This past Sunday, a few friends, my boyfriend and I made a day trip to the exquisite and glamorous National Harbor. Me and my amigas, Emmeline and Maecy, were veterans of the slice of metropolis because of the past traditional trips there that we lovingly call, "Girl’s Day." Another friend who tagged along, Anthony, had experience at this Wonderland as well, but Dan, the boyfriend, was a fresh visitor. All together we were young adults enjoying a summer’s day.
Our trip began with a mistake. Let me just say, that exit for the said Wonderland comes up to quickly. So you need to take a detour, but once we did, we were back on the road to bliss. Me and Emm introduced Ant and Dan to one of our favorite places to stop by on our Girl’s Days: Thai Pavilion.
It’s a beautiful restaurant full of heritage and skill and takes your breath away. A gilded, golden elephant’s head greets you once you enter the Pavilion, flashing golden and studying you intently as the hostess leads you to your seats. There is a huge wooden panel that we sat in front of that confuses you on the fact that two human hands, ten fingers could hold instruments and carve such a masterful piece of art. It has different scenes of humans and nature mixed into each other and the scenes progress as you look farther up the wall. The food is always delicious there and the service just as good. Emm and Ant both got Pad Thai, I got the Thai Pavilion Fried Rice - I just drooled thinking about it - and Dan got the spicy Ka Pow. We all left with full bellies and escorted by the white Styrofoam of the to-go boxes.
We waddled onward to Savannah’s Candy Kitchen which radiates an old fashioned feel with employees constructing glorious fudge in one section of the store, to the homemade ice cream they have in the back and of course, this adorable toy train that patrols the perimeter of Savannah’s on its perch, a track above our heads.
They had an assortment of ice cream and so many choices of white chocolate I’m surprised my bank account didn’t consume them. I got a salted caramel gelato, which was heavenly. While Emm, Ant and I were distracted by the confectionary choices the store provided, Dan snuck off into the neighboring store, Pepper Palace.
Dan can ingest so many scoval unitls of hot sauce daily I’m surprised he’s not a dragon or fire bender by now. Anyway, he was in heaven, tasting the samples. He was like a child in a confectionary shop (while us "young adults" next door were, quite literally, kids in a candy store). Peer pressure got to me and I sampled one of the pepper jams. Because my tongue has done nothing to wrong me, I avoided the "Reaper" ones like the plague - nothing that uses a symbol of death to describe it's level of spiciness is going anywhere near my mouth. But I did try this apple and jalapeno mash up and my oh my it had a kick! After my tongue cooled, we strolled over to the Gaylord Hotel.
The hotel is gorgeous and I will never get tired of it. It has a beautiful view of the Harbor, old town Alexandria across the river and the esteemed Ferris Wheel the harbor provides. This is where we pretend that we are customers. “Oh yes, I did enjoy my STAY here” me and Emm would say as we roamed down the corridors. We also use the Gaylord as our picture-taking area. This is where the magic happens, folks, and also why we dress to the nines whenever we venture to the Harbor. Because of Instagram and Facebook and the likes. All of the likes. At the end of the day, Maecy joined us by the pier, where we reclined and just hung out, watching the sun drift down the sky gradually. The water reflecting the Sun’s rays like a field of copper pennies and the evening sky streaked with orange and pink. That’s how young adults took on the National Harbor.
