Went to see the State Christmas trees on the National Mall tonight. It’s a new tradition with my friend Vicky, now in its second year. We stopped to get some soft-serve ice cream from one of the many food trucks that line the Mall. She got vanilla, I got vanilla with chocolate sprinkles.

About a block from the truck I asked her how it was, as I hadn’t tried mine yet because I was fumbling to put my wallet back in my bag. (I fumble with things in my bag a lot.)

“Well, it’s…it’s not Dairy Queen,” she said.

I took a lick of mine. No, it definitely was not Dairy Queen. I took another lick.

“It has an aftertaste of beer,” I said.

“Yes! I was thinking the same thing. Like it has that kind of fermented feel,” she said.

We both paused. Should we eat it or not?

The decision took all of two seconds: I took a chomp out of mine.

“Still good, though,” I said.

“Yeah. Vanilla beer ice cream.”

I just hope neither one of us regrets it later tonight, heh.

Tonight’s stroll was about 5 miles. Not bad for someone who had a heart attack seven weeks ago tonight, if I say so myself. And glad to have this new tradition with my friend.

In other news… A few days ago I let my friends know I was going to see the trees tonight and asked them their home states and which states they lived in. This first one is going out to my friend Katherine, who lives in Alabama. It’s a little grainy because I didn’t want to ruin the colors by using flash, and I took it with my phone. But I love the Northern Flicker and the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail ornaments, the state bird and state butterfly of Alabama, respectively. Click to enlarge. Again, sorry it’s grainy. Looks lovely on my phone, though!