So today, after getting situated in the hotel it was about 2:30 PM and I decided to take a walk through the city post to get situated, find the convention center, get lunch and see a few sites. Inspired by the splendid table on NPR, I looked up Jane and Michael Stern’s food finds and chose Ben’s chili bowl which is about half a mile from Howard University. From there I walked through sites like the White House, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Smithsonian air and space Museum, the Capitol building and then walked back. I knew it’d been a long hike, and Google mapped it. To my surprise the distance with even greater than expected — 8.7 miles:

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