D.C. Spooks

Spooks are something that only happen in high profile cities. They could be strange people, animals or events that make you ponder whether they served a separate purpose. A more, high profile, undercover, secret intelligence mission purpose. Recently Jared and I traveled to Washington D.C., the capital of spooks. Here are a few of the ones we encountered...

1. Walking down the sidewalk in Georgetown, heading upwards in order to catch a glimpse of Embassy row on our cruise down. Suddenly a small deer careens past a young woman ahead of us! It gallops towards us on a rampage towards anything green, her rear hind leg dangling in a painful way. An older man almost gets knocked over as the deer screeches around a corner and wipes out on the pavement attempting to turn a little to fast...

2. After a lovely reception at the U.S. State Department and a wonderful reunion watching the Capitals win their playoff game, we head to the metro to find our way home. As we are waiting in the station a train labeled "special" rolls in and stops in a dark corner by the escalators. The interior of the train is completely blacked out and dark. The doors open. Two men dressed in full uniform with bulletproof vests and semi automatic machine guns step out and guard the doors. Another guard runs out of the train pushing a huge metal case. Two seconds later returns in the same manner with another metal case. The two armed guards return inside the train and it pulls away through the station. No one around us thinks much of it.

3. Walking around the Washington Monument and notice an unattended bag sitting beside a bench. A security guard is notified and asks the nearest tourists if the bag is theirs. They respond, "no". Security guard begins to dismantle the bag in a careful and collected way... an ominous breeze begins, blowing the surrounding flags in a mysterious fashion.

4. Attempting to finally get out of this strange city, only to get stuck in traffic. 20 minutes later we find vehicles stuck between the two sides of the interstate apparently having attempted to turn around. Police are giving them tickets. Included in this is a large white van (which definitely would NOT have made it across!). As we move towards the crash site we notice a huge black soot mark on the road, police cars everywhere, and two or three dozen young black students sitting on a railing on the side of the interstate. Two minutes down the road stopped at an off-ramp is a school bus, black and smoldering on the back of a giant, bus sized tow truck.

Next time you visit a large and important city, beware, because spooks are everywhere. You just have to keep your eyes open to find them. That or all the special agent movies shot in Washington have gotten the better of us?