Adventure 1: Irving

Our first full day in Washington DC! How exciting, right? My first impressions of the city were definitely positive. At this point, I still haven’t seen anything that doesn’t look beautifully historic, towering, and well maintained. Not to mention, all of the buildings look very Harry Potter-esque and we (Agent024 and I) couldn’t help but giggle at countless Harry Potter references. Seriously, who wouldn’t enjoy pointing at adorable brick houses and saying, “Look, it’s the Weasley’s house”?

Oh hey, Australian Embassy (Also the view outside our window)

So today we journeyed to the ever-elusive Target, which according to Google maps was only 20 minutes away via Metrobus. Lucky for us, we missed the stop by a few blocks and ended up walking quite a ways to get there. After several minutes of wandering around and searching for a gigantic Target sign, Agent024 pointed up and of course, it was right in front of us. I was so accustomed to the Californian Targets, which are often take up an entire shopping center, surrounded by plentiful parking for large SUVs and shopping carts. Not so in DC, apparently. The Target right off of Irving was on the top floor of a skinny shopping mall, with no parking lot available beyond the cramped street, and a couple escalators away from the front doors. The shopping area was also rather cramped and crowded. Everyone was bustling about, trying to find everything and shopping cart accidents were just waiting to occur.

What really irritated me about this Target, besides the feeling of claustrophobia, were these corner protectors on the bottom of many shelving structures. Were they really necessary? Did the corners of these shelving units really need to be protected? What’s the point, if I keep ramming into them with my shopping cart (albeit by accident)? With so many shoppers and me trying to avoid getting run over, a phenomenon only acceptable on Black Friday, those pesky corner protectors really cramped my style. I definitely missed the spacious aisles in Californian Targets, but I guess living in a city that can only build vertically means that it’s just something I’ll have to get used to.

Despite my complaint though, I must say that Agent024 and I had a blast. We were equally amused by the differences and we also made many fun purchases. The highlight of our shopping trip was definitely our throw blankets, which will keep us warm in the air-conditioned room and bring smiles to our faces every time we walk into our room. Once you see the pictures, you’ll understand our simple joys. Anyway, I think our first adventure was a success and we came back with some much needed supplies and fun laughs. Until next time: “Adventure is out there!”

Before

After