Virginia visit

PJ and I traveled to Virginia for a January week, and had our typical ridiculously fine time.

via GIPHY

Some highlights:

Picking up Mae, and related adventures - this was a fine trip-within-a-trip - our DC flight landed early evening on Friday 12 January; K&L picked us up at the airport; we head directly to Richmond for a sleepover as part of a dog-nabbing expedition. K drives us through pretty much steady-driving rain (though temps are rather warm).  Richmond may look a bit the worse for wear, but we definitely can see that it would be a worthwhile place for a longer visit.  We check in - "The Graduate Hotel" - nice, definitely not a chain.  K&L had reserved a table at a delightful little restaurant that was still serving dinner as we near 11p ("Saison") - fits the bill perfectly  - among other treats, we are a fan of beers from a local brewery named "The Veil," and we (wisely, as it turns out) make a note of the place.  After:  nobody wanted a pillow fight so we just went to bed.

Perly's breakfast - yes.

Breakfast on Saturday (13 January) is at Perly's - downtown delicatessen recommended by Tom/Kellen - it was wonderful.  And the portions were immense, which turned out to be a good thing since we didn't really eat again for say 12 hours. Then we hit the road for the breeder's place in Spring Hope, North Carolina.

Puppy selection successfully completed.

PJ and I were included in the puppy-pickup by pure coincidence, but it sure was fun.  Have never driven through these parts, except perhaps as part of long-forgotten Glee Club touring.  So that was neat.  Have never seen a puppy breeding place - much larger than we expected (and than the website probably led one to expect) - but seems like they have things pretty well in hand.  Be that as it may - the important thing was to FIND THE RIGHT PUPPY.  There were two from which to choose - helpfully marked with a dab of blue and pink paint, respectively - Blue had some charms and started strong in the interview process; but soon was outstripped by Pinkie, who featured a floppy right ear and a rather delightful little personality. In the end, the choice was pretty easy - Pinkie was sent off to the clean-up zone, Blue was relegated to the next-in-line dog-chooser (a kindly lady with whom K&L exchanged digits so that the sisters could remain in touch), K&L did some adoption business, and "Mae Westie" (fka Pinkie) was officially theirs!

Quick clean-up of Pinkie; shortly followed by formal introduction of Mae Westie.

OK now we have a long drive home.  Stopped at Starbucks for caffeine, and for MW to do some business.  We received a free slushy/smoothy type drink that looked promising but was immediately dumped on the floor of the car between the seats (sad sad). MW handled the car ride well, as did each of the adults. To keep up our strength we pull off in Richmond and visit The Veil. Things are different with new-pup in tow, and PJ volunteered to wait in the car with MW; they seemed to get along famously.  K&L and me are pretty happy with what The Veil is doing.

Road warriors.

Then we finish the road trip, order in some food, try to figure out MW's sleep arrangements, play a bunch of Five Crowns, and pretty much enjoy recapping a really-really fun trip-within-a-trip.

Seeing area friends - PJ and I always enjoy seeing K&L's fine DC-area friends - on this visit, this happened primarily on Sunday evening.  The usual suspects showed up in force and ready for fun; all met and played with MW; lots of chatter; interesting beers; we ordered in pizza; semi-monitored NFL playoff games (featuring Mike/Ally/Palmer departing moments before a miracle Vikings finish); followed by Five Crowns (me benefiting from Kellen's inadvertent largess); and that was pretty much it for a fine evening.

With Mike, Ally, Palmer

Late-night Five Crowns with this crew.

Pedro and Maga happened to be in town when we were.  And we took advantage by fitting in two get-togethers.  Item 1:  the six of us gathered for dinner at Le Diplomate on Monday evening - great food (in the same booth where we dined back in October); great company.  Item 2:  we (with MW in tow) drove out to the Rossello homestead for dinner on Wednesday evening.  Manny & Kristen happened to be in town.  As you might imagine, this grouping made for a fine/fun evening.  Maga's cooking was pretty wonderful.  Somehow we failed to take photos (or I failed to collect them).  What would have been even more valuable:  video, even audio, of Luis's persistent sniper-ish commentary at the dinner table - not sure I've heard him funnier, which is saying something.  We suspect Manny's influence was partly to blame (or credit)?

Lots of this kind of action by
our intrepid new owners.

Doggie management.  Getting everything lined up with the new pup was a major activity of the week (I contributed little value).  Constant "walk the dog" trips to the backyard by K&L; as temperatures plummeted, this was impressively responsible behavior. (OK we also had to clean up messes occasionally, though they were rather small messes.)  Trips to the vet (where MW was appropirately fawned over, I'm told) and the trainer; visits from the dog walkers; testing food, toys, sleep patterns and location (downstairs?  nope, MBR), etc. They definitely found a nice/cute pooch.

Hanging out at the house. We did this a lot, due to MW and the weather - and we enjoyed it a lot.  K&L house is cozy; our downstairs quarters are ideal; I had a fair amount of work left over from recent transactions, and it was pleasant to sit in that well-lit kitchen area and kind of work but also keep an eye on everything.  Many Five Crowns games.  Consistently good food & beers.  Unfailingly pleasant.

Westover is a fine neighborhood place.

Puppy scenes.  I'd never been around a pooch this teensie.

Neighborhood stuff.  Notwithstanding prior paragraph, we did get to most of the local favorites - Peruvian chicken; Lyon Hall lunch with K; Westover for fine beers and those glorious pulled pork nachos; etc.

My assistant.

Office visit.  We also stopped by K's office on Thursday - it was nice to see with our own eyes the high regard in which she is held, and how warmly folks interact with her.  Difficult line - to be professionally successful/respected yet likable on a personal level - not surprisingly, she seems to be finding it.  We are proud.

The week absolutely flew by.  It was kind of sad to say goodbye after being together pretty regularly the past few months, and with a few months ahead prior to the next flurry of visits.  But it's a lucky thing to feel that way.

Until next time (airport drop) . . . 

Virginia visit

PJ and I had a rather ridiculously enjoyable visit to Virginia.  Here's what happened:

Friday 6 October
Easy travels per usual; K picks us up at Reagan airport and we go straight to the house.  This is my first visit to the "new" house so was much anticipating.  The Alexandria brick houses from that era are lovely, but because dating from that era - often need some modernizing - and the previous owners did everything right.  Plus a few tune-ups by K&L.  The effect is quite excellent.  K has a rather unique polo shirt gift for me, plus some goods for PJ.

Cicerone-approved Ballast Point box for toddler.

We get settled and soon are joined by Charlie, Beth, Mike, Ally and Palmer - who went considerably out of their way to work in a (pretty lengthy) trip that fit into our schedules - this was as thoughtful as it was fun.  We had a high-level beer tasting (Mike being a cicerone and all); pizza from Lost Dog; Sequence games in various combinations of teams, with the only common denominator being the consistent fails of the ND alums.  Oh well.  Great night.  After everyone left we watched a bit of the opening NLCS game (D'backs-Dodgers) but it wasn't going well.

It was a "Kiwi" beer - good.

Sequence battles ensued.

Saturday 7 October
The four of us make a breakfast trip to Le Pain; then an extended shopping tour to Target (enjoyed the "Boo-tique") and some nursery where we (rather painstakingly) selected some plants for placement around the house.  Back to the house for delivery of some spiffy furniture items (enhancing the look of our basement lair); then onto the Westover market for 5 Crowns, a couple beers, some pretty amazing nachos - lovely weather if a bit unseasonably hot/humid, just as I like it.  Later we head toward "Le Diplomate" for dinner - but stop enroute for a couple antique-type shops plus a drink at some fine spot (all these basically across the street from the restaurant).  Then to dinner - absolute perfect seating with an open window behind us; K&L bring a couple bottles of wine, nice!; my beef bourguignon is +; also loving the bread basket esp. the cranberry/walnut variety.  Very fun.  We make it home; observe a few minutes of D'backs losing again.

Le Diplomate - great spot.

Sunday 8 October
We wander the local farmers market, mostly in search of stuff for a dinner that we never did quite end up making - too much other action.  Then onto "Eastern" market - which we always enjoy - though the areas is evolving, residential development has chopped into some of the market space.  Then we walk to Belga Cafe, another tried and true spot.  Late afternoon we walk over to the Jackshaw house - very fun to chatter with Carrie & Steve (and Piper), plus their remodel looks great.  Plans for tomorrow dinner (though that doesn't happen as it turns out).

local farmers market . . .

Then Uber out to visit Pedro & Maga at their house; good timing, Luiso was also in town.  So the seven of us had just the loveliest evening.  Lots and lots of talk (including an update on their experiences with the recent hurricane); Maga always does such a nice job with the food; we didn't think it could have been nicer.  Great to see them.

appetizer portion (with Luiso's rum and coke) of a perfect evening

Monday 9 October
Cranberry-walnut bread and farmers market apples for breakfast (with Luis as barista, nice).  The four of us drive out into the Virginia countryside for the day - this was quite an enjoyable outing.  Stop #1 is some farm where they are selling pumpkins and gourds and stuff; also features a "corn maze" - which I've never done before - made for a nice walk in the country - we buy a few items and move onto whatever was the next town, passing through some lovely countryside; had lunch there (all good 'cept the chocolate cake disappoints).

hanging around at the punkin' farm

We then drive onto Leesburg - K&L know of it from prior wanderings - a lovely little town, we walk through some shops, end up at Black Hoof brewery where we find the offerings to be quite nice.

Leesburg - Black Hoof, shopping . . . 

Next we're driving to Monk's - famed BBQ - we stop into Adroit Theory (allegedly closed for Columbus Day) - but it was open so we try some fine hazy thing they had on tap.  Now to Monk's, where the BBQ lives up to its billing.  K drives us all home.

Adroit Theory

Tuesday 10 October
Repeating the bread/apples/coffee breakfast.  Everyone was working today though I didn't have all that much to do, and K returned in early afternoon (when she and PJ chased down El Pollo Rico!).  In the afternoon our energies were devoted to planting and arranging and stuff in the front of the house.  My project failed even after getting a pick-axe - stump grinder has been scheduled.  Leaving me feeling like a modern-day John Henry, or maybe the opposite.  By contrast, PJ's work turned out great.  Fun to work it together in any event.  We clean up, L joins us, we head to Lyon Hall for a fine evening with a group of K&L's friends (OK we think of them as also our friends at this point).  Such a good group.  Followed by an impromptu 5 Crowns game at Liberty Tavern.  Fun night.

such a nice crew at Lyon Hall . . . 

Wednesday 11 October
K gets off work; the three of us breakfast at Le Pain; then some shopping at various furniture stores; then we head downtown to the Mall.  Native American Museum (not particularly recommended though the Peru exhibit was cool); National Gallery (Dutch drawings and Fragonard exhibit); onto Old Ebbitt Grill where we had a pretty excellent lunch.  All of this hanging out was quite excellent!

wandering on the Mall . . .

Back to the house and L joins us; the four of us walk over to Westover market again for beers/snacks/5 Crowns; the evening advances quite pleasantly; we decide to forego cooking and have pizza and beer at Lost Dog - joined by Steve Jackshaw (Piper had gotten sick which scuttled the larger get-together plan) - this makes for a fine evening.  Back to the house where we hang out late into the night - we had a growler from Black Hoof; more 5 Crowns; but mostly we review all of our too-quickly-passed fun days together.  Say goodbyes to L and eventually get to bed.

wrapping up after Lost Dog . . . 

Thursday 12 October
Goodbyes to K, who is heading to work.  Sorry to be leaving K&L, glad the next get-together is just a month away.  PJ and I get organized; enjoy the bread/apples/coffee regimen one last time; we Uber to the train station for the next leg of our trip.

Couldn't have been nicer.  As with our recent trip to SF - it's just so easy to be around these folks for prolonged periods of time - and the way they treat their guests is beyond thoughtful/generous.  Not that that's surprising, but still - very nice/lucky.

some Virginia doings

Exciting news keeps emerging from Virginia!

Visiting K&L

Felt long overdue - but we made it back east to visit Kerry and Luis.  Very fun throughout.

Awaiting lunch at the DC market.

Some things that happened:

Friday, March 11 - travel day; our typical smooth passage; K&L pick us up at the airport.  PJr happens to be in town for some bond lawyers' conference; we meet him at their apartment and head out for a little house-hunting with the betrothed couple.  This was fun - the housing situation in the Virginia neighborhoods differs quite a bit from what we see in Phoenix, to put it mildly.  Houses of course are much older; a great deal of similarity in core properties in these neighborhoods, with variance introduced by subsequent "additions".  We enjoyed seeing this.  Later:  short walk to a SW restaurant near the apartment; Richard Frank joined.  Back to apartment for nightcapping.

Taste-testing at DC Brau.

More testing (DC Brau).

Saturday, March 12 - a very fun marathon.  Our group of six (K&L, Christina, PJr, PJ, me) travel to some downtown market via Uber - fun to browse, nice spot for lunch.  Onto a quite-fine local brewery - DC Brau - meet up with a few folks there.  Fun chatting and sipping, they are doing good work.  Onto another bar - this one German-themed - meet up with additional folks.  We are consistently impressed with the really high-quality folks K&L are friends with - and that so many of those folks made an effort to come out and meet us even though it involves giving up a big chunk of their weekend - such a nice group.  Steve & Carrie Jackshaw!  We are at the German place for quite a long while, chatting and sipping and enjoying a wonderful afternoon; then we test a few possibilities for dinner and end up late at an Italian place.  Fun day.

DC Brau, scene 3

Sunday, March 13 - K&L travel downtown with PJr and me to the National Gallery - always a treat - featuring Greek/classical era, lucky us as this sort of thing is unfailingly interesting.  Then it's time for L, PJr and me to track down some Peruvian chicken and discuss current campaign events while doing so (at the level of "they took our jobs" a la South Park alien episode); shortly thereafter PJr heads to the (Baltimore!) airport for his return flight.  In the evening, we travel out to visit Pedro and Maga - who happened to be hosting the Naples next-gen crew (Gustavo, Gonzalo, Gabriela) that we had enjoyed meeting back in November.  Pedro and Maga are wonderful hosts, it was great to see them again after too-many years (last time was this trip, I believe).  They also remembered our upcoming birthdays - cake and singing!  A lovely evening.

"German" bar, scene 1 . . . 

German bar, scene 2

Celebrating # 60 with Pedro, Maga and family . . . nice!

Monday, March 14 - L to work; K takes us to the French breakfast-place down the street; then we travel out into the Virginia countryside - this was quite excellent, and also brand-new territory for us.  Did a tasting at some winery; then lunch at The Red Fox Inn (est'd 1728, they claim) in the lovely little town of Middleburg .  Beautiful place, really good food - K and I split the Virginia peanut soup, as should be done here; yum throughout.  And then K bought me a Red Fox Inn polo shirt (it being birthday #60), I like it quite a lot.  Great outing, we would enjoy seeing more of this part of the world.

Birthday boy with K at winery.

Back to the apartment; K&L have thoughtful suggestions for my birthday dinner, and we make a rez.  But there are intervening circumstances as the five of us (K, L, Christina, PJ, me) while away the late afternoon into the early and not-so-early evening:  Five Crowns games (complete with our introducer, Christina); a pretty amazing charcuterie board (all my favorites); some pretty wonderful beer selections; and excellent wine hauled back for us by K&L all the way from Italy.  Not surprisingly, my birthday afternoon/evening was flying by rapidly in a remarkably pleasant fashion; I eventually (though reluctantly) requested that we cancel our dinner reservation because I didn't want to break up the apartment fun; so later on we had a bite at a local place.  Birthday #60 was a great one!

Birthday boy with K at Red Fox Inn.

Tuesday, March 15 - sad to say, this was our last day.  K takes us downtown; we decide to visit the US Botanic Garden - very near the Capitol; something not previously visited; should be on the list.  The place was featuring orchids - which was interesting indeed - but we enjoyed the whole site.  Took a photo near the under-construction Capitol building; then K surprised us with a trip to Cafe Belga in DC (pleasant memories from our last trip).  Interesting beer flight, quite-wonderful mussels; L carved out work time to join us.  (Not to mention that K carved out a bunch of time for us throughout.)

The nicest b-day celebration - at Arlington apartment with our hosts - 

And then it pretty much was time to head to the airport - sad to be saying our goodbyes.  Though at least we knew we would be getting together very quickly in Arizona.

United States Botanic Garden.

Belga Cafe - whiling away some time while waiting for our lunch.

 

PJ made it into a picture - after Botanic Garden, prior to Belga Cafe.

We really loved this trip - we benefit from lots of effort, great planning by the hosts.  Lucky stuff.

Visiting KHG

PJ and I had the nicest trip to Virginia to visit Kerry.  (The visit was part one of a two-part adventure; part two will be described separately).

Attending Handel performance - National Cathedral

Successful shopping at Eastern Market.

Here's how the visit came down:

Saturday, May 11 - long-ish but easy flight; K and Luis met us at Reagan (airport); they hosted a delightful dinner at K's apartment.  Steve and Carrie Jackshaw were integral to planning, shopping and execution of the meal, plus we much enjoyed catching up with them.  And I didn't have to do anything other than enjoy, plus provide some token assistance with the pasta-making process.

National Gallery 

Sunday, May 12 - breakfast at "Eastern Market" - a return trip from our 2011 visit (summarized here).  Crepes are as good as ever.  And a local crafts-person was selling ducks (per photo).  Kerry and Luis had arranged tickets to a Handel performance at the National Cathedral - just the sort of outing we enjoy.  Great setting, excellent performance.  Dinner followed at Belga Cafe - another great choice as we much like this kind of food.  I'm pretty sure I've never seen such an impressive list of beers (with emphasis on Belgian beers, naturally enough).  I can highly recommend the slow-cooked rabbit roulade (accompanied by a "Rodenbach red ale sauce" that tasted as good as it sounds).

We were well treated at Old Ebbitt after our National Gallery tour.

Monday, May 13 - we headed down to the National Gallery; I was excited because these were the very final days of a highly touted exhibition (per article below) of works of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood - I keep seeing references to these folks in various things I read, but really didn't know much about them.  So this was helpful - just a delightful exhibit.  PJ, K and I also enjoyed just touring around the rest of the gallery for a while.  Then to our traditional lunch at Old Ebbitt, where the staff appeared to be in a competition to give us free stuff.  Which always is nice.  Some work in late afternoon, K and PJ did some shopping to get her set up with a herb garden (or large pot, let's say).  Luis and I eventually went out and retrieved some Peruvian chicken.

Monticello

Tuesday, May 14 - Luis took the day off, and drove us down to Monticello - beautiful weather, very fine drive through the Virginia countryside - my first time in this area.  Monticello much worth the trip, it is very well laid out for visitors.  In addition to the house itself, I liked wandering around the garden area (and the grounds in general).  As a bonus, Monticello is near some wineries and even a fine brewpub (where we had lunch and tested their work).  Then did a quick stop at the Veritas winery - enjoyed a nice sitting area there. Hit the road back to the metro area, it was a nice day.  PJ, K and I finished with a bit of supper near her house (Rustico).

Monticello

Wednesday, May 15 - continuing our string of interesting touring - PJ, K and I visited Mt. Vernon.  I didn't know it was basically right in the metro area.  I think it was a good idea to do Monticello and Mt. Vernon so close in time, interesting comparisons.  Huge grounds here with nice views over the Potomac.  Huge crowds (though they handle them well).  After our tour we went into "old town" Alexandria - very nice lunch at some converted firehouse, then walked the area a bit.  Dinner at Lyon Hall - Richard stopped by, also got to meet one of K's pals from work.  A fine game of "Five Crowns" capped the evening.

Veritas winery.

My excellent traveling companions - Mount Vernon (Potomac in background)

Thursday, May 16 - got ourselves organized, and K started driving us up to Lancaster for the big wedding . .  . which is a separate story.

Mount Vernon

To wrap up this one:  I'm sticking to my story about our visit to K:  don't know how it could have been nicer.  (Not surprisingly,) she had a great feel for the kinds of things we were interested in seeing, the kinds of restaurants we would like, etc.  (Not surprisingly,) Luis and Christina were gracious and fun throughout.

Five Crowns battle royale (with K, Luis, PJ, Christina)

Most of all, PJ and I just enjoyed having the time together with our little daughter.

Pre Raphaelite

Visiting KHG! (July 21 - 25, 2011)

Some time ago, Chris planned a lengthy trip to Virginia to visit (and stay with) Kerry, spend time with the Jackshaws, etc. (He also pledged, if loosely, to visit Lancaster, but that's another story.) At any rate: over the course of the last couple months prior to his visit, the entire rest of the family, pretty much one by one, made plans to join the fun for the final weekend of that visit. Thus we all (including POC and, now, Nedda) found ourselves in Kerry's apartment in Arlington, VA as of the evening of Thursday, July 21, 2011.

Also in attendance was Kerry's saintly-though-uncanonized roommate (Christina).

And the fun began.



(I will note that the weather was very hot and humid - up to 102 - but didn't end up affecting things very much. In weather terms, it was a relief to get back to Phoenix - which doesn't often happen in July.)

Very nice, very memorable visit. Dinner at the apartment on the night of everyone's arrival (Thursday 7/21) - Chris was heavily involved in making Tinga pork, Kerry had nice beverages for us (including Chimay for me, with glassware (which is important!)). And we celebrated POC's birthday with (berry) cake (successfully made by Kerry) and ice cream. Then some ping pong and pool downstairs in the community room (if I'm keeping the days straight).

A very nice adventure for Friday lunch: a place that serves fresh crabs (Quarterdeck, right in Arlington). I'm not quite sure how these were prepared; I do know (1) they were ordered by the dozen; (2) must have been boiled?; (3) some tasty seasonings that looked like dirt but tasted awesome; (4) it is an adventure to pound these things with a mallet, open them up, discard brains, lungs and guts; (5) they tasted wonderful. So this was a great idea on K's part, and definitely something we don't see in AZ. Nicole and POC treated (a substantial treat, let's say).

Friday evening: Patrick treated to a Potomac River cruise - had conspired with the locals to make arrangements. Warm evening, but that actually felt nice once we started moving on the river. A delightful route - various of the monuments are visible, we venture down toward the (pretty) new Washington Nationals stadium, etc. There is definitely something about getting out on the river with a beverage or two, it promotes conversation and was just a nice time. Pizza back at the room - great stuff - then enjoyed the ping pong and pool tables; then back to the room for a game I had never heard of ("apples to apples"). Large group of players, quite fun (even if I was robbed by at least two judges). Steve Jackshaw was the surprise(d) victor, though some scoring shenanigans were a factor.

Saturday was the only day we made it down to the Capitol Mall - a subgroup (Chris, Paul Jr., Nedda and me) took the metro in mid-afternoon. I had wanted mostly to go to the National Gallery - that would have worked better had I checked its hours - we only were able to spend about a half hour before getting kicked out at 5p. Also spent time at the national history museum, then the American history museum - section about military stuff was pretty compelling, I thought. Unoriginal concept: the more you read about things, the more interesting they become. Among other things, I much liked a Viet Nam war setup shown on multiple video screens displayed in period TV sets - nice, and evocative. Nice burger place for dinner.

Sunday - among other things, a few of us (PJ, Kerry, Christina, Nicole, me) went to Eastern Market - I can see why Kerry and Christina like it. Had absolutely delightful crepes for breakfast and walked the area until overtaken by the heat. Enjoyable mid-day consisting of food, euchre games, some video game about Twilight; then Nicole and POC had to leave. In the evening: Kerry had reserved the community room - worked perfectly - we ordered in Thai food. Richard Frank stopped by; also Allen and Heather Gibby and daughter (who was knock-out cute and well behaved). Charlie, Beth and Mark arrived about halfway through. Among other things: celebrated Patrick's 25th birthday a few days early. And it was fun to sit around talking. Then switched to euchre games until we were kicked out at 11p. Chatted on Kerry's nice patio for awhile and considered it a fine day.

Monday was travel day. Christina took Chris to airport very early; Kerry (with PJ and me) took Patrick to airport somewhat early; Richard came by, also Charlie, Beth and Mark; lunch at Cosi; enjoyed a bunch of conversation and a bit more euchre (CCG and me providing some instruction to the youngsters). Kerry ran Nedda to the airport (Reagan), then ran PJ and me to Dulles. End o' trip, sad to be leaving Kerry behind.

Kerry has a delightful apartment, and shares it with a delightful roommate. It's hard to describe the degree of disruption that we imposed on these folks, and the degree of graciousness and generosity with which they managed the disruption.

Only wish we had blocked out more time for this trip.

Visit to DC (2 of 2)

So here are some notes on the last two days of our DC trip . . .

Saturday, August 16

Kerry and Luis had the idea of going on a tour of Virginia wineries - which was a good idea, a bit of a change of pace from the DC mainstream tourist adventures. Our group met Ricky and Natasha at the Rossello house, and started out on the "Grape Adventure" van.

I'm pretty sure that the drivers for these tours aren't supposed to be drinking, but we were wondering about that. About 20 minutes into our trip there was an unannounced u-turn; sure enough, about 20 minutes later we were driving past the street where we had started. At which point the tour folks 'fessed up to a "minor problem." Oh well, it was only 40 minutes or so out of our lives.

Anyway, we visited three wineries. Some of us were probably more interested in touring, others in tasting, still others in collecting souvenir wine glasses - but everyone had a fun time. The first winery (Pearmund Cellars, website here) featured a pretty knowledgeable taste-master (I think I made up that term); the setting was nice but not quite as nice as what was to come; our crew manages to make all sorts of funny comments throughout the tasting (at least we think they're funny).

The second winery (Three Fox Vineyards (website here) had a great setting; dicey taste-master; but a very fun place. This is where we had lunch. Our supposedly sober tour leaders had kept the food on ice; a good idea which would have been even better if they had kept the food separated from the melting ice. So the sandwiches, brownies, etc. were served in a kind of melted ice broth (or water), you might say. We were pretty hungry, but even so . . . at least we were distracted by entertainments such as Patrick and Ricky rolling down the hill.

Onto winery #3 (Barrel Oak Winery, website here). The taste-master here (photo below) may have had aspirations about running a classroom or boot camp or something, because he was firmly under the illusion that we were supposed to pay attention to his every word. Thankfully he couldn't enforce that standard, or we would have had several folks in permanent detention. Nice wines, nice outdoor seating area, nice views; a good way to finish the tour.

Then back to the Rossello's; picked up groceries and Patricia (with assist from Natasha) put together a v. good dinner for everyone. (And she thought she was on vacation.) A very fun evening.

After which - despite the lateness of the hour - Kerry and Luis were kind enough to take a group of us on the night walk of the monuments. We dropped off Patricia and Nicole and the rest of us drove down to the Capitol mall area (Chris, Kerry, Luis, Patrick, Paul Jr., Nedda, me). I haven't been around DC all that much, but this is my favorite thing. Here's what we saw:

1. Lincoln Memorial - this is not beatable. The setting on the end of the mall is superb. Whatever feeling the architect was trying to inspire as everyone walks toward the memorial and up all those stairs - it works. How awesome was Lincoln? And how about standing in there and reading the Gettysburg Address and his second inaugural address, chiseled into the walls? Also something to stand at top and look out over the Mall.

2. Korean War memorial - probably my favorite of all; there is something about these ghostly (at least for nighttime visitors) figures that appear to come up out of a small stand of trees, moving out on some thankless patrol in a forgotten war (or whatever they're doing). This can get your imagination going.

3. World War II memorial - first time I had seen this, and it is quite impressive. But I would like to go back and see it again, I didn't really connect with this as much the first time around. For one thing, it seems like they tried to cover all the bases (50 states, territories, women in service, theaters, all service branches, etc.) - which I suppose was necessary given the scope of the war, but the memorial seemed to lack some of the punch of the others.

4. Vietnam War memorial - did I mention there was a bright full moon? This made the memorial look quite a bit different to me than it looked at night in 2003. I hadn't noticed how it lines up with the Washington Monument. Whoever designed this was beyond successful.

This adventure took awhile, we got back by 1:30a or so. I was grateful folks were interested in going. The monuments are wonderful, as was the company.

Forgot to mention, the weather was ridiculously nice throughout our visit. I think of August in DC as difficult-to-bear heat and humidity, which I guess does happen quite often. But not to us.

Sunday, August 17

End o' trip, so we checked out of the hotel. Kerry took Patricia and me with Chris, Paul and Nedda on a tour of the West Wing of the White House. One of her former bosses was our tour guide. I had kind of low expectations for this as it had the feel of a stock DC experience, but that was wrong. I very much enjoyed it. The tour guide was knowledgeable and nice. Just getting through security was kind of entertaining. I liked gawking at the Oval Office, one of the large conference rooms (where supposedly they do important stuff), the Cabinet room, all the 18th and 19th century American artwork hanging around, and of course a bunch of Bush photos (including current stuff from Beijing Olympics). Took photos in the Rose Garden and the press area. Nice experience.

Then we met the rest of the group down on the Potomac waterfront for lunch; the place was named Sequoia. It ended up being kind of comical. It was a large factory-type restaurant with a view, so expectations as to food were very low to start with. But still not met. All of the salads featured bugs. The manager's solution - in a situation where our diners pretty clearly were so done with eating salad - was to assure us that the lettuce was being washed twice, and replacement salads would be right out. That led to a short discussion, and the salads were swapped for mega-sodium soup of some kind. After that came steaks (ordered medium rare but served well done) with a side of potato buds (but those didn't have a chance against the garlic flavoring). After that, a dessert that Sara Lee would be ashamed to sell (or maybe does).

Anyway, it was nice to see the area and it was a good idea to go there given the limited amount of time remaining before our flight. And the experience actually underscored how great all the arrangements had been every step of the way on this trip.

Thereafter got organized, made our way to Baltimore airport, enjoyed smooth flight back to Phoenix.

Everyone was convinced that they had a great time throughout the trip. I certainly did. And I'm increasingly confident that Kerry does have a real job out there.