From – Fredericksburg (VA)
To – Washington (DC)
Miles Driven – 50
Today’s Photos - http://www.flickr.com/photos/32017704@N03/sets/72157611571560832/
What a roller coaster of a day. I woke up to an incredible blue sky, glorious sunshine, the prospect of a day at the Air & Space Museum a
nd the knowledge that tonight’s hotel was already booked and leagues nicer than anything I had stayed in for the previous week. And then the wife arrived in town with a highly contagious virus, gallons of mucus escaping from every facial cavity and the predictable jet-lag. I’m being harsh, of course, and I wouldn’t say this to her face but I guess it’s good to have her back. If nothing else, I’ve got someone else to help with the bags and to write the occasional blog entry…
T minus 9 hours Until The Return of the Barrel of Snot.
With the full day to play with before I donned the cap for limo duty, I enjoyed a glorious drive back to DC before hitting the Air & Space museum which we were too lazy to do when we were last here a week ago. To give you an idea of the amount of stuff in this place, in addition to the main museum in the centre of the city, there’s an overspill museum near the airport that contains a space shuttle and one of the Concorde planes. That’s quite a junk garage, no? I’m going to find this hard to explain, but for some reason I was a bit let down by the museum and, having given it some deep thought, I’ve realized it’s because it only contained aircraft and spaceships and I’m not actually that interested in either. So it’s not the museum’s fault – it was me not really knowing myself. Anyway, highlights were the Apollo 11 command module, the Breitling round the world balloon, an original Wright Brothers plane (it went 852 feet in 59 seconds, in case you were asking), The Spirit of Texas helicopter that went around the world in 30 days but with loads of refueling stops (I don’t really see what’s impressive about this one) and a lunar rover. It’s probably pant filling stuff if that’s your bag but give me two quadratic equations and a bottle of wine any day.
T Minus 4 Hours Until The Mucus Tidal Wave Lands. Th
e Sheraton I’m in (in Reston, 5 miles from the airport, right next to Vienna which is lovely) has a gym so, given that drinking to excess before picking Kate up would probably not go down well, I decided to check it out. I can report that the gym is very nice (well stocked, nice view, plenty of machines), but I can give a more detailed, first hand description of the jalapeño burger from the Chili’s which is next to the hotel. To hell with exercise, I’m just going to move to Arabia after this trip where fat men are rightfully revered and respected.
There was no delaying it anymore – my final moments of freedom were ebbing away at the same speed that time flies by when faced with an impending dentist appointment. A check of the BA web-site reported that the flight was a bit early so the welcoming party (myself and a confused Molly) headed to Dulles’ Cell Phone Waiting Area which must have been designed by a Northern Englishman as it doesn’t involve paying parking fees. Despite being upgraded to Business Class on the way home, Kate was a heady mix of ill and tired. Add to this the need for an early morning the next day because we have nearly 500 miles of windy mountain roads to get to Asheville in time for Christmas and you’ll understand why, by 10pm, our room was filled with the sound of snoring.
To – Washington (DC)
Miles Driven – 50
Today’s Photos - http://www.flickr.com/photos/32017704@N03/sets/72157611571560832/
What a roller coaster of a day. I woke up to an incredible blue sky, glorious sunshine, the prospect of a day at the Air & Space Museum a
nd the knowledge that tonight’s hotel was already booked and leagues nicer than anything I had stayed in for the previous week. And then the wife arrived in town with a highly contagious virus, gallons of mucus escaping from every facial cavity and the predictable jet-lag. I’m being harsh, of course, and I wouldn’t say this to her face but I guess it’s good to have her back. If nothing else, I’ve got someone else to help with the bags and to write the occasional blog entry…T minus 9 hours Until The Return of the Barrel of Snot.
With the full day to play with before I donned the cap for limo duty, I enjoyed a glorious drive back to DC before hitting the Air & Space museum which we were too lazy to do when we were last here a week ago. To give you an idea of the amount of stuff in this place, in addition to the main museum in the centre of the city, there’s an overspill museum near the airport that contains a space shuttle and one of the Concorde planes. That’s quite a junk garage, no? I’m going to find this hard to explain, but for some reason I was a bit let down by the museum and, having given it some deep thought, I’ve realized it’s because it only contained aircraft and spaceships and I’m not actually that interested in either. So it’s not the museum’s fault – it was me not really knowing myself. Anyway, highlights were the Apollo 11 command module, the Breitling round the world balloon, an original Wright Brothers plane (it went 852 feet in 59 seconds, in case you were asking), The Spirit of Texas helicopter that went around the world in 30 days but with loads of refueling stops (I don’t really see what’s impressive about this one) and a lunar rover. It’s probably pant filling stuff if that’s your bag but give me two quadratic equations and a bottle of wine any day.T Minus 4 Hours Until The Mucus Tidal Wave Lands. Th
e Sheraton I’m in (in Reston, 5 miles from the airport, right next to Vienna which is lovely) has a gym so, given that drinking to excess before picking Kate up would probably not go down well, I decided to check it out. I can report that the gym is very nice (well stocked, nice view, plenty of machines), but I can give a more detailed, first hand description of the jalapeño burger from the Chili’s which is next to the hotel. To hell with exercise, I’m just going to move to Arabia after this trip where fat men are rightfully revered and respected.There was no delaying it anymore – my final moments of freedom were ebbing away at the same speed that time flies by when faced with an impending dentist appointment. A check of the BA web-site reported that the flight was a bit early so the welcoming party (myself and a confused Molly) headed to Dulles’ Cell Phone Waiting Area which must have been designed by a Northern Englishman as it doesn’t involve paying parking fees. Despite being upgraded to Business Class on the way home, Kate was a heady mix of ill and tired. Add to this the need for an early morning the next day because we have nearly 500 miles of windy mountain roads to get to Asheville in time for Christmas and you’ll understand why, by 10pm, our room was filled with the sound of snoring.
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