Washington, DC
April 2002
Mom and David came down to spend a week with us (and Beth and Jim). We took them to the Baltimore Aquarium (and lunch at McCormick and Schmick's)...and of course we went to DC...
What an exhausting day. We got up at (what felt like) the crack of dawn in order to make it to the commuter train on time (7:45 I think it was). It was our first time taking the train and it went well (although we had to get help when getting the tickets--and for most of the ride, I got stuck sitting with a very overweight man and we just didn't fit so I was scrunched in an uncomfortable position which made my back hurt all day). The great thing was that the weather was GORGEOUS--it was sunny and 70 at 8am. (It did get warmer throughout the day but we weren't complaining!) We walked the mall, saw the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam and Korean Walls, then walked around the Tidal Basin to see the FDR and Jefferson Memorials (and all the cherry blossom trees!). I was exhausted at this point (in fact, I think we were all pretty tired, except Mr. Marine!)--I have no idea how far we walked, but it was enough to poop me out.
We had hoped to find a great place to eat lunch (we knew there was a good place in one of the museums, we just didn't know which one) so we just ate sandwiches and fries from a stand. Just when it was getting almost too warm it turned colder and rainy. We tried some of the Smithsonian museums, but they were way too crowded and noisy for our tastes (spring break crowds + cherry blossom festival crowds). My personal highlight of the day was when I got pooped on by a bird. UGH. We were walking down the sidewalk and all of a sudden I felt this wet stuff hit my cheek--and it almost got in my eye! So I was standing in the middle of the sidewalk trying to get bird poop off my face--what fun. We had planned to stay in DC all day (and take the last communter train home at 6:27) but we were so tuckered out (and it was so chilly) that we had to waste time until the first train at 3:45. So, we came home early, took naps to rejuvenate, then went for a late sushi dinner. David liked it and mom didn't--but they were both amazed at the $50 "boat" we ordered! We ordered the bigger boat than we normally get, so there was bunches of new sushi pieces on there that we'd never seen or tried--I was in heaven and my mom was just so stunned at how much I loved it. (For the majority of my life, I would not eat fish. I've really only started eating fish in the last year or so.) Afterwards, we hit DQ and then went home to bed!