The Exorcist Steps, Cupcakes & Cats in Georgetown!

Here's the part 2 of my adventures on the east coast!

On Saturday, my sister and I decided to explore Georgetown, a big college town right next to Washington, DC. My big reason for going? To see something from one of my very favorite movies: The Exorcist.

In case you've never seen The Exorcist or read the book, shame on you! Now go read the book then watch the movie. But alright, if you're too scared to watch it, The Exorcist is about a little girl possessed by a demon and at the very end (SPOILER ALERT) one of the priests who tried to exorcise her dies, leaving the young priest to desperately confront the demon by telling it to possess him instead. Though he succeeds in exorcising the demon and having it possess him, he then crashes through the little girl's bedroom window, where he stumbles down a very long, concrete staircase that is attached to the side of the house, and dies from his injuries. Sad, but if you've seen the movie or read the book it symbolizes something much bigger and meaningful than anything I could ever try to paraphrase. This is the power of William Peter Blatty, who wrote the book and movie's screenplay. Did I mention I love The Exorcist?

Now my sister wasn't keen on visiting a place where a horror movie was filmed (which baffles me, because it was just a movie, a little girl didn't become possessed and a priest definitely didn't die at the bottom of these stairs, but to each their own...) but she was a trooper as we traipsed around Georgetown in search of the steps. After consulting my iPhone's maps app, we found the right cross-streets but weren't exactly sure where the steps were. My sister looked to the right. "Oh my god," she said. "There it is."

Sandwiched between a building and a house high on a hill, we looked down and there were the stairs. It might have been more dramatic (there are 3 flights of stairs) except for the fact that there was a Crossfit group that were using the steps as an endurance exercise drill. Despite that, my sister and I started on the long way down on those hard, deep steps. Reaching the bottom (after a minor round of vertigo. The steps are tall, y'all!), we were finally able to see the full scale of how tall and impressive that stairway is.

That Weird Girl Life

A plaque attached to the wall on the right officially makes it a DC landmark. Plus, there were a couple of other like-minded guys who braved the storm of exercisers doing frog jumps and laps up and down the stairs to visit and take pictures of the steps.

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Can't you just imagine Father Damien Karras falling down these hallowed horror stairs?

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Also, look at this line of exercise nuts waiting for their turn to climb up and remind us regular people how out of shape we are. I'm just kidding, they were all very nice and I think if I had asked, they probably would have stood out of the way if I wanted a decent photo of the stairs without them Stair-mastering up it. But I didn't, because I knew that their drill instructor- I mean, team leader- was timing them.

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I did get this great picture of the stairs from the top, complete with a guy leapfrogging his way up the stairs! Nice form, man!

That Weird Girl Life

Walking back up the stairs (following a girl jumping up each step while I huffed and puffed and wondered if this group was training for something or was just doing this for "fun"), both my sister and I got a little winded (not going to lie) and also had another round of minor vertigo. After recovering, we then set off for our next stop: Georgetown Cupcake!

If you've ever watched TLC or Netflix, you may have noticed a TV show called DC Cupcakes, which is about the owners of the cupcake store, Georgetown Cupcakes. I had watched the show a couple of times and while it was okay and mildly entertaining, I was more interested in the cupcakes. There always seemed to be a line to the store on the show, and I wanted to know if the cupcakes were really worth it. My sister said they were but I had to see for myself and who doesn't love a trip to a cupcake shop?? Taste test time!

The line wasn't too bad, but while we waiting we heard a group of college kids (who were everywhere, considering that it was Georgtown) mention a cat cafe. That immediately piqued my interest. I turned around. "Cat cafe??" I asked, manners be damned. They told us there was a cat cafe called Crumbs and Whiskers located not too far away. After stepping out of line to research and possibly make an appointment to hang out with cats, drink tea, and eat some macaroons. Sadly, we couldn't find any available appointments for the times we wanted and contemplated coming back the next day, but we eventually decided that we'd just walk by the cafe and peek inside. I mainly felt a little guilty for even thinking of going to pet strange cats when I missed my own cat at home so much. (Trust me, cats know when you've been unfaithful to them)

We got back in line and thankfully the line moved quickly and we were inside Georgetown Cupcake! The menu of the flavors available for the day were posted on the wall and the impressive line of cupcakes were on the other side. So many flavors!!

That Weird Girl Life

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We bought seven cupcakes, one for each of us, plus an extra just to share (one is not pictured but I believe it was a chocolate lava cupcake. Also, the salted caramel one got a little smushed but my mom said it was still delicious):

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I was super happy that they had the flavor I wanted (cookies and cream!) since I couldn't see it on display but they had just made a fresh batch. Yes!! After we had collected our cupcakes, took pictures (of course) and tried to look through the viewing window of the women in back decorating their cupcakes (but the ladies doing the frosting gave us dirty looks when we tried to look in so why would they have a viewing window where you can watch the employees work on the cupcakes if they just give you dirty looks?), we were off to go find the cat cafe!

Have I ever mentioned that Washington DC is humid? Because it is SO HUMID. As a person who grew up in the desert, I'm used to a dry, searing heat, not a warm, soggy atmosphere. So on the walk to the cat cafe, I was literally drenched with sweat and chugging the water out of my water bottle. Despite looking like I had just encountered a freak shower, we found Crumbs and Whiskers and saw a little feline trying to lure us into the establishment!

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He/She was so cute and almost made us want to make an appointment and spend that $15+ to pet it and other precious fur babies for a 75 minute appointment. But after going on three separate historical tours and spending god knows what on souvenirs/presents for others and myself (I went a little crazy with my credit card. What can I say, I was on vacation!), I knew I probably shouldn't spend the money plus I had my own feline waiting for me at home (who I missed very much while I was away). So instead, we took a few pictures of the cat and talked to it through the window. Which I'm sure made us look like a couple of loons unless fellow cat people saw us, then they'd totally understand what we were doing. I was just happy to learn that cat cafes weren't just in Japan and are thankfully popping up in more places. I'd still like to visit one one day! (Another thing to one day check off my bucket list!)

That Weird Girl Life

By the time we walked back to Georgetown Cupcakes, we (well, I was because I was perspiring profusely) were ready to head back and be lazy after our adventures (and to eat our cupcakes with our family).

I was so happy I finally got to see the Exorcist steps. It was incredible to finally see them in person after viewing them so many times while watching the movie (check that off my bucket list!). The cupcakes were delicious, they were totally worth the wait in line (the cookies and cream cupcake had Oreo pieces IN the cupcake. Not just in the frosting, but IN THE CUPCAKE BATTER ITSELF. I never knew true love until that moment...Apparently everyone else's cupcakes were good too, but let's be honest, in my mind my cupcake was the only one that mattered) and finding the cat cafe was just an awesome bonus! I'd definitely go back to Georgetown (I heard there's also a Sprinkles Cupcake there...taste test between Sprinkles and Georgetown Cupcake, maybe?) to do some more exploring. But maybe when it's not so humid out...

Stay Weird,
Emily