love.

This year we celebrated in Washington, DC – albeit early. I won’t lie – we had a blast! So good. And thanks to Michela’s planning, we had a line-up of great activities while visiting in her now-home city.

To get there, Karen and I decided to mix it up and take the Amtrak train from the Boston area to Union Station in DC, with some interesting views from the train. I have told others that I would rather stick pins in my eyes than fly.

Holy hell – we even stayed in a hotel! We stayed at the Capitol Hill Hotel, maybe 2-3 blocks from our daughter’s apartment, Library of Congress, the Capitol, the Supreme Court, and countless other landmarks. DC remains a unique and amazing city.

Speaking of which, we toured the Library of Congress – amazing. As the largest library in the world, it supports Congress and researchers with millions of books, tapes, photographs, newspapers – you name it. The interior of the library is nothing less than stunning.

And a walk around town brings you to some amazing sights.

To add a little refinement to our visit, we visited an art gallery Michela had lined up for us. Friends Artspace, opened four years ago in Arlington, hosts multiple artists’ work, generally around a theme. This exhibit, showing pieces from approximately twenty artists, is themed around a beginners’ mind, or the Buddhist concept of Shoshin. The idea behind Shoshin is to encourage people, even if skilled in some advanced level, to come in to learning more with an open mind and without preconceptions. Perhaps we could all take a page out of this playbook. The owner built the gallery next to her home and so exhibits are available by appointment.

We kicked off our culinary efforts with lunch at Le Diplomate, a French café/brasserie just a few blocks north of downtown DC. This was clearly a place to be seen (as if we cared), but the food was SO good. Think steak tartare, tuna carpaccio, salade lyonnaise, highly starched white coated servers.

Next up on the menu was dinner at a Middle Eastern cocktail bar/restaurant called Medina (Arab for city or town), where everyone is welcomed! Located down an alley and with no sign on the front door, you need to feel confident of where you are heading. The food was outstanding, but the whole vibe? So cool! You are seated at what you might think more as a living room than a restaurant. The ceiling and walls are covered in tapestries. Did I mention the food was outstanding? Think Mezze Board, Chicken Tagine, Mrouzia, Lamb Tagine, cocktails you can’t pronounce. So good, and so much fun.

Continuing on this international sojourn, we dined at Love Makoto, Chef Makoto Okuwa’s Japanese restaurant, self-described as a culinary love letter. There are multiple restaurant concepts within this one location, including fast serve, steak, and sushi. We chose Dear Sushi and chose their sushi omakase experience. Basically, you are served a five-course meal based on what the chef decides to serve you. I believe we would generally describe the meal we had at this restaurant as a Top 5 meal in our lifetimes – just simply that delicious.

And for the piece de resistance, we celebrated an early Thanksgiving meal at Michela’s apartment, preceded, of course, by Flintlocks – a Roberts family cocktail tradition. As expected, we had a wonderful meal, a lot of laughs and much love, and for all of that we are most grateful.