Couchsurfing DC and Santarchy
I couchsurfed my first place last weekend. I was traveling to DC for the first time for the awards ceremony I mentioned in my last post and I wanted to come a few days early to see some sites and meet some folks. What better way than by staying with complete strangers (with good references)!
Ningxi Liu and her fellow dorm-mates at George Washington University were kind enough to host me. I showed up on their doorstep on Saturday right off a red-eye from Portland. An hour later we were emerging out of the subway in santa suits for Santarchy DC ‘08. I actually bought a suit in Portland and brought it with me…
Me and Ningxi on the DC Metro rail
What a blast. We all met on the steps of the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. By 1pm there was probably a couple hundred of us and judging by peoples reaction we were nothing short of a spectacle. Traffic was jamming up with gawkers and families getting photos with the crazy santas.
Hippy santa spreading the love
Did I mention it was cold that day? Jesus didn't seem to mind
DC couchsurfing contingent at Santarchy
Santas on the carousel. The operators about shit when they saw all of us approaching.
There's nothing quite like visiting monuments with two to three hundred other santas
Trekking to the washington monument
Everyone needs christmas candy, even passing cars.
Official looking folks didn't seem to mind us. This guy wanted a Lamborghini for Christmas. All he got was Ferrari santa.
Bad santa talking smack in front of the white house
Barrack was nice enough to pay us a visit.
There were bleachers over by the white house christmas area, perfect for santarchy carols.
The elves did exhibit some lewd behavior
The santarchy march ended without arrests or children crying at the sight of hundreds of santas. Parents were quick to comfort their children explaining that we were assistants to the big man himself.
Jaco, an aspiring teacher from Germany was also couchsurfing at Ningxi’s pad. He was traveling down the east coast. We wandered various Smithsonian museums together and had a great time talking about our homes and cultural differences. We both agreed your more likely to do interesting, fun, crazy stuff by couchsurfing than if you were to stay in a hotel. Couchsurfing unites people that love to travel and as a host I feel you can’t help but want to share the best a place has to offer including your friends.
Jaco as a lesser known hybrid santa reindeer.
Jaco and I at the air and space museum
Capitol hill was smaller than I imagined
Walking back to the metro after a long day hitting museums.
Tags: santarchy dc