stalker for the day

Off we went to DC last Saturday afternoon to engage in some last summer weekend whirl. I wanted to be a stalker that day. I wanted to stalk Jackie O.

I wanted to find her place in Georgetown, the house where she stayed in after she left the White House. She resided in two houses after she moved out of the White House- first, in a house lent to her by their family friend, and second, a place of her own. I had also wanted to see the house they lived in after they got married and while JFK was still a senator. All their homes were in Georgetown.

I was so excited to be a tourist du jour. Never mind l (surely) looked like a gaudy fan. It will all be in the spirit of fun (and wonderment). However, I did not do my homework. I was too confident I memorized all three different house numbers, and I insisted I knew which is which. However, by the time we got to N Street the numbers were all mixed up.

The narrow, potholed N Street in Georgetown was nevertheless charming, with all the lovely age-old brick townhouses and cobblestone sidewalks. It looked shrouded with all the old trees. It's a lovely part of Georgetown. I gasped when we saw the house with the number I thought was the one. Turned out to be not, because we were parked on the wrong street! And the house across I thought was the one she bought and moved into. We took pictures of the wrong houses!

We walked into the other street (the right one by this time). And again, I got preoccupied with the wrong house across the street, and all the while the house behind us was the right address. No wonder I couldn't believe the gated wrong house appeared so contrastingly from what I gathered. And I peeked less into the right 3-story house where she lived until she moved to NY. What a buffoon of me. If only I had listened to David, he told me to bring the Jackie O book I'm reading then I could double-check the correct house numbers. And he wanted me to have my picture taken in front of the house, holding the book and pointing at the house. I'd die before I'd do that!!!

Had we walked a few more houses up the street, then we'd be staring at the Harriman house, where she moved into right after moving out at the White House. Then had we walked .3 miles further up the street, we'd be at their first Georgetown house. Oh well, I guess I'd have to polish more my stalking skills. Lesson learned? Jot down house numbers just in case I forget. I still want to go back there and see, and perhaps linger more (I hope no one notices this huge unabashed Jackie O fan).

Before our stalking trip, we visited the National Geographic Society to look at the photo exhibit by Reza. http://www.flickr.com/photos/dng There was also a photo exhibit about soccer. It was a lovely last summer afternoon. I'm gonna miss summer...