I was finally able to track Basil down, and I’m happy to say he’s safe and sound. Yes, he’s in Washington DC, and yes, he tried to visit Dick Cheney, but luckily he didn’t pursue it too far, and the guards at the White House turned him back fairly quickly.

Once I got a hold of him I told him to book a flight ASAP to Savannah, Georgia, which he’s done. I recommended the service Kayak for finding the flight; I knew he’d like the slick interface and be impressed with the programming that must have gone behind that. He’ll be flying Delta Airlines tonight at 7pm and arriving in Savannah at 10:30pm.

Chris — I hope you can pick him up!

So with some spare time, Basil decided to do a little touring. There’s no shortage of things to see in the US capital, and although it’s a touch warm and cloudy, it sounds like he had a grand time. He also sent along some pictures, which is great!

First he went to the White House looking for Dick Cheney. Basil was mum on the details (for once) but sent along this picture:

Next, he was off to the Smithsonian after hearing about a particular exhibit: Pretty Women: Freer and the Ideal of Feminine Beauty. I suspect Basil thought it had something to do with the movie Pretty Woman but I didn’t mention it. Basil’s nothing if not a lover of fine things (i.e. 1st class airfares, limos and the such), and he was suitably impressed with the artwork at the exhibit.

The founder of the gallery, Charles Lang Freer (1854–1919), was an avid collector of Asian and American contemporary art. And of course, as Basil tends to do, he compared his own interests in collecting to those of Mr. Freer. Basil has a huge collection of beer coasters; they’re piled a mile here…maybe while he’s gone they’ll be destroyed in an accident. Hhmmm…

According to Basil he comes from a long line of beer coaster-collecting donkeys. Wonderful.

It was eventually time for lunch, so Basil headed to Kinkead’s on a tip from someone at the Smithsonian. They put together a special salad for Basil and it sounds like he drank an entire bottle of “Pleasant Hill” from Whetstone Wine Cellars. I checked out Kinkead’s website (which incidentally has some very soothing music playing on it) and the bottle was $89! At least it wasn’t the most expensive.

Basil then made his way to ESPN Zone where he gorged himself on nachos and sports entertainment fun. Basil loves video games, so I suspect he had a blast! He did mention a “small gambling debt” I might owe someone, somewhere in the near future.

I told Basil at the end of the conversation that he should definitely try and go see a few other things before flying to Savannah, including:

* The Vietnam Veterans Memorial

* International Spy Museum

* Marian Koshland Science Museum

There’s no shortage of incredible sights and places to visit in Washington, and I’m glad Basil’s been able to enjoy some of it.

I was glad to hear that tours of the FBI offices are currently closed due to renovations; I’d rather not put Basil in proximity to that many law enforcement officers if I can avoid it.

Related Tags: washington, smithsonian, vietnam, washington restaurants, tourism, kayak.com, cheap flights