July 1995

A broad title for a post, yes? And if it gives you the feeling that it is going to be long and rambling and full of all the details of an entire month, then you are correct - and therefore have been forewarned. If you are even reading this at all, that is... nobody really reads this blog, do they? It's just my personal scrapbook diary for past memories of things nobody else cares about!

So, July 1995... a very significant month. It was the month that my best friend from high school left for a year away in Germany, the month I first left the bordering states of Georgia to enter other non-bordering states (I had been to Europe previously, but not outside the bordering states within my own country!) and first visited our nation's capital, the month I met a new friend who would become a pen pal over the next several years, the month I stopped biting my fingernails (at random - I didn't try to break the habit; it just stopped), the month before I turned 16 in early August... the month I first began to become a woman, perhaps? ...Nah, I was still a goofy, immature teenager for a few years after that! ;)

So, where to begin? Early July - July 8th, in fact - and I was at Karen's going away party. That was back when we spelled her name "Karin." Just for fun. Because we were goofy teenagers, I guess. Somehow, this was multiple parties... it was also a few birthday parties as I recall, and it spanned two days. Karen knew people who really knew how to party. Either that, or her mom did. Her mom had connections all over the city of Atlanta... and beyond. It was pretty impressive. And her mom's name is Kathy, by the way, so I will refer to her as such for the remainder of this post for ease of reading.

So, it was a girl named Yulia's birthday. She was a foreign exchange student. I don't really know how Karen came to be connected with the foreign exchange program, actually, but she and most of her older sisters each spent time in Europe as exchange students, and so they did things with the students who came to the USA as well. I should mention that this party was taking place at the clubhouse of Jinx, who is a lady in the foreign exchange program. Looking back, I don't really know what her role was - I assumed she was in charge of the program in that area, but I didn't question it (I didn't question much as a 15 year old) - she was just, "Jinx, the foreign exchange lady" in my mind. And she lived in a neighborhood that had a community pool and clubhouse. That sounds ritzy, right? It was not. It was just a little neighborhood... apartments, I think? Condos? Something like that. Nice little place, with a big pool and a full kitchen and pool table in the clubhouse. You know, I could write a whole post on Jinx... her sometimes-random comments, the Winn Dixie crime experience...

So, July 8th, the party... an overnight party. Apparently there were no rules about not sleeping in the clubhouse, or if there were, we all disregarded them. There was a cake and presents for Yulia. And I remember another birthday cake... maybe one of Karen's cousins? I looked back at my photos and didn't see any photos of other cakes, but I think it might have been Karen's cousin Tim's birthday as well. Maybe I am getting mixed up with something else... I know it was also Kathy's birthday. I cannot remember if this is the time we did the surprise party for her or if that was another time at the clubhouse. I am pretty sure it was this time. I should watch the video tape to remind myself... I know there is footage of me and Karen and Stephan sucking helium out of balloons and singing "Happy Birthday," and I think those balloons were for Kathy's surprise party. Anyway, that was the next morning, so I'll get back on track now...

Some of the attendees of the party: First, in Karen's family, we had her mom, Kathy, her older sisters, Beth and Ginny (and Ginny's boyfriend), and her cousins, Tim, Jeremy, and Chad. I think their mother might have been there as well. Then, from our high school, we had me and Karen, of course, and some other people who were in the band with Karen and Beth, I think. There was a girl named Shannon, and another named Deborah, and then two others who were sisters. I would probably be able to remember their names if I looked back at my photo album... And there was Nick, a guy in Karen's and my class... Kathy just adored Nick for some reason, ha ha. I don't remember now if anyone else from our school was there... Then of course, we had Jinx, since it was her neighborhood. And we had the people from Europe, all of which were visiting after having spent a previous year here as exchange students, I believe: Yulia, Stephan, and Benno. There may have been more... I don't remember for sure. Then we had Karen's friend Jane from Stockbridge. And there was another Shannon, a boy Shannon - I still don't know who he is or why he was there; I guess I should ask Karen! All I know is that he was from LaGrange, Georgia and was a butcher at Winn-Dixie. Random, huh? We referred to him as "Shannon the Butcher" so as to not confuse him with the girl Shannon who went to our high school. And there were a bunch of other people there that I didn't know... several adults that I assume were parents of people and/or friends of Kathy. It was a busy place!

So, we had a lot of people there... some came and went, most stayed the whole time. We had a huge gift-giving session for Karen, which I have on that video I mentioned above. The video... ahh, that itself is a funny memory. For some reason Nick appointed himself as head videographer. He kept getting shots of people's feet and butts, missing faces entirely. He also thought it was a good idea to videotape entire pool games and make commentary on them, like, "Now Erin gets ready to line up her shot. It looks like she is going for ball #14 in the corner pocket." He would zoom in and do intense close-ups of everyone, turn the camera sideways, spin around in circles filming nothing in particular, saying he was being "artistic." I managed to get ahold of the camera and made a parody short about Nick's videotaping abilities by intentionally getting shots of the wall, the floor, people's butts, etc., all while Nick protested in the background. 

So, we had games of pool going on, which was a favorite of mine, of course (I grew up with a pool table in my basement, remember?). Stephan, Benno, Chad, Shannon the Butcher, and I played pool a lot. I decided that my good luck charms for winning at pool were Shannon the Butcher's sandals and the triangle for the pool balls. [And just a note, I know it is technically called "billiards," but I grew up saying "pool" instead. I realize this might be confusing since there was also a swimming pool at the clubhouse.] The triangle was lucky when worn around my neck. Stephan humored me and wore it around his neck some, too. I also call the cues "pool sticks," which I realize as an adult sounds rather hick. Hee hee. I also have always shot pool left-handed, even though I am completely right-handed otherwise. I have tried to do it right-handed, and it just doesn't work at all.

We also had lots of CDs that we played throughout the evening/night/next day. Everyone brought CDs and just left them in a pile there, and one that I brought was The Cure - and the little prongs that held the disc in the case were broken, so I had taped a note to the outside telling anyone who opened it to do so carefully so the CD didn't fall out and break or scratch. I was anal retentive, huh? We also listed to Jane's Addiction, which was Jane's favorite band (of course, since it has her name in it, right?). I also distinctly remember hearing the song "I Feel the Pain of Everyone" by Dinosaur Jr. playing at least a couple times. I am sure I played Beck CDs as well, since I was obsessed with Beck at that time. We also listened to the Forrest Gump soundtrack and the Violent Femmes.

There was a volleyball net set up in the pool. I don't think I ever got in the pool, but we hung out on the pool deck a bunch, too. Karen and Jane and Jeremy sat on the diving board a lot. I took photos of them, and of people playing volleyball, and of Chad falling off the diving board while Karen sat on it, ha ha.

I think that it was sometime during this party that Karen, Tim, and I went on a drive somewhere... maybe to Karen's house to pick something up? Karen was driving her pick up truck, and Tim kept freaking out and saying he was seeing things on the side of the road, like a coffin, and a "dead lady coming out of a church." How he could tell she was dead, I have no idea. I guess he was trying to scare us. And hey, Fayette county rural roads can be pretty scary at night!

So, most of us slept in the clubhouse... the little bit of sleeping that was done, that is. I think I tried to sleep on the coffee table. Beth slept on the pool table. There were two couches in the clubhouse, and I am not sure how it was decided who was lucky enough to get to sleep on those!

At Karen's mom's surprise party the next day, everybody was tired because people had stayed up all night watching Pulp Fiction... ugh, what a terrible movie. I didn't even watch it, but I can't see how it had a plot at all because every 2 out of 3 words was a cuss word. More pool was played, the video camera was somehow gotten away from Nick for a few minutes, Shannon the Butcher told really bad riddles, and Karen, Stephan, and I sucked helium from the balloons and attempted to sing Happy Birthday in helium-voices... although the funniest part was when Stephan was trying to bite a hole in his balloon and it popped so hard that the air from it blew his hair back from his face.

So, we had lots of food, lots of music, lots of loud! Not lots of sleep! Now I want to go back and watch that video! ;)

The next event of July 1995 was a trip to Stone Mountain on July 14th. Beth drove a station wagon full of us to go see the laser show and go up the mountain. The people who were there: Beth, Karen, me, Stephan, Tim, Jeremy, Chad, Chad's friend Brad (yes, they rhyme), and Ted, who was going to be going to Germany through the same program as Karen and was from Albany, Georgia. I have no idea why he was in Atlanta with us, though. I think Jinx probably made us take him with us.  Again, I didn't question much of anything!

So, we found a spot on the lawn to watch the laser show and spread out some blankets. I guess we'd brought some food - probably a bucket of KFC or something, but I don't remember. We had time to ride the cable cars (as I call them - they call them "skylifts" at Stone Mountain) up to the top of the mountain before the show. Beth, Jeremy, Chad, and Brad ("Brat," as Karen and I referred to him - so mature and kind, right? ;) stayed on the lawn to save our spot for the show. If you have never been to the laser show, then you might not understand... there is a huge granite mountain onto which lasers are projected to make pictures, and they do a show when it gets dark. It is a major Atlanta attraction. In addition to riding on the skylift, you can hike up and down the mountain. There are also other things like a train, a steamboat, and mini golf, but we didn't do any of those.

So, to get to the skylift, we had to walk a little ways. Not too far. Ted kept complaining about how hot it was: "It's sooo hot in Georgia! Gosh, it is so hot! I wouldn't mind if it was just hot, but it's so humid, too!" I don't know what his problem was... perhaps he never went outside or something? He lived further south than Atlanta, so I would think he'd have been used to the heat! It was obnoxious enough that it would become a running joke...

So, we rode up the mountain, and I don't remember what we did up there... walked around, I guess, and enjoyed the view, what everyone does at the top of Stone Mountain. I do remember that Ted was messing with my camera while we waited in line to ride back down and I was irritated at him for wasting pictures (remember film, and actually having to make a decision on when the best moment was to shoot a picture?). Later, he kept complaining that we should have walked down the mountain instead of riding down (even though we would have missed the laser show if we had done that, not to mention how much more hot and humid that would have been! ;). My goodness, he was annoying!!! And at this point I guess I should admit that I dated him a year and a half later... but to my credit, he'd grown up quite a bit by then, at least... seems that he'd gone through puberty in Germany and became less whiny, ha ha. If somebody had told me I'd actually have found him attractive in the future, I'd have fallen down laughing and rolled down the mountain!

So, the show was uneventful, other than Chad and Brad imitating Beavis and Butthead the whole time: "Huh huh, huh huh, lasers are cool! Fire! Fire! Huh huh, the lasers are going to burn your butt! Huh huh!" With all this obnoxiousness around, I took shelter by staying near quieter people like Karen and Stephan. Of course, I can be pretty loud and obnoxious myself, so I am glad they tolerated me! ;)

The highlight of the evening occurred after the show, while we were sitting in the station wagon in the parking lot and waiting to leave. Sounds exciting, huh? Well, here's what was happening: Beth had decided that it was too crowded to leave and that we would just be waiting in a long line of cars, so we were better off just staying in our parking place until the crowd thinned out. Why we had to wait in the car, I do not know. And this was back when Stone Mountain was still a modest attraction, not a mega-zoo that has been expanded all in the name of charging people more money to have fun. This was back when you could actually park near the railroad station and the lawn instead of a mile down the road in a massive lot since the old, closer lot is now covered in restaurants and a ropes course type playground that costs some insane amount to do.A lot has changed about Stone Mountain that is quite saddening to me...

Anyways, where was I? Oh, yes, so Beth was in the driver's seat and making the executive decision that we were going to wait awhile before we left. Her cousin Tim was sitting next to her, and he kept playing with the radio (who could blame him, he was bored and it was right in front of him, you know?), and Beth didn't like that he kept turning it up and changing stations, and so she was threatening him with death if he didn't stop. Ted was sitting next to him in the front, and would you believe that he was still whining, "We should've walked down the mountain. Gosh, it is so hot and humid - will you turn on the air, Beth?"

Then, in the middle row, it was Jeremy, Karen, Stephan, and me. If you are counting correctly, then you are noticing that is too many people for the second row of a station wagon. I guess we shared seatbelts or something. So, we were quite "cozy" there, and this probably only added to our impatience about Beth waiting. So, Jeremy was telling Chad and Brad (who were sitting in the back seat) to shut up because they were still imitating Beavis and Butthead. Then Karen suddenly said, "Eww, what's that gross chocolate-y smell?" Well, for some random reason there was a big can of chocolate Slim Fast on the floor in the middle row, and Stephan had stepped on it and it opened somehow. Stephan is skinny, so I don't know how he managed to break it open... I guess being on the floor with four people climbing in and that is bound to happen, right? So now we are confined to a station wagon that smells like Slim Fast with Ted whining in the front seat and Beavis and Butthead doing their lame laughs in the back seat... after 10:00 or so at night. Beth was getting irritated with everyone for asking her when we were going to leave. At some point here, Stephan and I realized that if we bounced up and down on the seat, we could make the whole station wagon shake - and make Beth scream at us. Beth didn't realize that her screaming, "Stop shaking the car!!!!!!" made us only want to bounce more. So we bounced away, which was a good way to cope with the Slim Fast-smelling station wagon of obnoxiousness. We thought it was funny, anyway. And I have a history of making Beth mad while she is driving... Karen and I once shined flashlights at all the truckers on the interstate while we were driving at night, and they kept honking and speeding past us, and Beth kept yelling at them, "What's your problem??? Why are all you truckers honking at me???" Looking back, that was probably a really, really stupid, dangerous thing to do. Teenagers don't have the best judgement!

So, I cannot remember if Beth decided that it was not too crowded in the parking lot anymore, or if she just couldn't cope with all of our craziness and decided that if she left, at least the bouncing would stop and she could get out of the car sooner!

Apparently we also went to a pool hall in Fayetteville after we got back... I don't have any photos of that, but I have a note in the photo album mentioning that we were "coming back from the pool hall at about 2:30 AM." I don't remember who came to the pool hall, or if all of us did...

And then, a few days later... the trip to Washington DC! This was July 17-19th. At first, I wasn't going. My mom said no way. Being a typical teenager who liked to argue and negotiate, I came up with a long list of all the reasons why they should let me go. It ranged from the obvious reasons of, "My best friend is leaving the country for a year and I want to spend this last bit of time with her," to "I have never been outside the bordering states of Georgia and that is so lame," to "it will be educational to go see our capital," to "the German guys are going and so maybe I will learn some German and that will be educational, too!" Yes, I actually used that last reason. I wish I still had the list; it'd be funny to look over it now. I don't know what made them change their minds, but they decided to let me go... with a compromise. See, the main reason for going to Washington DC in the first place was because Karen's flight to Germany was leaving from there. I suppose she could have flown there from Atlanta, but Karen's mom and Jinx wanted to make a DC trip out of it and take Stephan and Benno so they could do the whole tourist thing. And they invited me to go along as well. Then they planned to go on to New York City after Karen flew out of DC. So my parents were leery of me going to NYC, especially since Karen wouldn't be there... I guess. I would have loved to have gone, but oh well... I settled for DC being better than nothing at all! They booked me a flight back to Atlanta (on Valu-Jet!!) right after Karen's flight was scheduled to leave. So, we would all drive up together, Karen would fly to Germany for a year, I would fly home, the others would hit NYC and then drive back to Atlanta. A bit confusing. And since I couldn't go on to NYC, I asked Stephan to send me a postcard - which he did. And it began with, "It is so hot and humid in New York!" :)

So, Jinx (or Kathy... somebody did) rented an Astrovan, and early in the morning, they picked me up, and off we went. Jinx and Kathy switched off in the driver's seat, and then Benno and Stephan were in the middle, and Karen and I were in the very back. Those vans are pretty spacious. Good thing, since we spent a while in it! I was excited that soon I would be outside of the bordering states of Georgia, when we would enter Virginia. I cannot remember too much of how we entertained ourselves in the van, but I distinctly remember Karen entertaining herself by waving her hand back and forth quickly next to Benno's hair, and laughing as it fluttered in the breeze (he was asleep, by the way!). I also remember that we listened to a Simon and Garfunkel CD... every time I hear "The Boxer," I think of this trip. :)

Now, I love road trips. One thing that made this an extra-fun trip for me was that Kathy loves to stop at each state and take a photo by the sign. This is something my parents would never do, but it is something that's right up my alley. It was like a dream come true that an adult was actually not just willing to stop at each state border, but that it was her idea to do so in the first place! So, we stopped at the South Carolina sign, the North Carolina sign, the Virginia sign (and the welcome center!)... and maybe DC doesn't have a welcome sign? We did find a Maryland sign at some point, although it was dark and so the photos were out-of-focus.

Oh, and Jinx... Jinx didn't have a problem stopping for roadside photos, either. As we approached the big peach-shaped water tower near Gaffney, SC (which they strangely refer to as "the peachoid"), I commented that I would like to take a photo of it... and I was really just kidding, not expecting to be taken seriously, just running my mouth like I am so good at doing. ;)  Occassionally, mentioning my crazy ideas aloud actually pans out for me to my advantage and I end up with something cool, like, say, a construction barrel!   But, Jinx was driving, and she said, "Okay," and then immediately pulled onto the SHOULDER OF THE INTERSTATE and put on the brakes! Then she insisted that I get out of the van so I could get a nice, clear shot... only, she had passed the "peachoid" a bit and suggested that Karen and I walk back a little ways so we could get the leaf in the picture. So, Karen and I walked along the shoulder of I-85 with my camera, barefoot, to get a photo of this peach-shaped water tower. If my parents knew I'd be doing this, they surely wouldn't have let me go on this trip! :-P

Another stop along the way was in the "Old Salem" area of Winston-Salem, NC. They have it set up as an old-fashioned town with people dressed in period costumes and such. We ate lunch at a restaurant that Kathy knew about called The Salem Tavern. Mmm, it was very good. I remember having chicken and dumplings... or maybe chicken pot pie. Something southern and fattening like that. And this is where Karen and I learned our first German word (okay, so maybe Karen had learned a few others in preparation for her upcoming year, and she was taking German as her high school foreign language at the time, after all, and I did know "Guten Tag" already): Gabel. Stephan taught us that Gabel means fork. Karen and I found this hilarious, and we began to "gobble" our food using our Gabels. Pretty dorky of us. And while we were on the subject of Gabels, we discussed sporks (which apparently span most cultures), and then we saw some wooden forks in one of the shops in the town, and I think it was Stephan who decided that a three-tined fork must be a "thork." Hee hee.

So, we continued on our way, and we got into Washington DC in the early evening. It was a bit scary because Jinx liked to go through red lights about two seconds after they had turned red. Not a big deal in Atlanta, but in DC... there is no wait time between a red light on one street and a green light on an intersecting street. They change simultaneously. Then I mentioned that my parents had asked that I call them sometime to let them know we'd made it to DC. We were going to drive around a bit, I think, and find dinner somewhere before going to the hotel. Remember, these were the days before cell phones... hard to remember that, huh? So, Jinx decided to pull off at a hospital and send me into the emergency room to use the pay phone there (remember pay phones?). "Hi, Mom, we made it to DC." "Good... where are you right now?" "Uhh, the emergency room..." Of all the random places to stop to use a phone... sheesh.

So, let's see, dinner that night... hmm. I am going to look at my photo album to see if it provides any hints, because I am not sure. Ah, yes, there is a napkin from The Cheesecake Factory. As I recall, it was really late when we finally ate dinner.

Our hotel was called American Inn. Karen and I thought it was funny that it was run by Mexicans and called American Inn. Looking back, perhaps they had become American citizens, but we were just teenagers, so we didn't think that through very well.

So, we went out walking on the Mall (why do they call it that??), and first we took photos in front of the White House. Then we went to the Arts and Industries Museum and the National Museum of American History. I think that is the one with the giant pendulum. I also think this is the one with restaurant in the basement where we ate lunch (or that might have been the Natural History museum)... and, to our surprise/horror, we saw the busboys eating leftovers off people's plates as they cleared the tables!!!! Yuck!! Then we went to the Air and Space Museum, which Karen and I thought was funny because every time her mom said it, it sounded like she was saying "Erin Space Museum." That was a pretty cool museum. We noticed that you could buy your own personalized dog tags at a stand in this museum, and I thought that would be cool... more on that later! One oddity we noticed was that there was a big, empty wall at the entrance to Air and Space, and tons of people just sat on the floor along the wall there... maybe it was a good meet-up place or something? Just something that sticks out in my mind...

In the late afternoon, we walked all the way down to the Washington Monument and then the Lincoln Memorial so we could take photos. Stephan and I were excited to re-enact the scene from Forrest Gump in which Jenny and Forrest run through the water in the reflecting pool to meet each other. But, when we took off our shoes and stepped in, we found that the bottom of the pool was very slippery and slimy, so we would've slipped and fallen in had we tried to even walk very much in there. So, we settled for posing for pictures, with Stephan standing in the water at the end of the pool and me in the water on the side, with our arms outstretched like we were running towards each other. And I can't find the photos now... so I am guessing Karen or Kathy took them and I don't have copies, although I was sure I did... hmmm. I do remember being irritated that huge swarms of Japanese tourists kept getting in the way of our posing, ha ha.  I mean, couldn't they see we were trying to reenact a movie scene??  Forrest Gump had come out the year before this, so that is why the constant references were being made by us.

Here's the scene I am talking about, in case you don't know (except this clip is in Spanish, hee hee! The only one I could find in my brief Youtube search!):

Ah, yes, there were several Forrest Gump references made, such as commenting to each other, "I am glad we are here together in our nation's capital," as we walked along.

So, we looked at the Lincoln Memorial... the statue of Lincoln is quite tall, taller than you might expect if you've never been there in person. We took the obligatory photos by it, of course, and then we were marveling at just how huge and wide the columns are on the building. I took a photo of Karen, Stephan, and Benno each leaning into one of the grooves on a column.

Next, we stopped by the Vietnam Wall and took pictures and read some of the names. It is a really polished type of stone - marble, maybe? - and you can see your reflection in it. My dad's name is actually on the wall... apparently there was another Robert Nadolski who died in the war. But I didn't know his name was there at this time, so I didn't look for it. We found it about two years later when I came to DC with my family.

After that, we drove to Arlington Cemetery, but it was closed early that day for some reason. We planned to come back the next day, but took a photo by the sign just in case we didn't, ha ha!

So, for dinner that night, we headed to Planet Hollywood. It was loud, as I remember. And then, for some reason, we went to the Hard Rock Cafe afterward for dessert. I guess so we could say we'd been to both restaurants, maybe! Kathy promised us she would take us to the Hard Rock Cafe in Atlanta once we were back... she was surprised that I hadn't been yet, so it was decided right then and there that she'd take Stephan, Benno, and me for lunch in about a week. And she did! More on that later...

After the restaurants, we stopped by a Maryland sign for a photo in the dark (ever try to take a photo of a reflective sign in the dark? Doesn't work too well!). The sign was funny because it said, "Welcome to Maryland - Please Drive Gently." And then we stopped outside Ford's Theatre, where Lincoln was shot. We have a picture of us on the steps under the sign since it was quite closed at 11:00 at night!

Then we went to a grocery store - Giant, it was called. We don't have that chain in the South. I bought some batteries, I assume for my camera, and I think Karen bought something battery or film-related herself. It was really late, obviously... in fact, when I looked at the receipt I had in my photo album, I noticed that it was after midnight! Which is probably why we were acting goofy... I remember there was a display of Jiffy Pop popcorn in those little aluminum skillet things that you cook over the stove - I guess, I never used that type of popcorn myself - and we were picking them up and saying, "Pop, pop, pop!!!" Poor sleep-deprived teenagers. ;)

So, the next morning, up bright and early so we could squeeze in everything else we wanted to do... Karen and I both had flights to catch late that afternoon, and we still wanted to go up in the Washington Monument and take tours of the White House and Arlington Cemetery! So, after a quick continental breakfast at the hotel, we headed out.

Kathy and Jinx dropped us off at the Washington Monument. I don't know where they went... they dropped us off randomly and came back to get us later a few times on this trip! So, we got in the long line of people waiting to go up to the top of the monument. It is slow going, because not many people can go up at one time in the elevator, obviously. There is actually a wooden bench that encircles the monument so that people can sit while waiting in line! I recall it being really windy there.. all the flags surrounding the monument were blowing straight out, and Karen was huddling over because she was cold, and Stephan's hair was in his face... I took a photo so I could always remember how Jinx would always comment randomly, "Stephan, cut your hair." Hee hee.

So, somehow we knew about how long it would be until it was our turn to go up in the monument... either that, or we guessed. Stephan and I then began our Washington DC trek... we walked all over the area that day, beginning with this: I had noticed the day before that there was a little stand selling POW/MIA bracelets near the Vietnam War wall, and I decided that I wanted to get one. They were metal bracelets that had the names of various soldiers who were missing or prisoners during Vietnam. So, apparently deciding that we had enough time, I said that I would like to walk down there and buy one, and who wanted to come with me? So Stephan volunteered while Karen and Benno said they'd stay in line and save our space. I remember Karen being really tired and not wanting to walk that far... she was probably all too glad there was somebody else willing to go with her over-enthusiastic friend, ha!

So, Stephan and I set out to walk across the road and to the reflecting pool, down the length of it to the Lincoln Memorial, and then to the stand there near the wall. And then we walked back, along the edge of the reflecting pool. It was a nice morning walk, before it had become horribly hot (good thing it wasn't Ted walking with me and complaining!! ;), and we mostly walked along in silence. When we got back to the Washington Monument, Karen and Benno were very close to the front of the line, and we didn't have to wait very long at all until it was our turn to ride up to the top!

At the top, there were two small windows on each wall - eight windows in all, as I recall. There was a great view of everything... many photos were taken. :) Then we rode down and it was off on a walk to the White House - we had tickets for a tour a bit later, and we would meet Kathy and Jinx there before our scheduled tour time.

So, we'd walked about halfway to the White House, and I don't quite remember how it happened or was decided, but Stephan and I both wanted to get dog tags. In fact, as I think about it just now, maybe Stephan had already gotten dog tags the day before?? Or maybe I'd bought some the previous day and Stephan had not?? I cannot remember now for sure... So, again, we apparently decided we had enough time to stop there. But Karen and Benno went on... again, I don't know if I am remembering correctly (have I mentioned I have a terrible memory sometimes?), but I think Benno was impatient and didn't want to go over to the Air and Space Museum because he wanted to make sure we were at the White House on time. I also seem to remember he and Stephan being annoyed at each other for some reason, and Karen being a little exasperated at it... hmmm. Anyway, so Stephan and I set out once again and cut over to the Air and Space Museum, while Karen and Benno continued on towards the White House. So we went in and got the dog tags, and once that was done, we set out again to the White House.

For some reason, we went all the way to the White House, but the tours begin at a spot a ways away ("the blue tents," as our tickets stated), and after each group gathers at the tents, they are led together to the White House. I don't remember if we met Karen, Benno, Jinx, and Kathy at the White House, or if we got there and then realized that we needed to be by the blue tents instead... anyway, we walked a lot, and finally we were at the blue tents, waiting to walk back over to the White House.

Somebody gathered together all of us who were scheduled for the White House tour beginning at 11:10 AM, according to the ticket stub in my photo album, and they had us form a double line - a "buddy line," I called it. We walked along and stood by a wall, we waited in an area where there was a little grass with sprinklers watering it... and Karen, Stephan, and I went over to play in the sprinklers while the others stayed in the line... okay, so we didn't really play in the sprinklers, but we stood there on the sidewalk and held our hands out in the spraying water (you know, because it was soooo hot and humid!! ;).

On the tour, we walked through some of the rooms on the White House (very far away and separate from the area where the President was, I am sure!). We saw the room where Lincoln's body laid in state, and I think we saw both a "red room" and a "blue room." Otherwise, my memory is fuzzy (isn't that a surprise? ;). After the tour, we stood outside by a big column trying to get photos (taken by Kathy and Jinx) as big groups of tourists kept walking in front of us and stopping, blocking the way... see, I remember the details like that because they were annoying! ;)

Hmm, I suppose after this, we must have gotten lunch, but I don't remember where. No idea at all. But I am sure we ate something... Maybe we bought something from a food vendor stand along the mall??

So, then we went to Arlington National Cemetery. Kathy and Jinx took us and dropped us off there and went on to the National Cathedral themselves... I don't know why. Maybe they had been to Arlington before and not the Cathedral... like I said, I didn't question much at this age! So, Karen, Stephan, Benno, and I got on the Tourmobile shuttle that took us all around the cemetery. We were able to get off and walk up to JFK's grave and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. There was a military funeral going on, and I found it mildly amusing that the tour guide had to announce to us, "Don't take pictures or make noise as we drive near the funeral." But I guess some tourists will take photos of anything, tactful or not!

After the tour, we went outside the main building there to wait for Kathy and Jinx. I think Arlington may have actually closed while we were waiting out there... I remember it being very quiet, no people besides us... So by now, our lack of sleep plus physical exertion had begun to catch up with us. We were all sitting on the ground by the steps, Karen, Stephan, and Benno leaning against a column, and me laying flat out on the concrete, ha ha. Karen even took a photo of me laying on the ground and taking a photo of Stephan sitting by the column. Then, one of the funnier comments I have ever heard from a stranger: a lady who worked at Arlington came out and said to us, "I wouldn't lay there... you know, people spit all over the ground here!" Huh? People just stand around spitting on the concrete steps leading into Arlington? How odd! It didn't phase me; I was tired, and I know we weren't sitting or laying in any wet spots! ;)

So, finally, Kathy and Jinx returned... we were beginning to worry just a bit that we were going to be late for our flights. And remember, these were the pre-9/11 days when you could arrive at the airport a half hour before your international flight was scheduled to board, no problem at all. I don't recall the times of our flights, but I remember thinking we'd better be getting there soon! As you will see again later in this post, getting people to the airport just in the nick of time was a recurring trend!

We went to Dulles airport, and I don't know what happened to Jinx, Stephan, and Benno... they weren't there, so they must have dropped us off and gone to do something more interesting. But what could be more fun than being at an airport?? So, we went to check Karen in for her flight. Funny how lax security was... Karen's mom had brought her camcorder and asked me to videotape check-in, the flight leaving, etc. Nowadays, the airport security would be highly suspicious of that, I bet. We had many tears and said our goodbyes, and then we went to the gate where my plane was leaving from. Somebody (probably my parents) had told me that ValuJet didn't have bathrooms on their planes, and I had actually believed them! So I was concerned about this. Of course, there was a bathroom on my plane, and they served Goldfish crackers rather than peanuts, which was a pleasant surprise! So, off I flew to Atlanta, off Karen was flying to Germany, and off Kathy, Jinx, Stephan, and Benno were driving to New York City!

But this is not the end... yes, Karen was gone now, but remember how Kathy had promised to take us to the Hard Rock Cafe in Atlanta and how I promised you I'd include it here?  Lucky you!  [Hypothetical "you" since nobody is reading this!]

So, we made arrangements to go to the Hard Rock.  We went on  July 27th.  Karen's mom really liked taking us places to do the tourist thing!  I remember we sat in a booth and I had some kind of big salad... and after eating lunch, we went to the High Museum of Art.  We kind of spread out and wandered around to look at all the exhibits.  At one point, Stephan and I came across something that was very questionably considered "art."  It was a large aquarium with tiny plastic babies floating in it.  It was... disturbing, to say the least.  And now I will admit something that up until now (and probably beyond now, since nobody reads this blog), nobody else knew other than Stephan: I was curious and wanted to look in the aquarium from the top, and when I opened the glass lid, it basically fell off and into the tank!  Whoops!  Well, it was an ugly piece of "Art," anyway, what with the child abuse theme and all... We slowly backed away, giggling, and never told anyone.  Street sign thief!  Art exhibit destroyer!  Yep, that was me...

The end of July was drawing near (actually, it had drawn to a close, as my memory once again fails me... this last date in my story has been confirmed by my photo album to actually be August 7th.  Whoops.), and as the reality of Karen being gone was sinking in, I realized that soon Stephan would leave, too, and I'd likely never see him again.  Bummer, meet a new friend just as your best friend prepares to leave the country for a year, and it's a friend who lives in another country anyway!  So, I was determined to see him off that day... and hey, I'd get to go to the airport, whoohoo!  So, I called Stephan (who was staying with Jinx) and he said they were going to be at the Triple A near my house to get his International driver's license that morning before his flight in the afternoon.  I convinced a parent to drive me to the Triple A (although I had turned 16 just a few days before, I didn't get my lisence until that fall) and met up with Stephan and whoever had brought him there... I can't remember now.  It would have been Kathy or Jinx or Benno, with him apparently having an international driver's license already.  As we headed south, I offered to trade one of my dog tags with Stephan.  He'd wanted to before in DC when we got them, and for some reason I declined then, but then I had changed my mind.  So I had one of his and he had one of mine.  Like a slightly more mature version of one of those friendship necklaces that hook together and say something like "friends forever," ha.  I still have those dog tags to this day.  Well, are you really surprised?  I have lots of stuff still to this day, being a bit of a nostalgic packrat.  My Waffle House logbook, for instance... I better still have that.  Uh oh, now I won't sleep well until I find it so I can, in fact, verify that it is still somewhere in my house... sorry, off track.  Back to the story.  It's almost over, I swear.  Even July, one of the longest months of the year, can't go on forever, even if I extend it into August... well, maybe it can go on forever then...

So then I rode back to the Fayetteville area with them, where Stephan was given a choice of his last American meal by Jinx... and he chose Waffle House (see, I knew I liked him for a reason!).  So, off to the Fayetteville Waffle House for a goodbye meal, where Stephan, Jinx, Benno, Kathy, Karen's sister Ginny, and me all crowded into a booth.  I remember Jinx criticizing Stephan for drinking his coffee with the spoon still in the cup from stirring in the sugar/cream ("You'll poke your eye out!!!"  lol).  you always knew where you stood with Jinx!  I am sure I had my standard bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich and hash browns scattered, covered, and smothered.  Kathy took photos of us all eating, of course, since she is even better than me at documenting random happenings with her camera (I have been in awe before at the sheer number of film canisters I have seen in her house at one time, ha).  So, Kathy and Ginny said their goodbyes, and then Jinx, Stephan, Benno, and I drove back to Jinx's house, where she got out of the car (she was in the passenger seat; Benno had been driving her car), leaned back in briefly and said, "Thank you, Stephan," and turned and walked in the house.  It was... bizarre.  I remember Stephan saying, "Uh, bye, I'll probably never see you again...???"  Apparently we weren't in the know about the plan for Jinx to stay home and Benno to drive Stephan to Hartsfield to catch his flight.  So... off we went. 

Now, you may have already noticed that the people I tend to hang around have a problem with punctuality.  This time, it was Benno, who kept asking Stephan if he was sure he didn't want to stop at a store and buy some jeans before his flight... the flight was going to be leaving pretty soon, so he said no.  I remember getting to the airport and deciding it was better to not try to find a parking place first, so Benno dropped Stephan and me off and went to park somewhere.  I went with him as far as the train that goes between the concourses (it used to say, "Stay away from the doors!" and make laser shooting noises, ha.  It was named Hal.  I think it was still the voice of the train at this point... they changed it only a short time after this, though, sadly - but you can hear what it was like HERE!).  So, after hugging goodbye, we had one last Forrest Gump reenactment moment a la the scene where Jenny rides away on the bus and gives Forrest the peace sign through the back window... in retrospect, I should have ridden the traint too.  I loved that thing when it was Hal... oh well.  I knew I couldn't go onto the international concourse anyway.  I trudged off back through the airport alone, found Benno by some amazing miracle (I mean, this is one of the largest airports in the world we're talking about!), and then... hmm, I think I just went to the airport MARTA station and rode back to the one nearest my house, where my parents picked me up?  Memory is fuzzy as July/early August 1995 comes to a close...

And don't worry, Karen came back a year later and all was well!