I think everyone has that one friend – the friend that’s always down for anything – the big things, the small things, the boring things, the seemingly unimportant things that end up becoming a favorite memory. I have a few friends that fit this description, but the first to come to mind is my best friend from Maine – Claire. Claire and I became friends in high school. She was a grade below me but we had a lot of common interests and a similar sense of humor. So many of the funniest moments in my life include Claire. Whether it was passing each other overly dramatic notes while we worked the cash registers at our local grocery store or later on when we were older, dominating the beer pong table at parties, we were always laughing. And usually always together – where ever you found Claire, I usually wasn’t too far away. We went to college in different states. After she graduated, she lived in Maine, then Boston while I was still in New Hampshire – but we were only an hour or so apart so we’d still see each other quite often. However, after a few years in bouncing around New England post-college, Claire decided to move to Washington, D.C. While I completely supported this move because it would be such a great opportunity and fit for her, I was of course so sad she’d be moving far away. Over the next few years we got to see each other once or twice a year if we were lucky, which was hard, but we always fell right back into place when we were together. In 2018 Claire was turning 30. Her two older sisters, Mary and Lana, (who I was also very close with) and I decide to fly to D.C. to spend the weekend with Claire for her 30th.
Besides Claire’s 30th birthday party, which is blurry in my memory because we had so much fun – the two highlights of the trip were going to the Renwick Gallery and “Art All Night DC” in the Shaw.
We went to the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum to see the exhibition “No Spectators: The Art of Burning Man”. It was interesting learning more about the Burning Man festival and the art behind it. The atmosphere at exhibition was so tranquil – I easily could’ve sat in the middle of the floor and meditated!
The next night was “Art All Night DC”, which was a great event for art lovers, from 7pm to 3am. It was in different parts of D.C., I believe over ten different neighborhoods! We only explored the Shaw neighborhood and we still didn’t get to see everything in just that one area. It was all about promoting local art – photography, crafts, painting, fashion, dance and music, just to name a few things. I don’t remember exactly how late we stayed out but I know we walked a lot! It’s a really cool concept and more cities should do similar events.
I really enjoyed the trip, especially experiencing it with Claire since she lived and work there. I love getting to pretend I’m a local and seeing things that you may not normally come across if you stick to just the tourist attractions.
If you’ve been to Washington, D.C., what’s your favorite spot? Let me know below!
📍I acknowledge the lands mentioned in this post are the ancestral lands of the Piscataway and Nacotchtank (Anacostan) people.
The Adventures of Suze 
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