And just a classic, because any weekend I get two world class shows and get to hang wif me best mate is gonna be good. Friday I left work early to catch up with Jill at work in Georgetown. I had planned to take the bus from Herndon, then Metro in and take a bus to Georgetown, but she got out late and there was some miscommunication over which Metro stop to meet up at. We met up at Tenleytown at 5:30 and headed up to Columbia, although the rush hour traffic wasn’t awful. I’d read about a new place that seemed pretty cool, so we headed over there. The menu promised tasty food and it delivered. We started with draft beers, a Lagunitas Hairy Eyeball for Jill and a hefeweizen for me, then Jill had a mushroom soup and I had duck quesadillas, both quite tasty. Next she had a Cuban sandwich and I had lamb ribs, and we shared an order of duck fat fries – tasted more like duck than the quesadillas, but I was ok with that, we’ll definitely try to go back next time we’re up that way (plus it beats the usual fare at the Columbia mall).
Next we took the short hop over to Merriweather Post Pavilion. We hadn’t planned on seeing the opening act, so missing her wasn’t a great loss. I don’t know if we’ll ever get a Led Zeppelin tour, but I wouldn’t mind another one from Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. They were amazing together, although we would like to have passed on the dancing bozo up front. They did a mix of duets and solo songs (when the other would do backing vocal). Allison was great on “Trampled Rose” and “Down To The River To Pray”, and Robert held his own on “Fortune Teller”. They did several Zep tunes, “Black Dog” got a huge response, but “Black Country Woman” was the highlight for me. Clearly Plant can play the wizened blues singer all he wants, but can drag that unearthly howl out at any time. I’ll still hold out hope for a stateside Zep performance at some point.
Saturday I had things to do in the morning, but still managed to get to Dulles by 11:30. My flight to Boston didn’t take off for another hour, so I just chilled, and everything went smoothly. After we landed, I got on the Silver line, and tried to transfer to the Red, but a cop told us the line was closed and there were buses outside. Knowing how well that’s been working in DC, I went outside with baited breath. Apparently everything was happening there, as at least 8 fire engines and nearly that many ambulances and squad cars were out front. I called Chris and he had Jess direct me down a couple blocks near the freeway entrance so we could swing by, pick me up, and not get caught in the mess. Apparently it had just shut down due to a fire and was closed for 4 hours.
I was soon in Quincy, where Jess and V were waiting for us. Jess is about to have their second child, and is eager for it to be over, but is doing pretty well. We hung out in the afternoon and took a walk along the shore, and got takeout from their favorite restaurant for dinner (Jill had takeout Thai food at home for all you Jill fans – and she wanted to come along, but couldn’t come back Monday morning with her schedule). We watched a movie later on, then it was bedtime as we were all pretty wiped out.
Sunday we had breakfast, then Jess ran some errands with V, giving Chris a gift of Father’s Day free time. We hung out and talked, got some lunch and read. In the evening Chris grilled some pork chops while Jess made some rice and corn, very tasty. Then Chris and I headed south towards the Comcast Center (formerly Great Woods). We had decent seats for Rush, and got there with plenty of time. Great show (even if I prefer last year’s setlist slightly more), they all were in great form and I’m really used to the new songs now. We were out of there ASAP at the encore, the exit looked as bad as the one for Nissan Pavilion.
I had some drama on the way back Monday. I’d booked the first flight in the morning without checking the subway schedules, and the earliest I could get there was 6:15. With my flight boarding at 6:30 and leaving at 7, that was cutting it pretty close, but it was just the matter of getting there on time and getting through security quickly as I had my boarding pass and wasn’t checking baggage (or being charged that wonderful fee). The airport bus was actually a little early, and I was in the terminal at 6:17. I was happy, but I’ll try not to cut it that close again. The flight again was without any problems, and I was greeted by an enthusiastic dog just after 9, showered, changed, and was at work not long after that.