DC, days 1 and 2

Day 1: Up at 2:30am to walk a mile to the shuttle bus which would take an hour to get me to the airport where I’ll sit for two hours before getting on a plane which unexpectedly (to me) had a stop in LA before continuing on to Chicago where I can catch another plane to take me to DC where I can catch the bus which takes me to the city where I can catch a train which takes me to another train which drops me in Dupont Circle where I can walk half a mile to my hotel where I can collapse and discover that in a four star hotel you can order a gin and tonic from room service. And then I slept for ten hours.

Day 2: Up around 10am then raced around getting showered and coffeed before the 11am checkout time. Then I wandered around Dupont Circle until the Foster family (Brian, Susan, Faith, Lexie) arrived around 2pm. At one point I was sitting in a pub waiting for them. While sitting there in the window I watched the thermometer on the bank across the circle go from 95 degrees on up to 100. The Fosters arrived and then a storm hit (the two events are not linked…or are they?). Magically, the temperature dropped down to 84. We walked from Dupont Circle to the Washington Monument (Ever walk a few miles with two young children? Try it sometime. Even the Buddha would be challenged) where I made the mistake of handing my digital camera to the exceedingly intelligent six year old. I haven’t checked yet, but I’m sure I now have about thirty photos of her younger sister, grass, birdies, sky… We parted ways on the Mall and I walked up to Union Station to catch the VRE down to Tom’s. From what I can tell, VA is a beautiful state. I arrived at the start of a colossal thunderstorm. Hurrah! Thunder! Lightning! We don’t get that in CA. Tom and I spent the evening sitting on his front porch, listening to the rain, watching the lightning, having an al fresco dinner and talking. He says that if I’m up by 6am I can join him out there to drink morning coffee and watch the Marines across the street run by for PT. 6am? That’s 3am in real CA hours, but it might be worth it.

Tomorrow: Back to the Mall to dive into the treasures of the Smithsonian.