Washington DC

KK, JoJo, CP and I took an unprecedented "happy birthday" trip to DC... 


Monday


After we picked Luke up from school, we headed KK's house - where I spent the night so as to ride with her to the airport the next morning.  After we arrived, we all went out to eat and everyone had a good time trying to tell KK all the things they want to tell someone who they don't see every day.  I'd say Richard and the kids left to drive home around 9:00 or so.  Then, KK and I ran to the store for strawberries - KK wanted them for breakfast.  Once home, we set about arranging last minute plans...we decided to hire a private shuttle to take us from the airport to our hotel in DC and we bought tickets to a Friday-evening performance.


Tuesday
KK made me an omelet and cappuccino for breakfast - nice! And then we headed to the airport. We met up with JoJo at the gate and were there in plenty of time not to feel rushed. We flew AirTran - I had never flow them before, but the tickets were $215 for round trip (with a plane change in Atlanta).  You have the option to choose your seat when you buy the ticket and another chance when you check-in.  Seats like the exit row (with more leg room) $20 more, but you don't really realize that right away. They also charge for checking bags (I do carry on whenever possible and since it was just me - no kids - it was possible).  The flights were event-less and it was so easy without having kids to shepherd around.  The exit row seats did provide terrific leg room, so worth the $20. As mentioned, we arranged for a private SUV to pick us up at the airport (for $20 per person - totally worth it) and the driver met us by baggage claim.  We stayed at The River Inn.  Once we checked in, we walked to Whole Foods to get provisions (which included breakfast food, wine, cheese) and then came back to get ready for our dinner reservation at The Rivers at Watergate (right by the Kennedy Center) - easy walking distance.  There were some MAJOR characters (who had been drinking for a while) to observe at this place.


Wednesday
We got on the Foggy Bottom metro (easy walk from the hotel) and headed to the Archives-Navy Memorial-Penn Quarter metro (where we discovered KK's metro card had demagnetized...likely due to the magnet closure on her purse) stop so we could get to the National Archives.  We got in quickly and saw the Declaration, Bill of Rights, and a copy of the Magna Carta.  After that, we headed to the National Gallery of Art.  We decided to "go in order" and saw enough "Madonna and Child" to last me a life-time.  We were just getting past the time period where all paintings were Madonna and Child (with a few St. Jeromes and John the Baptists and very few non-religious-inspired paintings) when our time ran out and we had to go eat lunch.  I had a terrific turkey and brie sandwich in the Cascade cafeteria!  YUM.  We had a 1:45 meet up for a tour of the Supreme Court that we needed to get to - we gave ourselves 1 hour.  We determine we need to get to the Capitol South metro stop, so we need to get back to Metro Center (where KK could exchange her metro card for a new one, but we didn't feel we had time for this at this moment...she just bought a new card) to change lines...we do this, no problem.  We figure out which direction we need to catch and wait on the platform...get on the train and once we get to the next stop, we figure out we are headed the wrong way.  I'm scratching my head because I *KNOW* we got on the train that the platform arrow pointed to and the list of stops under that arrow was correct.  We get off and try to figure out what happened.  A nice local asked where we were trying to go and we told him...he said, they are running a single line right now, so you have to watch the name on the train.  OHHHH - how were we to know this?  He says they've been announcing it.  I don't know if you've ever been on the DC metro, but the announcements often sound like Charlie Brown's teacher.   Ok, fine - things are delayed and CP is getting concerned because she arranged this tour with her congressman and she didn't want to be late.  FINALLY, the right train comes.  We relax.  Then, as we are riding, the train conductor says, "we will be skipping the next 3 stops..." of which our stop is one.  Great.  We hop off and start high-tailing it.  We are jogging and walking quickly - it started to seem hot out.  I keep telling CP, we'll make it...which is not my normal role in life - I'm usually the one stressing about being late, but without Richard there to play my foil, I assumed the opposite role. We see a cab drop someone off, so we hop in.  To jump to the end - we make it.  The tour was very interesting.  It wasn't a "tour" , but rather us sitting in the courtroom listening to a docent for 30 minutes...he was very informative!  After that, we went to the Library of Congress and caught the last docent-led tour of the Jefferson Building.  We had 5:30 reservations at Sonoma...near our next scheduled destination and we hung out there until we needed to head to Union Station for our Monuments by Moonlight tour.  I think most, if not all of us, were pretty tired and, while we wanted to take the tour, when the guide said we'd be finished around 10:30...we all inwardly (and outwardly) groaned a bit. I have been on this tour before, but it is always nice to see the sights! Our driving/guide seemed to have an endless amount of historical knowledge and was so kind as to drop us off at Metro Center so we didn't have to change lines to get back to our hotel. We didn't get to our hotel until 11:30 and we fell into bed...hoping our feet would recover overnight.


Thursday


We had a leisurely morning and left at 10:00 to go to the Hillwood Museum.  My mom's best friend from high school is a docent there and she mailed us some passes to use!  We had to walk about 1 mile from the nearest metro stop (Van Ness), but the neighborhood seemed nice.  We did an audio tour of the gardens (AMAZING) and then had lunch at the cafe.  They currently have an exhibit about the 1812 French invasion of Russia so the chef prepared a Russian menu and a French Menu.  CP ordered Russian and I ordered French.  KK and JoJo ordered off the regular menu.  After lunch, we did a docent-led tour of the house.  Everyone loved it and said they would likely never have visited this museum otherwise - I think it made us feel like we were doing some "off-the-beaten path" tourist things.  I bought some 1/2 off Russian-themed magnets for Richard...and I wound up with a demagnetized Metro card. We all got a good laugh out of that.  We got back to the hotel and had our wine and cheese and got ready for the symphony at the Kennedy Center.  We ate dinner at the hotel restaurant (I had the most DELICIOUS scallops).  The symphony was nice and it was fun to be at the Kennedy Center.  After the symphony, we had snacks and played hearts in our (mine and CP's) room.  I also calculated how much money we would need for all of our Friday destinations so that I could replace my now-defunct metro card with the exact fare I needed for the rest of our trip.  


Friday
We had a 9:45 tour of The Capitol (also arranged by CP through her congressman).  We had an intern (she is about to graduate from college) give us a private tour.  She is very green - gave some "opinion" in her touring and really didn't know her stuff too well.  I kept telling myself that this is a good experience for her, but I think we all thought she could do a better job.  To paraphrase CP, I wish we could have locked her in a closet and headed out on our own.  The tour ended with the intern giving us passes to the House and Senate galleries to view the happenings.  The Senate was not meeting, but we got to observe the floor of the House. I do think you can only get those passes from a congress person, so that was worth it!  We heard a congressman from Montana discussing something about nuclear disarmament and another congressman requesting the Bronze Star for someone who Bob Gates had determined (through a forensic investigation) should not have one after all...those present voted to award it. I think we heard one other issue, but I can't remember what it was. After that tour, JoJo went to have lunch with a high school friend and KK, CP and I went to the Museum of American History and split up.  I had to do my souvenir shopping because I could not go home empty-handed and KK and CP went on their own ventures.  At this point - hoards of kids on their "trip to DC" (with matching T-shirts) were flooding every place we visited.  CP and I had to leave by 2:15 to get back to Foggy Bottom so we could walk to the Four Season in Georgetown to meet up with JoJo for our Food Tour of Georgetown and KK was headed on her solo adventure to the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.  She was also planning to exchange her metro card, so I gave her mine and we both doubted we'd get a refund, but rather a replacement card...which we really didn't need at this point. Our food tour was a 3 hour walking tour of Georgetown punctuated by stops at 4 local restaurants to taste food and drink. I can't remember the names of the restaurants, but at the first, we sampled 3 kinds of ravioli (pesto, mushroom and pumpkin).  At the 2nd we had a flat bread with caramelized figs, parmesan, and basil (I think) and some tasty lemonade with mint.  At the 3rd we had trout and mashed potatoes (an odd combination, I think, but it was tasty).  Finally, we stopped at a coffee and pastry shop and had coffee, a "bee sting" (shortbread cookie with a honey-almond topping) and an "OMG S'more".  CP, JoJo and I were also treated to a "loitering" magician who seems to wait until the little seating area fills up and then he launches into his act. The tour was VERY interesting and tasty.  On our way back to the metro via dropping CP off at our hotel (she decided she was too tired to go on the next venture) JoJo convinced us it was ok to stop at the Four Seasons to use the bathroom - just act like we're staying there.   While CP and I were in the bathroom, JoJo had our only "celebrity siting"... George Stephanopoulos and his wife and kids.   Following that, we had to book it back to Foggy Bottom to head to Federal Triangle so we could see the Capitol Steps performance - KK was waiting for us when we got there.  I laughed so hard my cheeks hurt.  After that, we headed back to our hotel and tried to finish the snacks we could finish.


Saturday - we spent the day travelling home.  Uneventful - which is just how I want transit to be! The only even occurred when KK's car wouldn't start.  We almost got JoJo to give us a ride home (we were packed in her van), but "luckily" KK forgot her purse in her car and had to run back up to get it.  She decided to give it one more try and it started!  I'm sure this was a relief to her as she was about to have to spend the next day arranging to have it towed, etc.


The kids and Richard all seemed to get along fine except Ruth is being rather "large and in charge" and is not going down to bed with her usual ease.  


This is the last week of school, so we are about to slide right into summer!