Last week was the big trip to Washington, D.C. to visit Molly and Lorenzo. Sunday morning before Memorial Day we loaded up the car, told Danny the next couple of days would be fun (sorry for stretching reality on that one, son), and headed east. Within an hour and a half we'd stopped. Danny had figured out how to get the water out of his leak-resistant sippy cup and ended up with soaked shorts and a very wet car seat. Awesome start to the trip!
Once we took a short break things smoothed out a bit, at least as far as Danny was concerned. Megan may or may not have a vendetta out on all drivers who fail to understand that cruise control is a good thing. Let's just say I'm driving through Missouri and St. Louis on any future trips and leave it at that.
Getting through St. Louis we entered Illinois and were immediately annoyed. Sixty-five, Illinois? In the middle of the prairie? Seriously? Luckily I-64 is only in the home of the Cubbies for a short time. Although, we did have an eventful stop for lunch before we moved on to Indiana.
We had packed some food for lunches on the way out so we wouldn't have to do fast food all the way. This was working great until Danny had a bite of apple that had a piece of skin that was a bit too large and gagged the poor kid. Vomit, meet foot. Foot, try not to get anything on the floor of the rest stop before I can wash you off.
Side note: Really big realization hit me at this point about how much being a parent has changed me. I was eating an apple at the time and didn't have a good place to set it down so I finished it off while wiping off my foot with a paper towel. Not really phased at all. No way that happens pre-parenthood.
Back to the narrative. After St. Louis drivers and annoying speed limits I took over the driving for the rest of the uneventful trek to Lexington. Upside: first hotel we tried had a room at a rate we were happy with. Downside: it was an Embassy Suites and we had just missed their complimentary happy hour. The best part of the hotel though was a surprisingly good hotel restaurant. This was the first time I'd had a good experience with a chain hotel's restaurant in the US. I was able to have a bourbon flight to try some different bourbons (Lexington is on the bourbon trail) and both of the dishes we ordered were really good.
Enough about food. Back to the driving. From Lexington we continued on I-64 to I-68 through West Virginia and then into Maryland. Word to the wise: don't go this way the afternoon of the last day of a holiday weekend. Where I-68 joins up with I-70 is a mess if more than 10 cars have to pass through it in an hour. Worst traffic of the trip by far. This is where I felt bad for Danny. Poor kid is stuck in his car seat when there's really no chance of us going more than 3 mph for the next 3 miles. This is why road trips were easier when we were kids. We could crawl around in the back seat and nobody thought twice about it.
Even with the delay we managed to get to Alexandria in pretty good time. Danny had some time to run around and adjust to his surroundings before bed and I had time to help Lorenzo fiddle with the thermostat to get the heat pump to start cooling the house (85 degrees at the time of our arrival. Temperature at departure: a pleasant 73. Sorry about the electric bill, Molly and Lorenzo).
Our first day walking around was definitely the most eventful. Molly was able to take the day off so the three of us and Danny headed to the Mall to wander. I hadn't been to the World War II Memorial since they finished it off so we got off the Metro at the Smithsonian and headed that way. On the way we got some pictures of Danny in front of the Washington Monument and snickered quietly that the PETA protester wanted to hand me some pamphlets about becoming a vegetarian. The war memorial was very impressive. I didn't get the somber vibe from it that I got previously at the Vietnam Monument. That might have been because that last time I was at the Vietnam wall it was night or it could be that the fountains at the WWII memorial give it a sense of life. Either way, it's an impressive monument to the sacrifice so many made for that war. I highly recommend a visit. After dodging a large number of tour groups we moved on toward the Lincoln Monument. Danny thoroughly enjoyed walking on the path by the reflecting pool and he was a real trooper when dad got side tracked reading the inscriptions at the Lincoln Monument.
Lunch was an adventure by itself. We headed for the FAA building to meet Lorenzo and go to a sandwich shop near his building called Potbelly. By this point Danny was getting kind of cranky and it was the lunch rush so the place was packed. Megan took Danny to wrangle him and try to keep him somewhat calm until I could get food for us. During the wrangling Megan wandered over toward the front door while holding Danny. What just happened to be sitting at eye level with Danny by the door? A red handle shaped like an inverted tear drop connected to a box with a white background. Well, what does any inquisitive 15 month old do when confronted with such an object do? He grabs it of course. Only, this object set off blinking lights, ringing bells, and caused a bunch of people from the offices in the upper floors of the building to come out on the street. That's right, our not-intentionally-delinquent son pulled the fire alarm (future blog post coming with a picture of the fire engine). Megan was mortified; I was clueless he had anything to do with the alarm because I was locked in on making sure our order was right so Danny had something to eat. Now I'm almost sad we didn't ask the firemen that came in the truck for a picture with Danny, but there was no way I was trying it at the time. They didn't look too happy.
After such an exciting first day we kept it pretty simple the rest of the trip. Danny got into a rhythm of taking a long morning nap and a short afternoon one so we were a little limited in how many sites we could get to. In the end this was good for Megan and I because we had some good downtime. We did get to see the National Archives (for me), the Air and Space Museum (for Danny and me) and visited Ikea for Megan (though I enjoyed the Swedish meatballs).
The drive back was long, but nothing too interesting. I-70 isn't nearly as picturesque, but it's easier to drive because of less curves and mountains. But I say booo to you Ohio and your 65 speed limit as well.
I think that covers probably more than the highlights. Overall we had a really good time and it was great hanging out with Molly and Lorenzo for an extended period. Most of the time we get to see them only in short bursts or in the whirlwind of family gatherings. It was a good chance for me to get to know both of them better and I really enjoyed it.
Megan's already got both of us thinking about the next trip. Maybe we'll try to keep this one under 2,000 miles total though.
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