July 4

Fourth of July on the Mall. Note the cleared plates in front of Fatema-For some reason they were giving away a "Free Feast." And it was honest-to-goodness free, except they did give you a Hare Krishna tract as you waited in line for it. We stayed on the Mall from 2ish to post-firework, at which point they immediately shooed us off the grass and we (the thousands of us on the Mall) spilled over into the streets in search of the nearest Metro station. Seema-the cute girl on the left-and I were horrified at the wait at the Union Station Metro and decided to skip it and walk up Mass Ave. to Dupont Circle, in part to burn off the many, many ginger cookies we had eaten. It was a great 4th, except for the part where the helicopter flew overhead and shone a spotlight into everyone's eyes during the firework finale. I assume it was for security reasons, but I'm honestly not sure how that really protected us...from anything...