National Lampoon's Federal Vacation: Still Searching for Mr. Mojito…

                                                    
Still Searchin.....

Old Alexandria Photo by Hope

 It does seem like my whole trip to Washington was nothing but mojito’s, though I did spend a couple days doing the “tourist” thing. I took the Metro to Alexandria one day, in my “cute” shoes and made it about 5 blocks before I had to sit down and have a refreshment.  The shops were impossibly cute, but definitely not cheap.  Of course as I waited for The Metro, low and behold the Amtrak rolls by. Seriously??? I am forever traumatized. Why did I take The Metro? Because I "thought" it was an underground train. I was wrong, it goes above ground after awhile. Great.

Another photo by Hope

By the time we left all I wanted to do was kick my shoes off and go to sleep.  The next day I even did the double-decker bus tour around D.C.  Another 96 degree day, but luckily I had bought a hat after my facial that morning at the Red Door Spa.  The only place to get any airflow was on top, so you were baking in the sun the whole ride.  Thank god for the lady who told me to hold onto that hat before we took off or it would have flown the coup.  I barely noticed the sweat dripping down to my ankles as we drove by monument, after monument, after monument. 

My Photo from the top of the bus..

I swear I meant to get off at the Vietnam Memorial but the loudspeaker was broken and I thought I had one more stop before the next 45 minute (stop-less) drive.  I found myself stuck for two hours on that thing and I could not get off! Ugg. Never do that again, but it was kind of fun and on the bright side I did get some sun. 

We took a taxi to Georgetown another evening and I didn’t have a Mojito at Nick’s Riverside Grill , but what I did have was horrible service.  This was probably the only bartender (Server number 40, as his name is not on the receipt!) in town with no personality and could barely mumble a “whatcha want?” The one saving grace was the view of the Potomac River from the patio. Unfortunately, the view was not enough for us to put up with #40. No wonder they don’t wear name tags. Hehe I will send this article to them fer sure!

Photo courtesy of Cabana's D.C.

With a long wait ahead of us until our dinner reservations, we spied Cabanas across the square.  Thank God for small miracles!  The atmosphere was South Beach Chic with house music playing  softly (?) in the background.  A hot, Latin boy was standing behind the bar just begging to make my mojito.  Who would have thought that this boy was not only the owner of the restaurant but was once the star of Trading Spaces, Mario De Aramas!

Photo by Cabanas

What luck!  As a former Interior Design student, I was all ears. If the million dollar smile was not enough to get my attention, my mango mojito was. Mario has a personality that makes everyone feel like they are his best friend.  I really wish I could recount our conversation that long evening but I don’t want to make you jealous. It is worth the trip to Georgetown just to see Mario. Yes, Mario is still designing his heart away. Book Him! We were having such a good time, we ditched our reservations at The Sequoia and spent the night with Mario. In theory of course. Shucks! We left Mario with regret before closing time as we had a early flight the next day.

www.cabanasdc.com

The flight home was uneventful but for the fact that the seats on the Delta plane barely recline. I did learn I am just like my Grandpa and I CAN SLEEP SITTING STRAIGHT UP!

People might knock Detroit but “there’s no place like home,” and home is where I will be…. until our Trip to UTAH!