Our final day
One of the places
that Abby really wanted to see was the National Air & Space museum, so I told her
we would go there first on Friday morning.
I woke the girls up at 8, and when I told Megan that Abby and I were going to Air/Space, that mom wasn't, and she didn’t have to go, she promptly fell face-first back onto the bed.
Mom, Abby and I went to this small cafe by McDonalds and had an excellent breakfast, then mom went back to the hotel, and Abby and I took off. Major bummer - Air/Space didn't open until 10, and we didn't have the time to wait right then. Since we did have time to kill (plan was to be at the zoo by 10), I checked with mom to see if she wanted to walk to the Library of Congress (LoC). She decided to pass, and Abby and I set forth on our early-morning walking tour.
The Air/Space museum was two blocks from our hotel and provided a few opportunities for some nice outdoor shots.
The LoC is behind the Capitol, so we stopped for a photo op there.
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| Narly old trees on the Capitol lawn. |
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| That would be Abby on the steps. Backside of the Capitol. |
Shots in the LoC.
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| I had to get a picture of this. Don't think I've ever used a marble and mahogany restroom before. |
I called mom when we were ready to head back to the hotel so she could get Megan up and be ready to go. Abby went up to the room to drop off our souvenirs and get them while I waited on the corner. I should say here - the hotel posted, and dropped notices to each room, that the elevators would be shut down from 11-1; supposedly after the check out time and when most tourists were sightseeing. They must have only kept one elevator running before 11 a.m. because it seemed like FOREVER before they got back downstairs.
The rest of our day was a race against time....
We headed to the Metro at 10 a.m. with a goal of getting to the National Zoo (another first for me) by the 11 a.m. octopus feeding and to see the pandas. How often would anyone get to see those, huh??
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| Waiting in the subway. |
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| Mom & my constant view of the two ahead of us. |
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| You have to make sure you exit the right side! |
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| Cute suburb area. |
After our Metro ride and about a mile walk, we got to the zoo.
While the weather was in the low 90s all week, it was still hot, and after checking the map, the octopus feeding was on the opposite side of the entrance....(of course !)...and we were running short of time. I saw that scooters and wheelchairs were available, so we made a quick stop to get a free wheelchair for my mom. (She felt bad the whole time I pushed, BUT I was completely fine with it!) Mom gets in the wheelchair, and the first thing I do is turn it around and run into Abby's heel. OUCH! I REALLY felt bad! We take off for the octopus area. The hill is like a 30 degree angle down, so I basically used my weight to keep Stella from taking a plummet down the hill. This was one of the few times that mom and I were ahead of Megan and Abby on the trail! We kept having to stop along the way to make sure that we were going the right direction. When we finally got there, we were too late for the feeding which was a bummer. We missed it by 10 minutes. Still took a few minutes to get some photos.
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| This is a really cool glowing something-or-other. |
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| Matthew - this hermit crab was massive! |
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OK, we missed the octopus feeding, but the pandas weren't on a timer so we headed that direction - and the 30 degree angle seemed like a 60 degrees! Really, it wasn't THAT bad. Abby and Megan veered off the path and went to the monkey house then met mom and me at the pandas. Here's the panda photo - getting as close as possible with my lens.
While I can say that I saw one, I wasn't that impressed. It wasn't the cute black and white bear; I guess he hadn't had his daily bath yet. [smile] I definitely don't think a visit to the zoo was worth the time spent getting there. Why? It was small, a lot of pavement, on a huge hill, and didn't have many animals. Besides, what zoo doesn't have a giraffe?! KC's zoo is far above this one. We came and saw.
We returned to the Metro with a plan to put mom and Megan on the train back to the hotel - 'get off on the 7th stop and you'll know where you are' and Abby and I went to retrieve the phone. There wasn't any sense in all of us going plus I wasn't sure how long it would take to get there and back to the hotel before the 2:00 checkout.
As we're on the red line and going further away from downtown, the riders get fewer and change from business people to neighborhood, and it wasn't looking like the mega-million neighborhood either. WHY did I not send my really expensive camera back with Megan/mom???? Two whities with a camera screams TOURISTS in a not so nice place. But, hey, I had taken on East St. Louis, right?
As soon as we get off the train, I asked a Metro worker where the lost & found was. 'Through the shopping area, over the bridge (over a road) and take a right' is what I heard. I also had an address. When we got to the corner, I looked both ways and didn't know which direction to go. Thankfully, Abby heard the 'white building' part at the end of the Metro person's directions. Well, we get to the right building, right floor, and right room. (I really wish I would have taken a picture of this place.) What we see is about a five foot square of bullet-proof glass with a two foot box for transferring items between sides. Also has a five inch speaker-thingy. It's got a prison-feel to it - although I've never been to one. The lady, behind the glass and behind her cube wall about four feet away, didn't appear to see us so I said hello to get her attention and got a 'wait a minute'. okayyyy When she gets to the glass, I tell her my name and give her the reference number. She looks it up and then we have quite a discussion about being visitors, using Mark's name to make sure the message was received, that I'm the wife, the phone actually being Abby's, yada, yada. She gives me a REALLY skeptical look and says she needs a driver's license. So I open my side door and Abby and I put our licenses in and close it. Nope, she only wants mine (God-forbid that Abby's should be there too) so I open the door back up and take Abby's out then close it. She opens it, takes mine out, closes the door, inspects it and says she has to make a copy. [I am seriously thinking 'okayyyy, whatever, we're on a time crunch, and some other not so nice things at this point.] Two whitie tourists, shorts/tanks and obviously not hold uzis, and she's acting like we're going to do a hold-up with that whole door thing. If I hadn't been so irritated (can you tell that I still am?!) and the situation so ridiculous, it would have been National Lampoon's hilarious. Finally, we do the whole thing in reverse with my license and Abby's phone going into the box ("Don't open that door until mine is closed!) and get the heck out of dodge and back to the Metro asap!
When we're on the Metro, I text Megan to let her know we're on our way and getting there by 2:00 check out is iffy. I let her know to put our contingency plan into place, i.e. throw everything in to suitcases and we'll rearrange when we get there, which they did. Our next scene is to rearrange the suitcase stuffings in the hallway to get airport-ready. Wouldn't you know that the manager walks by and wants to know if everything is okay. She said they wouldn't have kicked us out for being late. Oh, well. So we're rearranging, and I have the girls each take a few of the liquids, so I didn't have another KC airport scene. We haul our baggage to Quiznos a few doors down for a quick lunch then grab a cab to the airport for my check in since my flight left first. It's the dreaded scales.... HA! Suitcase is 47.5 lbs! No, I couldn't leave it at that. I added another pound and a half and sent it on it's merry little way.
Reagan National airport is about a mile long from one end to the other. Yes, I was on one end and they were on the other. We head to their check-in, get it taken care of, and I deposit them close but outside of security. They have quiet a long wait so they'll at least be able to get food, see stores, etc. I get back to my end, through security and to the gate then text Abby right before I board to go ahead through security to make sure they have plenty of time. She was good with that. I must have been living right because I was in put in a 'premium' plane seat with no upcharge. Lots of leg room and napping on the plane - woohoo!
I landed, picked Em up at the cousins, stopped by Wally-world and got home about 10 minutes before MAM did. (Megan's parents picked them up at the airport.)
Overall, MAM didn't get to see as much as on the itinerary, but they had a good time with lots of experiences so it was well worth it especially since I was able to take Abby at very little cost. (Another woo-hoo!) She didn't get to see the Air/Space, but I'm sure that there are trips in my future and she can the next time.
So that's the story of MAM goes to Washington D.C.
