I spent nearly the whole day in Virginia puttering around Olde Towne Alexandria. Being lost, trying to find parking spaces, meeting up with the DC Horde at a coffee house and then moving on to a pizza place after the coffee house kicked us out. Nearly 20 of us showed up, including one each from Chicago and Atlanta, and we got to know each other while chattering about politics, religion, race and other normally toxic topics. One woman's husband checked in frequently from CPAC (he was a lighting rigger) with the dirt on the wingnuts (Andrew Breitbart went nuts on the Occupy demonstrators, etc).  Apparently some of the other people in the coffee shop were offended by our choice of topics, or at least that's what the manager claimed when he told us we had to leave. So as soon as we collected a latecomer (when he came in, I announced 'Ben's here, everyone leave') we started walking around Alexandria until we came upon a pizza place that looked good. They were happy to have us there! The pizza was pretty good and the waiter looked just like Matthew Morrison, without the chin cleft. Adorable guy. After six hours of hanging together we finally called it a day.

This was the first time I've been in DC or Virginia in about 5-6 years. The highways are totally different around there now (hence the lost) and suddenly there's 'local' and 'thru' exits and new roads and ramps and buildings and mostly just holy moly the place has grown like kudzu. I gotta get out more.