Washington, D.C. Trip

(Isn't he strong? He kept the whole thing from falling over and crushing us all!)

I highly recommend taking an eager, enthusiastic, energetic 10-year old boy on a weekend trip to Washington, D.C. Strider proved to be a fantastic travel companion, and a fun co-explorer for me. He was intrigued and excited about so much -- even the Wawa gas stations, and the hitch-hiker we saw by the side of the road.

We spent 3 nights with John, Keiko, and Sammy (who is in the most adorable stage -- a 4-month old who smiles at everything), and enjoyed spending a lot of time with them. And we spent 2 days in the D.C. area, touring many of the big attractions: Arlington Cemetery, the Washington Monument, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, the Smithsonian Museum of American History, the Pentagon, the Library of Congress, the Botanical Gardens, and the Capitol. Once I get some pictures sorted out, I'll say more about that.

We did have 3 mishaps though... all of them were my fault. The first one we discovered Friday morning, at our first big sight: Arlington Cemetery. I pulled out my camera to take the first picture of the trip.... and realized I had left my SD card in the computer at home! I could not believe I had done that. Here we were in the cemetery, heading towards my grandfather's grave, of which I really wanted to take a picture, and I had NO MEMORY CARD! Thankfully I realized the camera could hold 5 pictures without a card, so I took those precious 5 that day... and that had to suffice until we met up with John and Keiko and their camera in the late afternoon. Keiko graciously agreed to be the group photographer for the rest of the time. :) So that disaster was mostly averted.

Our second mishap started with me driving Friday morning in downtown D.C. --- not a good situation. Of course my GPS failed and tried to lead me far, far from where I wanted to be. So I suddenly found myself on my own on those crazy, non-perpendicular streets with names that are not helpful, having no idea where I wanted to go, or how to park when I got there. After awhile, Strider yelled out that he saw a public parking sign, so we quickly followed it. We ended up in a dark, crowded, intimidating parking garage under some hotel, and even had a hard time finding our pedestrian way out. When we finally surfaced at street-level, we were in a courtyard. I tried to take note of what the awning said above the doorway we exited, but there were no street signs visible anywhere. All I knew was we were in L'Enfant Plaza, and I figured that should be enough to return later.

I was very wrong.

At 7:50 pm that night, Strider and I found ourselves running down random streets in the dark, trying to find any hotel that might have a garage under it (turns out there are several). Nothing looked familiar, and I could not figure out where the courtyard might be. Then I remembered that the garage said it closed at 8 pm. We tried not to panic, and finally found ourselves in a doorway that said "Hotel, retail, restaurant" so we tried it. I'm still not sure how we ended up in the right garage, and am quite certain I could not find it again if I had to, but God mercifully led us to the car just in time. He was for us, just like in 2 Sam. 5:20, "the Lord who bursts through."


And the third mishap concerned our Capitol tour... but that is a story of its own. Maybe I'll write that down in the next day or two.


But all in all, it was a wonderful trip. I enjoyed time with my son, soon to be a man. I enjoyed not doing dishes after every meal, and not cooking every meal! I enjoyed not having to take a diaper bag, stroller, and nap constraints with me everywhere I went. It was the closest thing I've had to a vacation in a long, long time.

Yes, I definitely recommend taking a happy 10-year old on such a trip. And I also recommend listening to a book-on-CD version of "The Phantom Tollbooth" in the car on the way there and back -- especially if you want to hear the 10-year old repeatedly burst into uncontrolled peals of laughter.