Jazz in the Gardens

There are tons of free concerts in DC - especially in the summer.  Always on the lookout for new experiences, I decided to join my buddies at the sculpture garden this past Friday night for a free jazz concert.  The sculpture garden is near the National Mall in the heart of DC at the National Art Museum.  It's a lovely place - trees every where and beautiful sculptures all surrounding a large fountain.

The weather forecast for Friday night called for a slight chance of showers.  As I was headed into the city, the weatherman said most of the storms were outside DC proper, so I kept on my merry way under blue skies.

I arrived at the concert, where my friend Tom had already staked out a great spot underneath some large oak trees right next to the speakers, so we had great sound coming in as we poured the wine and broke into the cheese and crackers.  Some other friends joined in and I noticed that a few (myself included) decided to bring umbrellas - just in case. 

I was just pouring my second glass of wine when the band came over the speakers to say that they were taking a little break because, in their words, it was going to "spritz" on us a little, but not to worry, they'd be back.  So we all grabbed our little umbrellas, protected our blackberries and iPhones like they were children, and hunkered down to wait for the "little" storm to pass.

So it began to rain.  A little at first, then harder.  Then pea-size hail started coming down.  Then the rain turned into torrential downpour and the only thing that wasn't wet was the top of our heads, which were all still protected by our tiny umbrellas.  Then marble-size hail started falling and there was no way anything was going to be left dry.  So I turned to my friends and said, "It sounds like there are people in the fountain having a great time - let's just ditch the umbrellas and go be kids again!".  We turned around (our backs had been to the fountain up to this point) and sure enough, there were at least 100 adults playing in the fountain during the storm like it was 110 degrees outside and it was the only respite from the heat.  I threw my umbrella down, rolled my jeans up, and jumped in!

It was great!  The water was warm because that day had been a hot one, and it felt nice after having the hailstorm soak our clothes.  We only had a few minutes in the fountain when the rain stopped and the Mall cops told everyone to get out.  We were able to snap a couple of pictures before the threat of being arrested was really upon us.  

It was a grand time.  Some times it's nice to tap into your inner child and forget about things like hair, makeup, and oh crap how dirty is this water?!  Enjoy the pictures - I'm not sure how I'll ever get the smell out of my jeans.