Most of the time we spent lounging around at his house, wandering through the small campus, seeing his office, getting a feel for the town (the small town of Chesterton, MD), and generally just catching up on life. We also spent a day in a sailboat, owned by a couple of Shaun's coworkers, out on an arm of the Chesapeke Bay. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera, so I got to just relax and not worry about my camera falling overboard. It has been a long time since I have been out boating, and I forget how enjoyable it can be.

The day before I left, Shaun, Kim, and I travelled into D.C. to see some sights and to meet up with another Utah alumus, Milan, who works in the area. Considering the 90 minute drive, in addition to a Metro ride from the park-and-ride, we did not have much time to see the sights before dinner. But we did get to wander around the Mall a little, and we visited the National Air and Space Museum and the newest museum -- the Native American Museum. That museum had a number of interesting exhibits, though all of the walls (and most of the glass in front of the exhibits) were curved, which made for an interesting time navigating around.

My second visit to Washington was for a meeting for new and potential faculty members put on by the Computing Research Association, in late February 2006. However, instead of staying downtown at the $250/night Grand Hyatt, I stayed with another former roommate from Utah who lives in D.C., Sam.


Since I was not footing the bill for an expensive hotel room (thanks, Sam!), I spent a few days in town catching up with Sam, who now works at the Bureau of Labor Statistics after a stint in graduate school at Florida State. We also spent some time down on the mall, wandering through the American History Museum and seeing the rest of the mall. I particularly wanted to see the White House and the Lincoln Memorial, which I did not get a chance to see in August.

While the meeting was a bit disappointing, due to the focus on mainly high-level discussion, I got a much better feel for the city due to my use of public transit (to commute to the meeting) and having Sam guide me around town and point out interesting places and restaurants.