Fall Vacation 2009

One of the small joys of being an empty nester is the ability to take a fall vacation. Of course, the willingness of Laura to house sit and look after our diabetic cat, Andy, was the real key to our ability to travel, and we thank her for allowing us this lovely journey.

We planned our trip, beginning with a 2-day business meeting in D.C., then decided on a series of 1-way flights to visit Bob's family in Connecticut with a 1-day stopover in Colorado to visit Hannah on the way home.

Even with a netbook in the bags, 10 days out of the office gives one pause. How long does one dare go without checking work email? Fortunately, I checked often enough not to miss the three or four emails requiring an immediate turn-around, and I finally let go of checking by about day 7 with no harm.

This posting concerns our visit to Washington, D.C. - one of my favorite cities.

We flew out on Continental, and landed in the bulkhead seat on both legs of the flight. Hooray for leg-room, and one of the planes actually had carry on space under the 1st class seat in front of us that we could access. We arrived and took a taxi to the happy hour gathering for the meeting attendees. Bob sweetly took the bags on to the b&b, then returned.

The Uptown Intown Inn is located in Columbia Heights about 2 miles from the nearest metro. We stayed in the fabulous Wisteria Room. The chandelier rather dominates the room, but it was quite comfortable and we had a beautiful jacuzzi tub, delicious breakfasts, and an evening treat when we returned home. Sandy, the proprieter, is a UA alum and a great hostess and cook.

We enjoyed the scrapbook on the history of the mansion. Two stories, in particular, tickled our funny bones. The child of the original owners eloped, then it was reported in the paper, that they followed up the elopement with not one, but two weddings. The first, a Catholic mass was held on Friday (the bride was Catholic), and then a Methodist wedding was held at which the groom's father officiated. It was the first day of Lent, so no reception was held in keeping with the solemnity of the season. The groom's mother knew nothing about the wedding mass, but they liked the bride whom the son had known for some time. All's well that ends well.

The house passed on to an industrialist who was a little more daring in his ways. During Prohibition, he had an expensive liquor collection containing name brand scotch, cognac, whiskey etc. A theft occurred and was reported. Shortly thereafter, an arrest was made on an alleged repeat attempt. The person arrested happened to be a policeman from another district who claimed to be staking out the place on a tip. The claim seemed a bit specious as he was from another district and off-duty. Nevertheless, the good cop was tried and found innocent.

The Peace Corps Coordinator meeting was held at headquarter's some distance from the b&b. The D.C. taxis were on strike - or so they said, so I took the 53/54/55 bus to the Columbia Heights metro stop, hopped on the green or yellow line for several stops, transferred to the red line at Gallary Place, and took that to Farragut North, then hiked 3 blocks to Peace Corps headquarters. The first day, all this took about 30 minutes and was an easy and peaceful commute.

The second day, I was still feeling the change of time zone, and ended up leaving a mere 10 minutes later than the first day. This led to an amusing sequence of events on the bus. The bus arrived promptly, and I boarded. We toddled along for a few blocks, then the drivers changed. Two lady bus drivers got on board. One drove, and the second seemed to be a hostess, greeting riders with, "Don't be shy! Come on up." After a few stops, the traffic slowed our progress. Then we arrived at a stop only about 2 blocks from the metro. A woman sitting at the stop was hollering something at the bus, and another fellow seemed to be debating whether to board the bus. He was high on something, and was making a bit of noise. The riders on the bus tensed a bit. I could see my stop by the metro where I needed to get off, but we were all in the grip of this conversation. The fellow boarded the bus while the lady continued to yell. After a little time...how long does one search for bus fare....the two little drivers nimbly tossed the fellow off the bus. The bus riders breathed a sigh of relief, and we lurched to my final stop.

Ironically, we were slowed as the young man walked casually in front of the bus, hollering at the drivers and hoisting an arm high to tell the ladies what he thought of them. We all giggled and wanted to applaud the drivers. Just a day in the life.

The El Salvadoran woman next to me shook her head and said her son fell into drinking when they moved here, and she made him return home. He was mad at her, but she didn't care. She didn't want him in this tempting big city environment. She worked hard, and he had been lazy.

From there, the rest of the commute was uneventful. I missed a few minutes of the meeting, but I savored this rich experience. Staying in the hotel/govt. district where I usually stay, I'd never experience this local slice of life!

August in Tucson

Students are rolling into town. We are scurrying to complete preparations for the start of the semester. This is a time of anticipation and a bit of anxiety, but it always turns out.

The treat of the day was seeing Julie & Julia in the theater, enjoying Meryl Streep's performance (and all the rest), while eating a greasy red baron pizza and popcorn. We all howled at the Dan Akroyd homage, and admired the food. It reminded me of my own 1970 and 1973 editions of Matering the Art of French Cooking (vol. II & I). I remember wading through recipes very carefully and slowly. Then watching Julia on t.v. frees up any cook.

We are beginning to look for signs of fall approaching - mainly it dries up and cools down at night. I don't care to think about the heat so much this time of year. Trips to Colorado and Flagstaff definitely helped.