sightseeing, dc pride, and birthday outings

I realized today that I've been in DC a month now for my summer internship. It's flying by, and I'm trying to remember to make my time very productive. In addition to my four weeks of research and writing at the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development, I've managed to get out and about in the city a bit, and catch up with friends from Carleton, law school classmates also interning here, and enjoy some genuinely hot weather for the first time in a while. (I can enjoy it because the place I'm staying at has satisfactory a/c so there's always a refuge on the truly hot days.) My first weekend here J came to help me settle in, and between walks around the neighborhood to get oriented and trips to the store to get laundry detergent and the like, we did a little sightseeing. Of course, we went to see if Barack was at home (he wasn't).

In front of the whitehouse

From 2011-07-09

At the museum of natural history

From 2011-07-09

From 2011-07-09

At the Smithsonian

From 2011-07-09

Last weekend was the DC Gay Pride Parade, the route of which runs just near my place. So I caught some of that. It was actually one of the more decorous parades I've ever seen. However, the floats did not disappoint in their colorfulness. Below, my favorite of the floats I saw - I appreciated the creative use of the 'LOVE' postage stamp graphic - and a delegation from the Roller Derby.

From 2011-07-09

From 2011-07-09

And finally, yesterday we spent a lovely day celebrating my 29th (!!) birthday. We started off with brunch with friends, then walked to the Mall where there was a soap box race that was a lot of fun to watch. Generally it was a nice, low-key day. If the rest of 29 is the same, I could be on board with that. To close, some images of the day:

In front of brunch place

From 2011-07-09

Walking past the Supreme Court

From 2011-07-09

Soap box race

From 2011-07-09

Cupcakes to end the day

From 2011-07-09