George Washington is a good dancer...

Wednesday took us to Washington D.C., where we decided to beat the heat by checking out the Air & Space Museum.  We both have fond memories of this museum from our 8th grade D.C. trips, so we knew it was a must-see.  There was, indeed, a lot to see, but after a few hours of planes and spaceships, we were ready for gametime!

I'm hoping we can find some 8th grade pictures for comparison.

For this leg of the trip, we were fortunate to stay with a lovely couple we met in Egypt last year.  On our Nile Cruise, we were talking about this baseball road trip, and Tom and Kate (not the Cruises) extended an invitation to stay with them for the D.C. portion.  They are big Nationals fans who had tickets to the same game we were attending, so we all took the Metro down together.  Unfortunately, a Metro delay put us a bit behind our optimum arrival time, but we did make it in time to hear the starting lineups.

This is the entrance nearest the Metro station.

Strasburg!  We were excited.

More Strasburg.  Because we can.

Here's Dustin in our seats.  The couple next to us was also doing a stadium tour and celebrating their 51st anniversary.  They think we're doing our "bucket list" too early. :-)

Harper!  He's good, but he's no Trout. :-)

Racing Presidents - we were very amused by this.  They ended right in front of us.

George is back for some 7th inning stretch dancing.

Stop trying to make "Nattitude" happen.

The Nationals were facing the Rays, and they scored three runs right away in the first inning.  That was fortunate for them, seeing as how they only got three hits during the whole game.  The Rays chipped away with two runs of their own, but the Nationals held them off and won the game 3-2.  It was a well-pitched game on both sides, and if not for an error by the Rays, we might have been around for extra innings.

The Nationals fans couldn't hold a candle to the fans in New York.  The attendance was ok, but not great, and the people who were there were... quiet.  Eerily quiet.  The scoreboard and even some hired lackeys did their best to whip the fans into a frenzy, but the fans obstinately refused to participate.  There would be no cheering.  The scoreboard kept flashing commands like "Get Loud!" or informative reminders like "Two Strikes!" but it made little difference.  We know from our friends Tom and Kate that there ARE fans, but apparently they don't feel the need to make their presence felt.

It is possible that these fans would not have known the team had won were it not so helpfully displayed.

Overall, we enjoyed the game and the stadium.  Dustin awards the stadium a B+ - it was nicely designed, had good food, and had seats close to the field, but the lack of fan involvement and the relatively plain environs keep it from a higher grade.

Next up: Hoping the Orioles game doesn't get rained out...