Washington DC 2018

25 March 2018 - We roused the kids and left the house before dawn on this Sunday morning to start our first family road trip. The kids were good and fairly quiet as we made our way to Chicago for our first driver change. I hadn't driven around Chicago in years, but despite the "lighter" traffic, it was still pretty busy. The kids were impressed by the array of skyscrapers. I drove on to Lebanon, IN. Felix must have gotten overheated, because he threw up in a bag shortly before, but had no problem getting sandwiches for lunch. Nick took us into Indianapolis to go to the Speedway. Felix enjoyed looking at all the old cars and taking lots of pictures. Iris (at 5) was less interested. I tried to keep her occupied doing things like "how many cars with #1 are there?" and "how many are orange?" Unfortunately, we couldn't go on the track due to "track activity" (I suspect last night's snow). We let each kid pick out a small car as a souvenir (both picked NASCARs and are no longer going to inherit anything of mine. ;) ). The last 2-ish hours were rough - traffic was heavy, many semis, kids were bored and noisy... Finally made it to our hotel outside Dayton, OH. At least the weather was good all day. Kids went a bit crazy and the pool door lock was not functioning, much to all of our chagrin (especially Iris's). Got pizzas for dinner instead, and had a silly dance party in the room to work off energy. Also played Pass the Pigs together. Trip count so far: 33 state plates, 2 Teslas.

Kids all ready to go!

Felix taking one of many, many pictures at IMS

26 March - Up and on the road at 7:45. Felix was crabby this morning. Fairly uneventful trip from Dayton to Wheeling to Uniontown to DC. Both kids got tetchy. Too much for them. But we made it to our Airbnb apartment in Falls Church, VA. Stopped at Target for provisions on our way in. We managed to get in and get settled. It's clear we haven't taken the kids on many vacations - they don't know how to handle being not at home. To avoid more car time, we ordered dinner from a nearby French restaurant chain - La Madeleine. Watched a couple episodes of the Great British Baking Show while we waited. good, and made everybody feel human again. The view wasn't as good as our lunch view (deli sandwiches at a scenic overlook south of Unionville). Nick called Steve & Vicky to say hi. We got the kids to bed by 9:30. Watched Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.

Interesting rock cut on the road

27 March - Our first day in the DC area. Our first attempt at parking and riding was a bust - parking lot was full. So, we drove away and found a friendlier stop. The kids enjoyed their first Metro ride from West Falls Church to L'Enfant Plaza. It was a bit of a gray, cool day, which wasn't great as we had to wait in line for ~40 minutes before we could get through security and into the National Air & Space Museum. Nick took Felix around, and I followed Iris's interest. She wandered here and there.... loved the escalators best of all. We got "moon cheese" as a snack. Felix picked out a Blue Angel model plane as a souvenir. Iris got a stuffed space shuttle. It was ~1:30 when we left. we got lunch from one of the nearby food truck s- crepes! We got 2 savory crepes to share and a sweet crepe. It was a bit rainy out, and the kids had had enough, so we headed back to our apartment. There, we spent some quiet time watching the Great British Baking Show, letting the kids play and planning our day tomorrow. We had a very nice dinner out with the kids at the Dogfish Head Alehouse. Kids were good, food and beer were good, music (80s rock & pop) was good. Still rainy/drizzly out, so we just headed back. More baking show, fairly quiet play by the kids, good moods. Trip count: 42 plates, including Newfoundland/Labrador!

At the Air & Space Museum

Crepes in the park

28 March - We were going to go to the zoo today, but a cool, rainy forecast changed our plans. We opted instead to buy tickets for a trolley tour. We ate breakfast, and got ourselves out the door, and over the West Falls Church Metro station. Took the train and made a transfer to get over to Arlington Cemetery. Once in, hopped on a tram and got the guided tour. We got off at JFK's grave site and spent ~15 minutes waiting for and watching the changing of the guard and noon at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The kids were underwhelmed by the waiting... We had a bit of a detour because a full Marine funeral procession was underway. Finished off the tour on the tram and headed back to the Welcome Center... Last night, we found there was a mouse in our apartment. At first, we thought it was just a shadow from car headlights, but then Nick saw it at 11:15 and woke me up to attempt to get it out. Because of this, our Airbnb host gave us half our paid rate ($200) back and $30 to one of his restaurants in Georgetown. So, after Arlington, we headed toward Foggy Bottom/GW on the Metro and walked through the light rain to ThunderBurger. I had the turkey burger and Nick had the boar burger. The kids got mac and cheese, of course. All very tasty and a good beer selection. Tummy-full, we headed back to the Metro. It was about 2-2:30 by then. I made the family pop into the GWU Science and Engineering Center to use the restroom. From there, took the Metro to Metro Center. Walked past Ford's Theater on the way to start the trolley tour. It started raining harder, so it was good to be on board. The trolley tour showed the kids many of DC's major sights. Iris got board fairly quickly. Felix got tired and crabby. And yet, when the driver dropped us off by Chinatown after 6:30, we still thought it was worthwhile to try to get some oysters. Alas (?), it was too busy at Legal Sea Foods, so we headed back in rush hour traffic to our apartment. Got the kids fed a light dinner, watched another episode of the Great British Baking Show and got the kids to bed ~9. Trip count: 36 state plates (missing Hawaii, Montana, Rhode Island, South Dakota), 3 Teslas.

Sleeping at Arlington

On the rainy trolley tour

Jefferson Memorial in the background

29 March - Since today was supposed to be nicer, we had a quiet morning in the apartment. I did a load of laundry, the kids did ski-jumping with their animals and we finished the GBBS. We made pasta and sauce for lunch, then hit the road for our afternoon in DC. We headed to the National Zoo on the Metro. Iris started off the zoo in a crabby mood. Not too many animals were visible right away, but since it was nice out, there was quite a crowd. Things got better with the kids. we took them on the carousel, let them pick out small stuffed animals, and just took it easy. I think our favorite part, as a family, was going through the Amazonia building. We were all pleased with that. It felt pretty warm when we got done, so headed back up to the exit, saw the cheetahs and headed to meet Natalie for dinner at Duke's Counter across the street. The kids were great, playing on etch-a-sketches (Iris asked, "how does it turn on?") and with their new animals. Nick and Natalie had a good conversation. Good food, good beer. Said bye to Nat at the Metro station, then headed back to our car. Iris and Felix have gotten the Metro experience down. :) Got back around 8:45, put the kids to bed. No new plates today. :(

Felix was less than thrilled Iris got the big cat and he didn't

Dinner with Natalie

Iris showing how to read a Metro map

30 March - We got up at 6 and left the apartment by 7 to head back home. Traffic was tolerable heading out of DC on I-70. We hit rain going through the mountains on the Maryland-Pennsylvania border. Felix had a bad reaction to his medication plus the curves plus the elevation changes. He used several of our spare bags in quick succession, but he felt better as we got closer to Pittsburgh. We grabbed Einstein Bros bagel sammies for lunch in Cranberry Township, and hit the rainy/snowy/windy road. Nick drove the whole way, at his own preference. The kids were pretty chill and didn't whine much about the monotony. It helped that we ended our day at 3 pm outside Toledo. Got into our hotel and finally let the kids go swimming. We went down to the pool for a while,then came back to the room and cleaned up. The kids played for a while before we ran to Kroger to get food for dinner and more bags. we ate back in the hotel room, watching some TV. The kids got a bit wild. I tried to calm them down with Crazy Eights. Disappointingly, no new plates! Read after lights out.

Dinner in bed

31 March - Up and out by 7:20. Felix was a bit pokey. Good thing we had a little wiggle room built into our timetable. Hit rain nearing Chicago. Kids were good in the morning, but you can tell they want to be done. We got to the Tesla dealership by 10 in time for Nicks' scheduled test drive. I rode in the back of an S between the kids. Iris wasn't terribly impressed - she fell asleep on the ride. Let Nick ask all the questions he wanted and kept the kids from getting too irritated. Left ~11:15, got lunch at a grocery store, and hit the road again. Got home at 3:30. Everyone was happy to be home, and Roary and Amy are glad we're back, too.

Setting off at sunrise on our last travel day

Total trip cost: $1,468.95
{transcribed 1/30/2020}