Spaceports, Ethiopia, and Spain

The title basically summarizes my Sunday. I woke up with Spanish music still stuck in my head from the Fiesta Espanola, and headed right back to Stephanie's house to meet up with the other ISU Spaceports Team members in DC - Stephanie, Eric, Emma. We're giving a presentation to the FAA about our project tomorrow, so we needed to finalize our slides and practice a bit. And, as Stephanie put in her away message, "it wouldn't really be a Spain party if we didn't wake up and work on our team project the next morning."

We worked throughout the afternoon, so that when I got home, Jeff and I spent just a few minutes laying in the sun on our roof, before it started to get dark. Our roof has a pool and a great view of the city, but Sunday was the last day it was open. Since we were away all summer, I was determined to go at least once before it closed.

That brought us to dinner time, for which we were meeting up with my friend Al, and some of his friends from high school. Jeff and I just got our SmartBikeDC cards the other day, and Sunday was the first time we'd used them. There is a bike rack right next to our house, and others near metro stops around the city, so Jeff and I were able to rent them and speed down 14th street to drop them off at the U Street Metro, two blocks from the restaurant.

We ate at Dukem, which always gets rated as one of the best Ethiopian restaurants in the city. And the critics weren't wrong - the food was amazing. I'd highly recommend Dukem Special Kibs (kind of like marinated steak tips), Lamb Wot (like a spicy stew or curry), and Dukem Kitfo (beef tar-tar with spices and cottage cheese). All the standard veggies - lentils, cabbage, potatoes, etc. are very good as well. If you come to DC, this is definitely a place to check out.

After Dukem, we headed a block down the street to Vinoteca, a wine bar with half-off Spanish wines and a free flamenco show on Sundays. We sat and chatted over a glass of wine while enjoying the music. I don't think I'd ever been to a Spanish bar in DC, but since I've been back, I've heard about a few of them. Also, I found out my friend Al may move to Barcelona for a year of two, which gives me that much more reason to go back and visit soon!