Mike Visits

Mike Ackerman came to visit this weekend, arriving Friday afternoon, 2/15. After a little lunch we walked downtown and visited the National Portrait Gallery and the American Art Museum. We looked for the Colbert portrait (our second search) and once again failed, but walking through either place is never disappointing - their collections are wonderful. For an early dinner, we ate at Clyde's of Gallery Place, up on the second floor, which has Victorian decor with wood paneling and columns. Anne and Ack both had the rock fish; Mike had shrimp. The food was tasty and the prices not too high. None of us had oysters, which is one of their specialties. (Ask Ack to tell you the embarrassing story of the first time Anne had oysters; she won't tell it.)

On Saturday Ack cooked his famous egg sandwich for breakfast. The highlight for Anne was discovering that Ack learned how to cook it from his dad. This was a new nugget of information (which is rare after 33 years together). After shopping for our upcoming Sunday brunch with Alana and buddies, Mike and Ack took the Red Circulator bus downtown. The goal - a photoshoot of the monuments. Later, heading up Pennsylvania, they ran into Anne riding her bike, then connected with Alana in a nearby sports bar before she headed to work at her own sports bar. The weather was nice enough that we could sit outside. Then it was back to the Portrait Gallery to meet up with cousins Tom, Tim, Ryan, Emanuel and his girlfriend Karen. We ate lunch at Fado Irish Pub near Chinatown, a place that Anne rightly called 'fake Irish'. The beer was good and the food a notch up from typical pub fare with the addition of many lamb dishes.

That night, Mike, Anne & Ack joined Leslie Prosterman and for a fun night at Chick Hall's Surf Club in Bladensburg, MD. The blues band, Smokin' PoleCats, was really good, especially when vocalists Mary Shaver and Marianna Previti performed. Both with their own distinct singing style, they 'completed' the band. If you want a fun night of dancing to good music on a nice wooden floor, get out there soon. They close in 10 days.