Oh, my aching feet!
We are back and we had a wonderful time. Even better, all the people we left at home had a good time and managed quite well without us. I am so thankful for the friends who volunteered to help watch everyone. There is a little wigginess on everyone's part as we get back to a regular schedule, but I expected that. Transitions are hard.
I think I walked a good portion of Washington DC in the 2 1/2 days I had there. I have to say, it's easier to do intense sight-seeing when you are on your own. The other plus I discovered is that I didn't have to save any energy for the whole dinner/bedtime routine because all I had to do was get myself into bed and collapse. Which is what I did.
Wednesday we arose at the completely unreasonable hour of 3:15 am so we could get out the door by 4 to catch our 6 am flight. On the plus side, I did have nearly the entire day to sight see once we arrived. The first day I saw the Washington Monument, the Museum of American History, and the Museum of Natural History. By 3pm, I was dragging and decided that it was fine to go back to the hotel and take a nap.
Thursday, I had arranged to meet a good friend who had recently moved to Baltimore. She took the train in and we visited museums together. We say the National Portrait Gallery, Ford's Theater (which has a really well-done museum on the Civil War and Lincoln's assassination, then we walked the mall from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial and saw the World War II Memorial and the Vietnam Memorial as well. From there we went to the National Archives and then met our husbands for dinner. It was great to catch up with these friends.
Friday, I seriously considered just staying in the hotel and putting my feet up and reading. But I knew that I would kick myself if I did that so forced my weary muscles to get up and go some more. I ended up taking a tour of the Capitol and the Library of Congress. I was really quite taken with the way the tours are done in the Capitol. It is swarmed with tourists and I can't imagine what it is like when it is the height of tourist season. I was also wondering how on earth I was ever going to hear the tour guide. Well, they have a really nifty set-up. Each person is given a set of headphones attached to a small receiver which is worn on a lanyard around the neck. The headphones are wirelessly connected to the tour guides lavaliere mic, so he can speak at a normal volume and everyone in the group can hear him. It worked so well that there could be multiple tour groups in the rotunda and everyone could still hear. (My tour guide was very good, but he sounded exactly like Corbin Bernsen [from LA Law and Psych] and looked quite a bit like him as well.)
After the Library of Congress I walked to the Botanic Gardens and just sat and rested while I waited for J. to be done with his last session. It was very pleasant and I wished I'd had the energy to walk through the whole thing. But I still needed enough energy to get to the Metro stop and take the Metro to the airport.
It was a great trip and J. and I enjoyed our time alone. I am also thrilled that TM weathered the whole thing remarkably well and somewhere inside him now knows a little bit more that we always come back and he's always a part of our family.
I think I walked a good portion of Washington DC in the 2 1/2 days I had there. I have to say, it's easier to do intense sight-seeing when you are on your own. The other plus I discovered is that I didn't have to save any energy for the whole dinner/bedtime routine because all I had to do was get myself into bed and collapse. Which is what I did.
Wednesday we arose at the completely unreasonable hour of 3:15 am so we could get out the door by 4 to catch our 6 am flight. On the plus side, I did have nearly the entire day to sight see once we arrived. The first day I saw the Washington Monument, the Museum of American History, and the Museum of Natural History. By 3pm, I was dragging and decided that it was fine to go back to the hotel and take a nap.
Thursday, I had arranged to meet a good friend who had recently moved to Baltimore. She took the train in and we visited museums together. We say the National Portrait Gallery, Ford's Theater (which has a really well-done museum on the Civil War and Lincoln's assassination, then we walked the mall from the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial and saw the World War II Memorial and the Vietnam Memorial as well. From there we went to the National Archives and then met our husbands for dinner. It was great to catch up with these friends.
Friday, I seriously considered just staying in the hotel and putting my feet up and reading. But I knew that I would kick myself if I did that so forced my weary muscles to get up and go some more. I ended up taking a tour of the Capitol and the Library of Congress. I was really quite taken with the way the tours are done in the Capitol. It is swarmed with tourists and I can't imagine what it is like when it is the height of tourist season. I was also wondering how on earth I was ever going to hear the tour guide. Well, they have a really nifty set-up. Each person is given a set of headphones attached to a small receiver which is worn on a lanyard around the neck. The headphones are wirelessly connected to the tour guides lavaliere mic, so he can speak at a normal volume and everyone in the group can hear him. It worked so well that there could be multiple tour groups in the rotunda and everyone could still hear. (My tour guide was very good, but he sounded exactly like Corbin Bernsen [from LA Law and Psych] and looked quite a bit like him as well.)
After the Library of Congress I walked to the Botanic Gardens and just sat and rested while I waited for J. to be done with his last session. It was very pleasant and I wished I'd had the energy to walk through the whole thing. But I still needed enough energy to get to the Metro stop and take the Metro to the airport.
It was a great trip and J. and I enjoyed our time alone. I am also thrilled that TM weathered the whole thing remarkably well and somewhere inside him now knows a little bit more that we always come back and he's always a part of our family.
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