Day 3: October 5, 2014
The Play's the Thing

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As I do every time I see Dirk Hamilton perform at Edith May's Paradise (this was my second), I stopped at the Tastee Diner in Laurel, Maryland. It's a 1951 Comac. When I saw scrapple on the menu, I ordered it (another second for me) to compare with Friday's goetta. By my judging, the scrapple came in a distant second. The tiny building at the far left of the second picture, which I also photographed on my first visit, is a donut shop housed in a former Little Tavern hamburger chain building. This time, I walked over to verify that it is very much in business and open every day except Sunday.

I returned the rental with minutes -- or maybe just a minute -- to spare then took the Metro to my hotel. When I visited the hotel's website to get an address to locate the nearest station, I found detailed directions to the hotel by various means including the subway. They included which train, number of stops, and which direction to walk from the station. As I mentioned previously, I had pumped up my SmartTrip card in anticipation of going to Reagan Airport but had not used it. I was happy and a little surprised when it worked flawlessly entering and exiting the subway. I reached the hotel about four hours ahead of the published check-in time and hoped merely to lighten my load by leaving my duffle there. Instead, the friendly desk clerk quickly set me up with a room. Knowing that Ford's Theater was nearby, once in my room I checked the website and learned that there would be a matinee performance of Driving Miss Daisy in the theater today and another Tuesday evening.

I walked over, inquired about tickets, and got a single seat in the tenth row for the performance beginning in about half an hour. It's the luck of the loner, you know. A museum in the basement is part of the regular free tour. Tours were not currently operating because of the imminent performance but I was allowed in with my ticket to the play. The museum does a nice job of presenting the story of Lincoln in the capital though in naturally focuses on the events of April 14, 1865. Artifacts on display include the pistol with which Booth fired the shot that killed the President. I've included a couple of pictures of the theater taken from my seat. Of course, none were allowed during the performance. I'd not previously seen Driving Miss Daisy, not even the movie, and thoroughly enjoyed the show. Since I'd gone almost immediately to the museum and theater when I arrived, I had taken no exterior shots so I grabbed one as I left. I later realized that, while I carefully included the name above the entrance, the theater itself is out of frame to the right.


In rushing to the theater, I skipped right over my hotel. The Hotel Harrington opened on March 1, 1914, so is celebrating its 100th anniversary. A timeline, in a hallway just off the lobby, tells of happenings at the Harrington beneath pictures of the seventeen US Presidents who have served during that 100 years. Some of those events are additions and improvements and the hotel is quite comfortable in addition to being incredibly convenient. The 1914 room dimensions no doubt seem small by today's standards but my room has all the space I need and I love the history.

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