All Around Washington, D.C.

Sing to the Tune of "Pop Goes the Weasel."

All around Washington, D.C.
Stephanie chased the Conductor
Sarah and I thought it all in fun
Missing! Went the conductor.

So, Stephanie (who had driven down from Boston on Sunday with Florin's physical therapist) and her friend Sarah blew into town on Monday morning from Bel Air, Maryland ("Blaire, Murrlnd" if you're from there), where Sarah lives and where Stephanie had spent the night, about 11 a.m. They offloaded their gear, I drove them to Van Ness so they could run down to see the new Museum and the Botanic Gardens, and then Marianna and I got over to Curves in time to work out before they closed at 1 for their two hour afternoon break. I worked on the painting of Ricky all afternoon when I got home, until they called from Van Ness to have me come and get them again. We drove straight to Parthenon for a dinner of shared mostly vegetarian appetizers.

That night we figured out how we would get to Oxon Hill on Tuesday morning to see a class in conductive education by one of the few people in the country who does it, basically because Stephanie needs to know how different it is from the regular therapy Florin already gets for her little legs, which have some cerebral palsy, the stiff kind. We figured out it was the way I used to take back and forth between my apartment in Oxon Hill and here when Jim and I were dating, lo those many, many years ago. Although I remembered generally how to do it, it's a good thing Stephanie was navigating Tuesday morning because I would have gone wrong more than once on the 395 to 295 Expressway around the capitol and Blue Plains. And we ended up getting lost for a bit when we finally, or almost, got to Maryland, anyhow. And when we finally reached our destination, a church off the beaten path, oh, 45 minutes late or so, the woman, the Conductor, had in fact never even shown up or called and it didn't look like she would be coming after all. It was a good thing it was a beautiful day for a drive.

Stephanie then convinced us to go over the Woodrow Wilson bridge and have lunch in Old Town, which was cool, because we went to Bilbo Baggins, which she had never heard of, and she bought a loaf of their chocolate bread to bring home to Chuck, apparently a hobbit fan. Who knew?! After a quick tour of the harbor and the Torpedo Factory, we headed for Georgetown and Dumbarton Oaks Gardens and then cruised Mount Vernon College and made cutting remarks about G.W. before heading home for a much needed rest and a shower before dinner. Charlotte joined us for dinner at Yosaku, Stephanie's favorite Japanese restaurant, and then Sarah headed home.

Wednesday a.m. flew by and before we knew it we were back on the road again, this time to Dulles airport via Route 123 and the Dulles Tollroad in Virginia. We had time for a quick stop for lunch at Wegman's in Sterling before I dropped Stephanie off to get checked in and wait for her 2:00 flight to Boston, which became a 9:30 flight to Providence when that was cancelled due to storms in Massachusetts. I was half expecting her to have to come back that evening, but when I didn't hear from her, I figured it had gotten out and she was on her way home at last. She called yesterday a.m. to confirm she had gotten in and home safely. What a lot of traveling she did in a short time!

And I bet I put more miles on my car in those two days than I generally do in a month. About the only route around or through the City we didn't take was 270 north to Frederick. But we managed to avoid the Beltway for the most part, we all had a great time, and I'm sure it was good for the carburetor.