Bouncing from Bermuda to Beltways

The echo of whomever spoke
I awoke and faintly bouncing round the room
That time and once again I'm bouncing around the room...

My favorite Phish lyrics speak volumes as I bounce around the country this week. Echos of Bermuda's ocean breeze, hungry seagulls and cresting waves are but a memory as I swerve to avoid becoming a major accident from shredded tire tread on the Washington, D.C. Interstate 495 Beltway. It's rush hour on one of the top 20 busiest highways in the world and I'm approaching the worst bottleneck section.

A client from D.C. came calling as soon as I got home on Saturday, so now, here I am, wheeling around our nation's Capital with stops in Fairfax, Arlington and College Park. Breaking for dinner, I remembered what I liked about D.C.'s so much - restaurants, bars and specialty stores cater almost exclusively to young, single and hip crowds. Especially this place (see photo). It's called Coastal Flats and offers a huge deck where, even on a Wednesday, hundreds of happy professionals gather after a long day at the office. I peaked in to see what all the fuss was about. It was like entering Bermuda all over again - a ocean resort with the freshest seafood and best rum mojito this side of the Potomac. I asked the server when she might think this restaurant would be bouncing its way to New York State.

"Highly doubtful," she said. "It was started by a Virginia native and there's only 2 in the state so far".

Hmmm...that's too bad I shrugged. I bagged the rest of my Lobster Bisque as well as a take-out menu because it appears that I might be eating here for the next 3 days just to get my fill...