You can also pick up a T-shirt to let the rest of the world know where you have traveled. You can also pick up jackets, fanny packs, mugs, glasses, and other stuff with the Hard Rock logo and then Washington, D.C. underneath it. Pin collectors (and there seems to be a lot of us) will want to make sure to pick up one for their collection.

It is located next to the Ford Theater. If you are here during a major event or over the summer, you may want to make an advanced reservation. You can visit their website at www.hardrock.com to make reservations up to 30 days in advance.

Food was good--standard fare. If you've been to one HRC, you know the menu (I had the barbecue pulled pork sandwich, which was fine. Always am in search of (but usually disappointed) GOOD BBQ. Comes from being raised on Gates (the BEST) and Bryants (close second) in K.C., but . . . I digress . . .).

Here's the point (or, at least, the perspective). My 11- (now 12-) year-old son collects hats. Baseball Hats. AUTHENTIC Baseball Hats.

In 1999, when Boy Scouts were THE THING; we had to have the "Limited-Edition 1999" hat, FROM the Scout Shop. When we he won a Little League baseball tournament one weekend in Springfield, we had to have a Bass Pro Shops hat, FROM the BPS Store. When we were "into" the STL Blues Hockey Team, we had to have a Blues hat, FROM the Kiel Center. When Mark McGuire was on the quest to break Roger Maris's single-season home-run record, we had to have a "M.McGuire" Hat, FROM Busch Stadium. When the STL Rams won the NFC championship game, against the Buccaneers, which sent them to the Super Bowl for the first time, we had to have a hat, FROM the TWA (now the Edward Jones) Dome. AND when Jeremy McGrath was racing in the Supercross, when it came to STL, it was VERY IMPORTANT to get an AUTHENTIC "J. McGRATH" hat, AT the arena!

SO . . . when this same son, who marks ALL significance with a baseball hat, said, "I sure hope we make it to the Hard Rock Cafe, because I would really like to get a hat," you can bet that, YES, I stood in line for a good 30 minutes, among the "casual browsers," on a MISSION!

Do I care that he chatted through the White House tour, or that he couldn't recall a thing we saw at the National Art Gallery? NOPE . . . he wanted a hat!

Now, as this same son nears the teenage years, and as the significance of "hats" is being replaced by the importance of "girls," do I regret the money or the time spent in lines, you ask? Not for a minute!!! Revel in the moments you are given, as there aren't many, and then . . . just remember . . .