We took the direct but scenic route from Winchester on U.S. Route 7, through beautiful Loudon County, Virginia and the surrounding areas. Then we got on the Dulles Toll Road.
Will: Mom, what’s a toll?
Me: It’s money that they collect for you to do something like drive on a certain road or cross a bridge.
W: Why would they charge money to do THAT?
Me: Good question! Sometimes they charge a toll so they can get back some of the money they paid to build the road or bridge, or to fix or repave the road when it needs it.
W: I don’t think they should charge money for that!
Me: Me either! ;)
*****
We made it to Alex’s house in Chevy Chase right around noon. Her husband Michael had taken their 3 ½ year-old son, Frederick to her parents’ condo pool to swim and nap. Clea, who just turned 1 last week, just woke up from her nap when we arrived. Emma, who now LOVES babies, instantly became Clea’s keeper – not an unwelcome development for her mom!
After so much sitting in the car over the past couple of days, Will was in hog heaven in their playroom for quite awhile, playing happily all by himself.
The kids played and Alex and I got to chat. I helped her prep some food, as she had invited 2 of my good friends from college and their families over for dinner.
Dinner was SO nice. The kids played outside and ate their hamburgers and hotdogs on the picnic table that’s part of the swing set. The grownups got to sip wine inside and catch up. I had seen my friend Jane only once briefly during the last few years. She my roommate for a year in college and when I was a law clerk one summer in DC. She was organizer-extraordinaire of social and cultural events when I worked in DC after graduating law school, and she was my maid of honor, going above and beyond to help me to plan my DC wedding after I’d already moved South. It was great to see her and her two beautiful little girls. It was also wonderful to see my friend Tom and meet his wife Christine, who I really like a lot. The whole evening was so enjoyable and it passed by way too quickly.
After we got the kids to bed, we cleaned up and Alex and I stayed up too late talking. I don’t think “restful” is going to be a good word to describe this trip! ;o)
Monday, July 16th
Frederick went to camp this morning and Alex and I took Clea and my two kids to the National Zoo. It wasn’t terribly hot when we arrived around 10 a.m., but the temperature steadily climbed for the couple of hours we were there. We didn’t try to see everything since the zoo is so big and spread out. Among the highlights: we saw the prairie dogs, the lions, and the Komodo dragon (which was the kids’ favorite animal at our zoo at home) We got to see all 3 of the giant pandas, which the kids really loved.
The kids played and Alex and I got to chat. I helped her prep some food, as she had invited 2 of my good friends from college and their families over for dinner.
Dinner was SO nice. The kids played outside and ate their hamburgers and hotdogs on the picnic table that’s part of the swing set. The grownups got to sip wine inside and catch up. I had seen my friend Jane only once briefly during the last few years. She my roommate for a year in college and when I was a law clerk one summer in DC. She was organizer-extraordinaire of social and cultural events when I worked in DC after graduating law school, and she was my maid of honor, going above and beyond to help me to plan my DC wedding after I’d already moved South. It was great to see her and her two beautiful little girls. It was also wonderful to see my friend Tom and meet his wife Christine, who I really like a lot. The whole evening was so enjoyable and it passed by way too quickly.
After we got the kids to bed, we cleaned up and Alex and I stayed up too late talking. I don’t think “restful” is going to be a good word to describe this trip! ;o)
Monday, July 16th
Frederick went to camp this morning and Alex and I took Clea and my two kids to the National Zoo. It wasn’t terribly hot when we arrived around 10 a.m., but the temperature steadily climbed for the couple of hours we were there. We didn’t try to see everything since the zoo is so big and spread out. Among the highlights: we saw the prairie dogs, the lions, and the Komodo dragon (which was the kids’ favorite animal at our zoo at home) We got to see all 3 of the giant pandas, which the kids really loved.
We just made it to see the sea lion training at 11:30, which provided Will a much-needed chance to rest his tired feet. :) After a quick lunch at Alex’s house, once Frederick was home from camp, the three “older kids” went out back to run around and play in the sprinkler.
That afternoon we walked a few blocks to Jim’s house. His wife Eileen was out of town for work, so he had the boys – Josh (5), Aaron (3) and Daniel (1) on his own.
Once again, Emma’s junior babysitter skills were very welcome. She took over entertaining Daniel. We had a great dinner (and Eileen’s yummy homemade fresh-picked blueberry pie for dessert!) and the boys had a ball playing.
When bedtime rolled around, Emma helped Jim get the boys to bed. Then Jim, Emma, Will & I played an extremely competitive and action-packed game of Trouble.
After we walked back to Alex’s and I put the kids to bed, Alex and I had some wine and stayed up talking again. :)
Tuesday, July 17th
After we walked back to Alex’s and I put the kids to bed, Alex and I had some wine and stayed up talking again. :)
Tuesday, July 17th
Tuesday morning, Alex dropped us at the Bethesda Metro station after she took Frederick to camp. We rode down to the Smithsonian stop and had a great (albeit hot!) long walk among the monuments and memorials.
Will loved the Washington Monument, 
and I was excited to get to see the World War II Memorial, which is really beautiful.
We made it down to the Lincoln Memorial with the help of a push-up Italian ice to keep us going.
After we walked up the many stairs and looked around,
Emma announced that she could walk no further and we took a cab to the National Museum of Natural History. All those sites on the Mall are really a lot more spread out than they appear to be from a distance! But still I was appalled at what a cab ride of less than 2 miles costs in DC nowadays!!
We checked out Emma’s choice of the rocks, gems and minerals exhibits and then had a fantastic lunch in the museum cafeteria. It’s not cheap, but it was delicious, healthy food. Even if you wanted fast-food type choices (as my kids did), they had natural, no-hormone/antibiotic chicken and french fries cooked in non-hydrogenated oils. I had rotisserie chicken with steamed broccoli and a homemade macaroni and cheese that was too good for the child I had thought would eat it. ;) After lunch, we headed up to see the Will’s choice – the dinosaurs. Then walked back to the metro, rode back to Bethesda and walked back to Alex’s house, with a stop at the Trader Joe’s a few blocks away, where the only eat-on-the-run ice cream was a box of bon-bons which the kids really enjoyed.
After a brief rest for the weary travelers, we got in the car and drove to Potomac to see Renee and her family. We visited for awhile, went to their neighborhood pool (which has 2 water slides which the kids loved), and went back to their house for delicious pizza and a yummy salad. The kids really hit it off
We checked out Emma’s choice of the rocks, gems and minerals exhibits and then had a fantastic lunch in the museum cafeteria. It’s not cheap, but it was delicious, healthy food. Even if you wanted fast-food type choices (as my kids did), they had natural, no-hormone/antibiotic chicken and french fries cooked in non-hydrogenated oils. I had rotisserie chicken with steamed broccoli and a homemade macaroni and cheese that was too good for the child I had thought would eat it. ;) After lunch, we headed up to see the Will’s choice – the dinosaurs. Then walked back to the metro, rode back to Bethesda and walked back to Alex’s house, with a stop at the Trader Joe’s a few blocks away, where the only eat-on-the-run ice cream was a box of bon-bons which the kids really enjoyed.
After a brief rest for the weary travelers, we got in the car and drove to Potomac to see Renee and her family. We visited for awhile, went to their neighborhood pool (which has 2 water slides which the kids loved), and went back to their house for delicious pizza and a yummy salad. The kids really hit it off
and disappeared downstairs to keep from reminding us grownups how late it was getting. Renee, Rick and I sat and talked till about 10, when I jumped up in horror at how late I had kept the kids out and we packed up and left. It was so great getting to catch up with Renee and I wish we’d had longer to visit.
Of course when I got back, Alex and I had to sit and have a glass of wine together. I didn’t go up to bed till midnight!
Of course when I got back, Alex and I had to sit and have a glass of wine together. I didn’t go up to bed till midnight!
Wednesday, July 18th
Since you can't carry much of anything -- no purses or backpacks, no cameras, etc. -- into the White House and there is no where to store things, we put water bottles and our maps and guides into a plastic shopping bag we could throw away. Alex dropped us at the Metro again, and we walked around a bit before going into the White House Visitor Center, which is a few blocks away from the WH itself. I asked the woman working at the front desk there about the best way to get to the gate where we would enter for our tour, and she told me that the White House was closed for the rest of the day to tours because of an event. Apparently they really mean it on when they tell you to check the 24-hour visitor information line for status, and if I had done that before we left the house, we'd have found that out and planned the day differently. Oh well... I called the woman at our Senator's office who had gotten us the tour date and she called me back a few minutes later to confirm that we'd been rescheduled for the next morning at 9:30 a.m. So after a few phone calls to friends and family, we rearranged our plans to stay an extra day.
We headed to the National Gallery of Art. Once again, my plans went slightly awry. The kids had chosen paintings from a library book of American Art at the National Gallery and had taken notes to help us find those paintings in the Gallery. As it turns out, the rooms with most of the American artists were beign renovated, and we were not able to find "their" paintings. So the NGA was not their favorite stop on our DC tour, but we did see some very clever kids' short animated films in the auditorium, and we had an excellent lunch in the cafeteria there. ;)
We went back on the metro and again walked from the metro back to Alex's house. The kids rested and played for a bit, then we drove to the Cheesecake Factory nearby to meet our friend Mike from law school for dinner. The kids were a bit tired (imagine that!) but we had a nice visit.
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