Shadowfax's Washington DC Trip Report--Very short and apologetic update! About This Page:

[Shadowfax]

Cast:
Me, 42, trip planner
Dave, 50 (!), birthday boy

Ahhh, summer. One of the perks of being a teacher is the summer time. Dave and I try to take a trip each summer. This year, Dave turned 50, so I told him he could choose where he wanted to go. Dave is an aviation and space nut, so Washington DC (and the new wing of the Air & Space Museum) was his choice. That was fine with me. I really wanted to visit the new Museum of the American Indian. We both wanted to visit the new World War II memorial, since both our father’s served in that war. So, DC it was!

Next came the planning. We had gone to DC in 1999, and had stayed at a cheaper hotel (a Quality Inn, I think). It was not as expensive at some of the other hotels, but it was also not as conveniently located. We hiked at least a half-mile to the closest metro stop each day. We decided on that trip that if and when we went back to DC we would stay closer to the sites. Ideally, we wanted to stay at the Holiday Inn Capitol, which is located a block from the Metro station and a block from the Air & Space museum.

I started looking at prices last summer, and they were in the $300 a night range. A bit too pricey for my blood. Through the year, the prices came down to a more reasonable level, but never less than about $180 a night. In March, as we saw fewer and fewer rooms available, we made our reservations. The convenience would be worth it.

We started talking about plans and what to do and see. We soon came to call this trip the “Keep it Simple” trip. I suggested things like concerts, theatre, or dinner in fancy restaurants. Every time, Dave would say, “Let’s just keep it simple.” OK, hon, you’re the birthday boy! So our plans are pretty simple.

June 22—arrive at BWI, take the Super Shuttle to our hotel, check in, relax and grab some dinner. Perhaps stroll the Mall a little bit and then hit the sack at a decent hour.

June 23—go to the Air & Space museum and get tickets for the shuttle to the new wing at Dulles for June 24. Then go to the Museum of the American Indian.

June 24—take the shuttle bus out to the new wing of the Air & Space museum

June 25, 26 & 27—Visit the WWII memorial, visit the Italian Renaissance Art exhibit at the National Gallery of Art, visit the American History museum, visit the Air & Space museum on the Mall and possibly visit the Botanical Gardens. We are going to play things by ear. We’ll see how much we get done.

June 28—return to Maine

It’s a quick trip, but we are looking forward to it. We plan on eating at the Post Office Pavilion, Union Station, Legal Seafood and some of the museum cafeterias that have gotten good reviews (especially the café in the American Indian Museum).

Next up: “Hon, there’s this conference in Orlando this summer…” [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/whistling2.gif[/img]

[lynbarsim]

Sounds nice!! Hope you have a lot of fun "taking it easy"! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[LisaJ]

Can't wait to hear about the Museum of the American Indian.

[chezp]

Your plans look great - and you sound like you had a similar experience to us on our honeymoon trip to DC, where we also stayed in a motel in the middle of nowhere somewhere in Arlington. Like you, we decided paying a bit more was worth it for the convenience. [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif[/img]

[Colexis Mom]

Great start [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/zwavin.gif[/img] Have a great time [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/bye.gif[/img]

[lauren-roxy]

Great start!!!! Can't wait to hear all about it when you return!!!

[Shadowfax]

“Hon, there’s this conference in Orlando this summer…” [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/whistling2.gif[/img]

We (OK, I ) tend to plan ahead on our vacations, so what we were going to do on summer vacation was pretty firm by September of '05

As I mentioned, I am a teacher. One of the courses I teach is Advanced Placement English Literature and Composition. Basically, it's a college level course at the high school. You take a course through the year, and a test in May. If you pass, you can get college credit! It's a lot of work, because the kids are very high level students, but it is so exhilirating to teach to a class of very interested, motivated students.

In October, I found out that the Advanced Placement Annual Conference was going to be held in...Walt Disney World at the Swan/Dolphin. I realllllly wanted to go (and not just because it was in WDW...although that helped!). I had been wanting to go to one of these conferences for quite some time.

But our plans were all set...could we afford two vacations? I did some planning and number crunching and I thought it was do-able. But how to convince Dave? [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/questionicon.gif[/img]

One day, in the car, I said, "Hon, the AP conference is being held at WDW this year, and I was wondering if we might be able to go to the conference and then stay a few extra days and see some of the new attractions..."

He looked at me like I had three heads and said, "You're just figuring this out now? I knew we were going to go when you said the conference was at Disney!" [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/foreheadslap.gif[/img]

YAY! So we could do both! And the cool part is that my school district is paying for my conference fee, the first three nights of our hotel and my flight!
How awesome is that?

So watch this space for our adventures in DC, and then later this summer I will post a Disney TR.

Thanks for reading!

[chezp]

Wow - how cool to have two great vacations to be looking forward to! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif[/img]

[katspjs]

That's great! Looking forward to reading about your summer adventures!

[jimmymac]

As they say, the Lord works in mysterious ways. Enjoy both trips

[Colexis Mom]

Congrats Meg [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/zwavin.gif[/img] Have fun [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[lauren-roxy]

How cool to get two vacations!!!!

[Shadowfax]

Day One—Planes, Trains and Automobiles

I woke up early on the 22nd and took care of the dogs. While Dave was still getting a few more winks of sleep, I finished up the rest of the packing. After a quick breakfast we got in the car and dropped Max and Pippin off at the “spa” (which is what we call the kennel). They are boarded at our vet, and they really love animals there, so we feel very comfortable leaving Max & Pip there. Also, with Max being a “senior” dog (he’s 14!) we know that if anything bad happened, they could deal with it quickly. They both feel comfortable there, too.

Then we drove down to Manchester, NH. We fly Southwest out of Manchester for all of our trips. There was little traffic on the way down and we made good time. We joked that we could catch the 11:30 flight to Orlando if we wanted! And, in just three weeks time, we would be!

We checked in to Southwest at the “self check in” counter. I had been able to print my boarding pass the previous day, but we could not print Dave’s. So when we checked the bags, the Southwest employee looked at Dave’s ID and printed his boarding pass for him.

We went through security with no problems, and were soon waiting at the gate. Now I am a little OCD about getting to the airport in time, and most airlines recommend that you arrive two hours before your flight is scheduled to leave. This meant we had some time to kill at the airport. Fortunately, Dave feels the same way. We’ve watched too many episodes of “Airline.” Dave and I chatted, read, and had a bite to eat, and before we knew it, it was time to leave.

We boarded the plan, and got settled in our seats. The flight time to Baltimore is about an hour and a half, so we barely had time to eat our peanuts before we were beginning our descent. It was an uneventful flight, but missing some of the antics that are usually found on a Southwest flight. (Last time we flew to DC our flight crew introduced themselves as Hillary, Chelsea and Monica! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img])

We collected our bags, walked over to the Super Shuttle desk and got our roundtrip tickets. The man at the desk said that we would probably have a 30-minute wait, but it was not more than 10 minutes when they called our number and we boarded our shuttle.

We had an uneventful trip in to DC, and we were the first to be dropped off at our hotel, the Holiday Inn Capitol. This was a very nice hotel and very conveniently located. We were a block and a half away from the Air & Space Museum on the Mall.

Our room was ready, so we went upstairs to check it out. We were on the second floor in a room with a queen bed and a pull out sofa. It was very spacious and comfortable. They had Bath & Bodyworks toiletries. Our room looked out over a charming little courtyard with plants, shrubs and little tables with red and yellow umbrellas. At night, the trees had little white lights in them.



We unpacked and relaxed, and I called my mom to let her know that we had arrived safely. Then we changed clothes (we both felt hot and sticky) and we ventured out to explore.

We knew from our trip in 1999 that the Metro was easy to use, but we needed to get our bearings again. The Metro stop was also about a block and a half away. Very nice! We bought our Metro cards and hopped the Metro to Union Station, having to change trains once. Yup, it was all coming back to us.

We walked into Union Station, and went to get some food. We headed downstairs to the food court section and went right for the Greek place. We both had gyro platters that were very good. We both remembered this place from the last time we had been in DC. On the way out, I stopped in a store and bought some postcards, then we made the Metro trip home again.

When we got to the hotel, we went up to our room, showered and then hit the sack. We were headed to the new Museum of the American Indian the next day.

Coming up: The Native World and “Mitsitam!”

[Colexis Mom]

Great update [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/zwavin.gif[/img] More please [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/laugh.gif[/img]

[chezp]

Great start to your trip - how [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img] to have Bath and Body Works toiletries in your room, they're my favourite! [img]/ubb/images/graemlins/waytogo.gif[/img]