Wash Dc, rappers and museums...

On the road with my favorite traveling companions! We needed to move Melissa out of her summer Washington digs so we decided to make a mini weekend out of it. Ken, Ross and I went down on Friday morning and headed over the the Museum of American history where Melissa met us after finishing her last day of work. Had lots of fun seeing Lincoln's hat, the ruby red slippers, James Brown's cape and of course Michelle's dress. Then over to her apartment where ,shockingly, she was completely packed up and ready to go. Of course, not shockingly, she had so much stuff it filled the car and the 3 of us walked back to the hotel. Had a great dinner, did the mandatory photo op in front of the White House and walked over to the W hotel where the rooftop bar is suppose to have an amazing view. After standing in line for 10 minutes we were told we couldn't go up because Ross didn't have ID to prove he was 21. Annoyed, the kids went off to the bathroom while Ken and I went outside. Bored after waiting for 2 seconds Ken wandered off to talk to the guy hanging out in front of one of those huge touring buses you see going down the highway and wonder if they belong to some rock band on tour. Guess what, they do, and they are very cool inside. Turns out this one belongs to Outkast and within 5 minutes the four of us were inside the bus drinking beers and hanging out with Angelo, Andre 3000's first cousin.(One of the most innovative and successful groups in hip-hop, OutKast comprising André "André 3000" Benjamin and Antwan "Big Boi" Pattonhas sold more than 20 million records over the last 14 years, both members have also now branched out into film acting)

We spent an amazing hour hearing all about their life together in Atlanta both as kids and now, what life is like on the road, and why Outkast (minus Andre) was in Washington DC (a long funny story involving a lot of money and a strip club). Angelo had lots of great life advice for the kids, most of it completely unprintable here. After hanging out on the bus for over an hour and getting the most bizarre looks from the people who wandered off and on the bus ( I guess a suburban family of four is not what you expect to find on a rappers bus)Angelo made Big Boi stop before getting in the (large black) SUV to the 'gentlemens' club so that Ross could get his picture taken with him. It was all pretty thrilling.

The next day,joined by one of Melissa's friends from Penn, we went off to a tour of the Capital which wasn't bad and then spent the afternoon at the Newseum (the museum of News). It was without a doubt one of the best museums we have ever been to and worth a trip to Wash dc. Not cheap but the tickets are good for two days. We spent over 3 hours there and loved every minute. Another great dinner, but no rappers to hang out with so we went over to the Lincoln Monument which is so beautiful at night with it's view of the Washington monument and the reflecting pool.
Back home on Sunday...Ken and Ross in the car, piled high with Melissa's junk and her and I by train!