Jammin'

About a month and a half ago, my boyfriend surprised me with the ultimate weekend plans: a trip to the Washington Auto Show and tickets to the Advance Auto Parts Monster Jam. Needless to say, it was AWESOME.

At the auto show I was finally able to see, in person, the cars that I have been discussing and reading about online for the past few months. Formulating an opinion on a car based solely on glossy photos and reviews is very different from doing so after actually being able to touch and sit inside of it. (Unfortunately, I was not able to test drive any of the vehicles.) I am also fond of critiquing the company displays along with the cars, as the ambience is particularly important when being attracted to different booths. The most impressive was definitely Fiat's imposing, futuristic, pod-like structure. It resembled the shape of the displayed Fiat 500 but was also functional, with a "store" inside that sold retro helmets and other Fiat paraphenalia.

Oh yeah, the cars were cool, too.

Volkswagen's set-up was also impressive, with the cars spaced well throughout their designated area. The new Jetta was pretty much front-and-center, and I immediately skipped over to my personal favorite: the Touareg. A few of the DC United soccer team's players were signing in the area, as well, so it was pleasantly crowded. While all of this was great, it was all just icing on the cake because what I remember most about the VW booth is the cars themselves! The fit and finish was superb; slamming the car doors created a pleasant "thud" sound, as opposed to the "clink-clack-thud" of many of the... other... manufacturers' cars.
Another brand I was impressed by was Land Rover. The new two-door Evoque is absolutely BEAUTIFUL. It is like a work of art that is actually functional and can take you places. The interiors are lush and plush and everything you could ever want from a luxury vehicle that is also rugged. I have no words. So I will just show you:

(via manualgear.com)

The Audis were also pretty fabulous:

I am a truck fiend, so I definitely checked out some of the Chevy trucks and played around in the Jeeps. I am not a fan of many of the new Jeep body styles, but the various incarnations of the Wrangler have consistently made me smile through the years. One of the men who was sitting in the four-door exclaimed: "this is PARTY TRUCK!" And he was totally right. Wranglers make you think of good times with friends, and shouldn't all cars make you happy like that?


On the subject of trucks... it was that night that we went to Monster Jam at the Verizon Center in D.C. Sure, make fun of me all you want, but I had a great time and it was an experience I will remember for the rest of my life. The crowd was almost exactly what you would expect at such an event, and I will leave it at that. There was some ATV racing that seemed staged, with the riders representing NY and DC getting into a fight, and then DC won the races in the end-- duh. The best part was obviously the main event: the monster trucks. The infamous Grave Digger was there, plus three other awesome trucks. My personal favorite was the Crushstation, which was in the shape of a lobster. (Get it?  Crushstation!? Crustacean?!) The others were Iron Man (which literally looked like Iron Man's awesome bionic suit,) and the Illuminator (which was covered in strobe-y light things.) Pretty sweet.

There may have been other trucks that I don't remember. In which case, they're not worth writing about anyway, right? 

So, the show.... There was some racing, where the trucks raced from one end of the dirt-covered rink to the other. There was some jumping off of dirt hills, which was probably my favorite event. The trucks went SO high into the air and even when the landings seemed uncontrollable, they were able to finagle their way back onto four wheels and stop just before the barriers. Amazing. Did I mention how incredibly LOUD this all was? We were sitting in the Player's Lounge-- which is located pretty high up in the Verizon Center-- and we could hardly hear each other speak over the huge revving engines. It was just so awesome and I can't really describe it more eloquently. It was one of those events that does not require too much description, as it is quite simple (and juvenile) but still provides plenty of entertainment. 

That's Iron Man, flying.

The next time you see one of the monster truck event commercials on TV, or even see monster trucks on the SPEED network as you're channel surfing, do not scoff or snub your nose! Give it a chance and you may be pleasantly surprised. You won't even have to wear your Carhartt overalls and orange camo hat.