On To Virginia

Union Station in DC is amazing -- I didn't know we had such beautiful train stations in America. It tops Grand Central in New York.

We took Amtrak to Williamsburg for the colonial part of our trip.


It was an uneventful journey, slowed a bit when we got stuck behind a freight train, which takes precedence. We arrived 45 minutes late and rushed to check in at the Williamsburg Lodge, where I'd found a great off-season package deal. (The hotel is lovely, the breakfast buffet was delicious, and the location can't be beat.) The desk staff helped us reschedule our dinner and we headed to the King's Arms Tavern for our first taste of Colonial Williamsburg.

The next morning we rented a car and drove over to Jamestown Settlement, next to the original Jamestown colony, to see replicas of the fort, ships, and Powhatan village. Another beautiful day made exploring the sites a pleasure. Anna's medicine had kicked in and she was back to her normal cheery self.



Lunch was at the Old Chickahominy House on Jamestown Road. Get the biscuits with Virginia ham and Brunswick Stew. Delicious.

We spent the afternoon in Colonial Williamsburg, poking around shops, hearing the Declaration of Independance read, learning just a tiny bit more about book binding than we really wanted to know, and touring the Governor's palace. John liked how they added a wing for balls and dinners so they could have the biggest parties.

That night we drove up to Francesco's, another Italian place suggested to us by the Enterprise rental guy. I had one of the specials, cheese-stuffed rigatoni in a pink sauce with prosciutto, peas, and sundried tomatoes. It was fantastic. And Francesco, the owner and chef, makes the best cannoli ever. Fresh, high-quality ricotta cream with chocolate bits, piped into the shell just before serving -- exactly the way it should be.

The next morning we saw a bit more of Colonial Williamsburg (apothecary and parish church) before heading back to the hotel and our ride to the airport in Richmond. We got there in plenty of time for the three-hour delay due to weather... in Dallas. We got home later than planned, trading sun for snow (!) and cold at home.



Back to real life.

The Cliffs Go To Washington

We had a great time... mostly. Got up at the crack of dawn on Tuesday to fly from cold, rainy Dallas and arrived in DC to find sunshine and gorgeous blue skies. We took the metro from the airport to our hotel and scooted right over to the Capitol (after walking several blocks again to the metro, which Anna protested, and grabbing hotdogs from vendor for lunch, which Anna protested) for a tour arranged by our congressman. In this week leading up to the vote on health care it was interesting to see from the gallery how the speakers (mostly Republican) performed for empty House seats and the broadcast camera.

It was under the smaller dome (House side) where a cranky Anna plopped down on the floor and said, "I want to die. Can you make me die, Mom?"


That should have been a clue. Or the fact that she could only be enticed to eat ice cream. But it had been an early morning. So we pressed on to the Library of Congress. Which is stunning. Although the cool round room shown in National Treasure can only be seen through plexiglass, which was a bummer.

After a disappointing meal at Good Stuff Eatery (great shakes, interesting burger, yucky limp and greasy fries to dip in intriguing mango mayo) we headed back to the hotel to soak our feet and rest for the next day's adventure. Anna seemed warm so John ran to the nearby CVS pharmacy to buy one of those almost useless digital thermometers. The four or five different readings all pointed to fever of some degree. Poor Anna.

So Wednesday morning I scheduled an afternoon appointment at urgent care and we traded the metro for a taxi to the National Museum of American History. We dragged Anna through our own highlights tour, including Kermit the Frog, Dorothy's ruby slipper, Lincoln's top hat, THE Star Spangled Banner, first lady gowns, and Julia Child's kitchen.


Lunch on the street again, and we were off to the National Archives rotunda to see the Magna Carta, Declaration of Independance, and the Bill of Rights. Then a short walk and a Wonka-esque glass elevator to the observation deck of the Old Post Office Tower, where we could see the whole downtown area.

Then, while John and Kate went to see the Hope Diamond and dinosaurs at the Museum of Natural History, Anna and I got to spend some quality time at urgent care waiting well past an hour for her scheduled appointment. She napped, sitting up in a chair, as I texted and fumed. It didn't encourage me when the doctor's first words were, "I'm not a pediatrician." (But you are a doctor, right?)

With prescription for antibiotics in hand, we grabbed another taxi and raced John and Kate to the Lincoln Memorial. We won.

Anna, refreshed by her nap in the waiting room, complained a bit less as we toured the Vietnam and Korean War memorials. Powerful. I did not expect to be so moved.

We ended with the Lincoln Memorial, just as the setting sun began to turn everything golden.


We finished off the day in Georgetown with a splurge meal at Filomena, an Italian restaurant recommended by our taxi driver. Anna actually put her head down on the table, and it was hard to have to gently discourage her. We all shared a piece of perfect cheesecake. Yum.

The next morning we taxied to Union Station to store our bags until it was time for our train to Colonial Williamsburg (my best-laid metro plans were trumped by sickness) so we arrived with the required cell phones and wallets only for our White House tour -- which Karen's amazing friend who works in Senator Bennett's office was able to arrange for us. (Thanks, Kathryn!)

What can I say, it was The White House. So cool to be able to walk where presidents have walked. (Wish I could post a photo of us out front, but I don't know how to get it out of my phone yet.)

We found a pedicab outside just waiting for us and meant to take it to the nearest metro station but somehow ended up winding through sunny streets all the way back to Union Station.

It was a fantastic way to bid farewell to DC.

What Do You Do at 3am?

When you can't sleep because a child came to snuggle and your DH is sawing logs, you can try moving to the quieter guest room with said snuggler and drift back to sleep. If that doesn't happen you can try to will yourself to sleep for a few hours. Or you can skip that fun and go mess around on the computer until fatigue sets in.

That's what I do. Last time I perused the blogosphere and silly YouTube comic bits from the BBC (am I bovvered?)

But not today. Today I uploaded the photos in my camera and organized them along with all the photos I had transferred from my PC into nice tidy albums in iphoto. Then I deleted all the files from my camera.

Ahhhhh... it's been awhile.

Now my camera is cleaned out, those photos are all in place, and I can drop more pix into my posts and get going on a few other projects. (I'm not thinking about the CDs I need to upload and organize.)

Stay tuned for the DC trip.

Meanwhile, Back At the Ranch...

The girls had Spring Break last week, and since John took a gap week between his old job with FifthThird and the new job with Fiserv that he started today, we went a-vaycationing. We went to DC and Colonial Williamsburg and Jamestown Settlement. There were museums and monuments and urgent care. But that is a story for another day.

Because right now I have to finish my fluff and fold so the laundry room project can be wrapped up tomorrow by fantastic handyman Steve. And I need to do some dishes and clear off the kitchen counters and cabinet tops for a little ceiling work that fantastic handyman Steve will be doing later this week. And I should really mop, which seems counter-intuitive just before the ceiling gets demolished, but fantastic handyman Steve said he'd tack down the strip of quarter-round that broke free from the island and the floor really should be cleaned before he does that.

And then I want to run over to Lowes to look at handles for the new laundry room doors that fantastic handyman Steve made for us, since the handles I got aren't quite right. Fantastic handyman Steve thought they should be beefier, but I liked them so he figured out a way to install them on doors they were never meant to be used on and voila! Now that we've had a few days to live with them I realize that he was right (his suggestions have been spot-on up to now, so you'd think I would have paid closer attention) and those handles will have to be replaced. I hate to ask, even though I know he won't mind.

So right now I need to quit messing around on the computer and get my chores and errands done so I can be back before 3pm -- because the days of kids coming home to Dad have come to an end and I'm back in the saddle again.

Stay tuned for photos of the projects, and fantastic handyman Steve, another day. Because you should hire him to do fantastic projects around your house. But not until we're done with ours.