Visit to DC (1 of 2)

All seven of us had a delightful visit to the DC area a couple weeks ago (Wednesday August 13 through Sunday August 17). The trip actually was dreamed up among the five kids, who wanted to celebrate Paul Jr. hitting #21 in an interesting way; unlike the others, he hadn't had a chance to get to DC yet. So that became the destination. Patricia and I decided to tag along, partly because we were very long overdue to visit Kerry. Plus it sounded like fun.

So anyway . . . we (meaning Patricia, me, our three sons, Nedda) had a smooth flight into the Baltimore airport, departing very early on Wednesday. (Nicole arrived later into Dulles.) Made our way to our rental minivan, which was quite the utilitarian vehicle, very blue. Checked into our Embassy Suites in Chevy Chase. But this was just for Patricia and me . . . the rest of the group enjoyed the fine hospitality of one Luis Rosello, just a few minutes walk away. Other than getting a quick bite and saying hello to KHG, we mostly got organized to drive out to dinner at the home of Luis's parents (Pedro and Maga Rosello).

Maybe a half hour drive, it was somewhere in the Virginia portion of the DC area. Also got to meet Ricky and Natasha there. These folks were extremely easy to get to know (maybe in part because we had heard so much from Kerry) and we had a most pleasant evening. It was fun to talk through some of the Puerto Rico info, chit-chat about political and other stuff; wonderful appetizers and dinner, even a birthday cake for Paul Jr. Couldn't have been nicer, very thoughtful. (But I'm still trying to figure out what Kerry is up to in the top photo; thinking about trying out for the Spanish Olympic team?)

Thursday, August 14

Back on the evening of our first visit to DC (N,C,K and me in 2003, per old photo), our hotel was very close to "Old Ebbitt's Grill" - which is a pretty well-known local restaurant near the Mall (we're told patronized by locals and tourists alike). Anyway, we enjoyed it a bunch. So Kerry had made lunch reservations. It was fun to be back there. And they bought Paul Jr. a birthday cake (#2 for the trip, though we had been in town only about 20 hours at this point.)

Patricia had expressed interest in the Holocaust Museum, and Kerry had tickets for us (you'll notice a theme: being well taken care of by KHG). Got our first looks at Capital Mall stuff on the walk over. The museum is really well done, and I liked it. Naturally enough the subject matter is pretty heavy, and perhaps just a bit out of synch with the rest of the Mall. But very much worth the visit. I especially liked an area where they displayed a bunch of pre-war photos of folks later taken up with the camps.

We then wandered the Mall for a minute or three before going back, killing some time, changing clothes, then heading back into town (courtesy of a cab driver who definitely preferred the scenic route) to a restaurant named "Zenga" (I think). This was a place that Kerry and Luis thought would work well for the group, and they were right. I'm pretty sure I ordered the best meal of the group, but it was all good. We then stepped across the street to some Spanish(?) themed place to try their Sangria. I didn't expect to care for the taste, but that stuff actually was tasty. Foolishness and photos ensued. Patricia, Nedda and I left the rest of the group to their devices (which included foolishness and dancing, I believe) and came back to hotel. Turns out the finals of the all around competition for the women's gymnastics were on "live from Beijing". So it was kind of fun to keep an eye on that.

Friday, August 15

More good stuff lined up! Started the day with a tour of Kerry's workplace; this included Patricia, Nicole, Paul Jr. and me. You might imagine this is an interesting tour. Hurried from there to the Washington Monument - this is one that Nicole has been adamant about taking the trip up to the top. So Kerry arranged tix for all of us. The park service guy seemed a little (I mean a lot) hyper but that was kind of fun. The views from the top are interesting, but almost moreso looking up inside the structure even than looking out over the city. Being up to the top makes the monument look more interesting from the outside.

Then got some coffee for folks in our group who were sagging a bit for whatever reason. Walked the mall just a bit; then Patricia, Nicole, Kerry headed back to Luis's place to buy food and make dinner. The rest of us went through the Museum of Natural History. Yes, I really like all the museum stuff. I might have been in the Field Museum in Chicago at some point, but all this seemed new to me. Got a big kick out of the dinosaur bones - as overdone as that topic is, it still amazes to stand beside these things. The pterodactyl was like an image of the devil. Patrick saw a "dingo." There were lots of skeletons, and lots of other stuff. Even bugs.

Good museums are an excellent thing, and this was a good group to tour with. We walked the Mall a bit, then took the Metro back. Luis was a patient guide for this group of tourists. Especially on the Metro, where even things like buying tickets became mildly adventurous, and it always seemed like we were on the brink of some kind of incident.

Anyway, kudos to Patricia and her staff of cooks, who put together a really fine meal at Luis's apartment. It made for a really nice evening.

As fun as this all was, I was getting a little nervous; the days were slipping by and the one thing I really wanted to do - walk my favorite monuments at night - was looking unlikely.

More to come in a separate post . . .