DC Day 2: Air and Space Museum

A highlight of every trip to DC is the National Air and Space Museum. That was our singular goal for Sunday. 

In the morning, since the museum doesn’t open until 10, we headed to a coffee shop for breakfast. 

My breakfast: Leek Quiche with Greens and black coffee.

Coffee.

My breakfast.

Nile’s breakfast: Apple Turnover pastry, Lemon tart, and a mocha. With three extra sugars. 😂

The Lemon Tart.  It was really good.

After that, since it was only 9:30, we headed back to the hotel briefly before walking the single block to the Air and Space Museum. We joined the line of people waiting to enter and got in a little after 10 am. 

Not thrilled to be waiting in line.

As always, we enjoyed exploring the museum. We saw two movies: “Dark Universe” narrated by Neil Degrasse Tyson, and “D-Day 3D” narrated by Tom Brokaw. Both were fantastic. 

We finished up at the museum around 1:30and headed back to the hotel for a late lunch. 

Space: the lunar module

Bullets.  In many sizes. 

Tickets

Very stylish glasses

After lunch, we called for a ride to Arlington National Cemetery. We had pre-purchased a tour of the cemetery, which ended up being a good thing. Our tour started at 3:30, and we ended up on an open-air cart. It was a bit chilly. As we didn't have a ton of time, we opted to stay on the cart and didn't get a chance to see everything. However, the tour buses came around every 15 minutes and we knew we wouldn't have time if we got off a lot.

Then the evening was capped by a trip to watch the Washington Wizards play the New York Knicks. It was fun, and we had seats behind the sideline reporter for the Knicks TV broadcast. (She's the blonde in the photo).

Our seats

The view from our seats

After the game we had one more stop, to a gelato place that Nate and I had visited two years ago. It was as good as I remembered, although Nile was not as impressed. I had chocolate chocolate chip and black tea, while he had vanilla and chocolate hazelnut.

DC Day 1 Continued: The March

Once we got to Washington, DC we found the airport pretty packed.

Had I mentioned there was a major march going on in our nation's capital?  The March For Our Lives was planned to begin at noon that day.
(https://marchforourlives.com/mission-statement/)

Roads were closed, and everywhere there were people walking toward the march, carrying signs and wearing shirts with anti-gun slogans. Large groups were pouring out of buses with matching shirts and chanting. It's estimated that at least 500,000 people were attending the rally. There was a ton of news media there:

Nile wasn't interested in participating. To be honest, I would have loved to join in, to be part of something so special. Looking at the crowd from a block away was really hard for me, and I wanted to be there. But this is Nile's vacation and it wasn't my time to go. (But ohmygosh it was so cool!)

We had lunch (Quiznos), then did some sightseeing. We walked to the American Indian museum, and looked around inside. Then we headed to the Holocaust Museum. I had purchased tickets online while we sat at the airport. Tickets had been sold out for months, but they release a limited number of tickets each morning at 6 am EST.  Sitting at the gate in Moline was the perfect time to check, and we had been able to snag tickets for the 3:00 entry. 

As always the Holocaust museum was great, even though I have been there three times I am still moved. 

Later on we went out to dinner and then crashed at the hotel. Two mornings of waking before 4 am had caught up with me. 

Washington, DC Day 1: The Snow

One of our traditions is for me to take each boy to Washington, DC when they are in fifth grade. The reason for fifth grade is to make sure they are old enough to appreciate the trip, and to be able to handle all the walking.

This year it is Nile's turn. The start of our trip was ominous. For the week prior, the weather forecast had gotten progressively worse, with a winter storm bearing down on the region and promising 8-10 inches of snow. And the predictions of snow were very much guesses as the line between "a few inches" and "a foot or more" crossed straight over the QC region. It was scheduled to start overnight Friday. And we had a 6:15 am flight Saturday.

We went to bed Friday night not knowing exactly what we would wake up to. I set my alarm for 3:45 and settled in for a restless night of sleep. Finally at 3:30 I gave up and looked outside to see a blanket of new wet snow.

Ugh.

I was worried about the drive to the airport. I was worried we would get there and wait for a few hours only to have our flights cancelled. I was worried I would drive off the road. All things that had kept me from sleeping well, and I woke to find they were still true. I had hoped to wake and find the snow had tracked north.

Tom decided to take us to the airport. The drive down Wolf Road was perilous. 25 mph, as there had not been a snow plow through. My instinct to turn around was still there. It took us more than 25 minutes to go the 9 miles.

Once we got to the interstate, things looked up. It was mostly wet and 45 mph felt like 90. Once we got to the airport it was raining. Remember that line I mentioned? Seems it really had crossed right over the metro area, with snow to the northeast and rain to the southwest. It had taken us 45 minutes to make the normally 20 minute trek to the airport.

Everything at the airport was on time, so we checked in, got some breakfast, and sat down at the gate. Soon the airline was boarding - the gate attendant told us they were trying to get us out early. We were on board by 6 am, with 10 other passengers. The flight was supposed to be full, but it seemed nobody else had shown up.

After another hour wait on the tarmac for de-icing, we finally took off around 7 am. Our trip was finally on, and my stress level dropped significantly.

It’s been a while since I posted. My phone and Blogger don’t get along and I hate to get on the computer after work.

I’ll try to do better. No promises...

I am lucky because...

I am lucky because...

• I have a good family
• I love myself
• I have friends