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Travelogue:
Virginia and DC
July 2005
By
Roger W. Reini
By
date:
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Saturday
July 2
In previous years, I would not have taken a major vacation at this time
of year. However, this year, there was a new one-week
shutdown at work, and with few exceptions, everyone had to take 4 days
of vacation to go along with the July 4th holiday. And with
my sister and her family being back in this country for a
month’s worth of vacation in Virginia, I knew what I would do
and where I would go.
Earlier in the day, I’d heard from my sister
Sharon. They were stuck in a traffic jam on I-95 on the way
to Virginia Beach. The cause was an accident, one serious
enough that helicopters were brought in for the injured. I
was still at home, for my trip would not begin until that
night. I was going to take the train from Dearborn to
Washington, then rent a car for the drive to Virginia Beach.
Originally, I would have left Friday evening, but when I went to buy
the train ticket, that train was sold out. So I got tickets
for the next night, which was today, and a return ticket for one week
from today.
I left the house around 7:15 for an 8:45 PM departure. I had
time to stop for supper at McDonald’s, where I had one of
their salads. Then it was off to the credit union’s
offices to get some cash for the trip, and then it was over to the
train station to wait for the bus that would take me to Toledo to catch
the train to DC. When I got to the station around 8:15 PM,
the parking lot was filled. I couldn’t find a spot
anywhere! I got concerned about where to park for the
week. Fortunately, many of the spots were being occupied by
people who were picking up travelers coming in on the train from
Chicago, so I was able to find a spot close to the station.
The bus arrived around 8:30, and the Toledo-bound travelers
boarded. By 8:45, we had set off for our next destination,
the Detroit Amtrak station. It was in the New Center area,
and several more people boarded. It was very busy around
there; that was due to the Comerica TasteFest taking place along West
Grand Boulevard. That didn’t hinder the bus from
making it over to the Lodge Freeway, from which we headed on down to
Toledo. While traveling down the Lodge, I noticed some
Detroit streets had been named for Motown groups – Four Tops
Street, Contours Street, and Temptations Street were the ones that I
noticed. There was construction south of Monroe, but we made
it to Toledo in plenty of time. The traffic leaving the Mud
Hens’ game didn’t cause us any problems.
Although the bus made it to Toledo on time, the train from Chicago did
not. It was a half-hour late. To pass the time, I
had a bottle of Dr Pepper and a Nutri-Grain bar and watched CNN on the
TV monitors; it was airing a program on global warming. When
the train arrived, we were directed to the appropriate cars; in my
case, it was one of the coaches. With the travel time being
around 13 hours, I figured that I didn’t need to get a
sleeping car berth this time out. That would save me some
significant money.
My seat was on a bulkhead row, meaning nobody would be sitting in front
of me. I had plenty of legroom. With the late hour,
I would be going right to sleep, or at least attempting to.
Top
Sunday
July 3
On past train trips, I had never gotten a good night’s sleep,
and that held true today. I did get some sleep, but it
wasn’t a good sleep. I had to get up once or twice
to use the restroom; this required me to step over my seatmate so that
I wouldn’t disturb her. I managed. I also
had a bottle of water with me, but I had no place to store
it. I ended up tucking it between my body and the
seat. I also rested my arm on the window sill, which helped
to cool me somewhat.
Around 7, I headed for the dining car to have breakfast.
Since I was riding in coach, I would have to pay for the meals, unlike
when I was riding in the sleeping cars. My dining partners
this morning were a mother and son from Ashland, Ohio who were
traveling to Williamsburg to meet her sister. They would
change trains in DC, while I would be renting a car to drive to
Virginia Beach. I decided to have the French toast and turkey
sausage links. Back at my seat, I would read extensively from
the book “Stories Told By
‘Abdu’l-Bahá”, and I would
look out occasionally at the scenery. In some ways, the
terrain reminded me of Colorado with the hilly terrain and rock
outcroppings, although the foliage was much more lush here in the East.
We had left Toledo late, and we got later and later throughout the
trip. By the time we arrived at Union Station in Washington,
we were nearly two hours late. When I got inside the station,
my first task was to find the Alamo car rental counter and arrange to
pick up my car. After visting the restroom, I visited Sbarro
for lunch. It wasn’t easy navigating inside the
restaurant with two heavy bags, but I managed. I called my
sister to let her know I was in town. When I’d
finished eating, I went up to the rental car pickup level and found my
car, a white Chrysler Sebring with New Jersey license plates.
I spent some time looking over the car and setting up the XM radio
before pulling out. The entrance ramp for I-395 was not far
away from the station, but I missed getting into the proper lane for it
and had to drive around a big block to try again.
The drive down I-395 and I-95 was uneventful. I listened to
the Astros play the Reds, courtesy of XM’s baseball
coverage. The sound quality was not as good as I was used to,
for I had to resort to the FM modulator instead of using a cassette
adapter or line-in jack. But it got the job done.
At Richmond, I took I-295 to I-64, which I took down to Norfolk, and
then I took I-264 to Virginia Beach. This was my first visit
to the Hampton Roads area, so I didn’t know what to
expect. I knew that my father had lived in Newport News while
he worked at NASA’s Langley center, and I knew there was a
heavy Navy presence in Norfolk, and I knew that Ford had an assembly
plant there, but that was all.
I would be staying at the new Hilton on the oceanfront in Virginia
Beach. Being a member of Hilton’s HHonors frequent
stayer program, I wanted to accumulate as many points as I could with
them. The Hilton was more expensive then I might otherwise
prefer, but I did want to stay in the resort area, so I decided to live
it up a bit. I parked at the main entrance while I checked
in, then parked my car at the garage across the street. I
made sure to park in the proper space and hang the card on the mirror
saying I was a guest. My room was room 817 on the 8th
floor. It faced south, giving me a view of the Atlantic
Avenue resort area as well as the Atlantic Ocean. The beach
was very wide, much wider than Galveston’s beaches.
I knew that Sharon and family were staying in the Sandbridge area,
which was several miles away from the resort area. But after
today’s travels, I was too tired to drive to see them, so we
agreed that we would meet tomorrow. I walked up and down
Atlantic Avenue looking for a place to have supper. The strip
was filled with hotels and motels, most of which were on the east, or
ocean, side of the street. There were plenty of shops that
sold swimsuits, boogie boards, and souvenirs. There was at
least one Dairy Queen, which was doing a brisk business.
There were several restaurants, but most of them involved some form of
seafood buffet, which I didn’t really want; I
wasn’t hungry enough for that. I ended up having
room service back at the hotel; the Angus burger was pretty
good. However, the prices were such that I would not make a
habit of ordering room service. Not that I’d want
to, anyway.
Top
Monday July 4
After my travels on the weekend, I was in need of a shower.
The shower in my hotel room was just that: a shower, with no
bathtub. There was no permanent barrier between it and the
rest of the bathroom; only the shower curtain and the sloped floor
served as barriers. It was a two-head design, which allowed
for upper and lower body coverage, and it even had a handheld
attachment.
I decided to go down the strip a short distance to the Colonial Inn and
Angelo’s (a very short distance; the inn and restaurant were
next door to the Hilton), where I tried their breakfast
buffet. It was OK, but I had had better at other
establishments. Then I drove down to see my sister.
Sandbridge was some 15 miles and 30-40 minutes away from the resort
area, but the roads to get there were good – or some of them
were. I took Pacific Avenue, which became General Booth
Boulevard, home to the Virginia Aquarium, a go-kart and waterpark, and
several restaurants. Then I turned left onto Princess Anne
Boulevard, stopping at the 7-11 on the corner for a Slurpee that
wouldn’t fit in the car’s cupholder.
Sandbridge Road branched off of Princess Anne – a two-lane,
winding road that went through some scenic areas before finally
reaching the beach. The municipal parking lot was already
full. I turned down Sandpiper and drove for several blocks
until I reached their cabin.
The cabin was on stilts, a sensible design given its location two
streets over from the beach. The walls and ceiling were
covered with dark wood paneling that reminded me of the wood paneling
in the house I grew up in. There were four bedrooms, two of
them with bunk beds. The kitchen was separated from the
living room by a long bar that contained the sink and several
drawers. Everyone was happy to see me; we hadn’t
seen each other since November (everyone except my brother-in-law) or
last May. Once I brought out my supply of gossip magazines
and American Idol books/magazines, my nieces were even happier to see
me.
Around noon, we went to the beach. We drove over in the
rental SUV, for Randy was to go to the nearby Wal-Mart and find some
beach umbrellas. I carried the boogie board and the folding
chairs, and everyone else carried something as we walked the access
path to the beach. The path was full of sand, making walking
somewhat difficult. We went up and down a flight of stairs at
the dune line, and then we were on the beach. We found our
spot and settled down – that is, until we moved farther up
the beach to be closer to their house. The ocean seemed
rather smooth, although there were waves crashing on the
shore. Brandon was running around and building sand castles,
and the girls helped him with those. I did not bring my
swimsuit with me that day, so all I could do was wade in the
surf. The water was a bit cool, but I eventually got used to
it. Everyone had some level of sunburn where the sunscreen
hadn’t been effective or been applied effectively.
By the end of the day, part of the tops of my feet and the backs of my
legs would be burned.
Randy arrived with the umbrellas, and we set them up and enjoyed our
stay a bit more. He and Heather went boogie-boarding, and he
and Brandon played Frisbee for a bit. At one point, I had to
return to the house to visit the bathroom. When I got there
with the key, I had trouble remembering which was the right key, so I
called Sharon’s cell phone. But just as her phone
began ringing, I found the right key. It happened to be the
one on the ring with the realty’s tag on it (of
course). I took care of business and went back to the
beach. We spent about four hours there.
There would be fireworks that evening in Virginia Beach, meaning the
official fireworks display in the resort area. I figured I
would have a great view of them from my hotel room’s
balcony. The residents of and visitors to Sandbridge would
also be able to see them, for I could see the tall hotels of the resort
area quite clearly from the beach. I was concerned that I
might encounter traffic getting back to the hotel or even be prevented
from parking at the garage due to road closures. The desk
clerk at the hotel assured me when I called that I would be able to
park at the garage. Still, I didn’t stay around too
long after supper (hot dogs and beans). I didn’t
encounter any traffic until I got to the hotel garage. And
after dark, I had a great view of the fireworks from my 8th-floor
balcony. I was alternating between taking video and still
pictures of the fireworks. My only complaint was that the
show was too short; it only lasted 15 minutes.
Detroit’s fireworks ran at least 30 minutes. Not
long after the fireworks ended, I could hear the sound of the Marshall
Tucker Band reverberating from the buildings. They were
playing on an outdoor stage in Neptune Park, just north of the hotel.
Top
Tuesday
July 5
Before this trip, I had been in every state of the South except for
one: North Carolina. Now the Norfolk area was not
very far from North Carolina, so I saw a great opportunity to visit the
state. There was another great opportunity: visit the Wright
Brothers Memorial at Kitty Hawk. It was only 100 miles or so
away by road, so this was definitely something not to be
missed. My uncle Bill had visited Kitty Hawk in December 2003
during the 100th anniversary celebration. Now I would be
there for its 101st-and-a-half anniversary (ha ha).
When I set off on my trip, I stopped for breakfast at a
McDonald’s off of I-264. Unfortunately, the
restaurant was on a corner that made it nearly impossible to return to
the freeway at that location. It was only nearly impossible,
though; I found a way to get back onto the freeway. I
continued down to the intersection with I-64, then took that down to
Highway 168, the Chesapeake Expressway. I left it to look for
a gas station, which I eventually found. After filling up the
car’s tank and visiting the restroom to empty my own (so to
speak), I got back onto the expressway, which turned out to be a
tollway. It wasn’t very long before I reached the
border with North Carolina. Now I could say that I had been
to every state in the South. An hour or so later, I was
crossing the causeway to the Outer Banks. It reminded me of a
smaller version of the Galveston Causeway. My first stop was
the Visitor Center and Rest Area, where I picked up some literature and
viewed a memorial to the first 100 years of flight. It
consisted of several brushed aluminum pylons, each with a plaque
commemorating several years’ worth of milestones in aviation
and aerospace history from 1903 to 2000. In between the
circle of pylons were bricks, most engraved in honor of
someone. There was one brick dedicated to Israeli astronaut
Ilan Ramon and the rest of the Columbia crew killed in 2003.
Several were related to the Coast Guard, including one dedicated to the
aircrews that never returned from their missions.
I continued down the highway for around seven or eight miles, stopping
at a 7-11 for a bottle of water. The highway reminded me of
Seawall Boulevard past the end of the Seawall with the combination of
residences, sea-related businesses, etc. The Wright Brothers
Memorial was in the middle of all this, although the grounds were large
enough to provide a suitable sense of isolation from encroaching
development. They were grass-covered and devoid of trees
except on the edges. The grass helped to keep the hill from
being blown away, which is what would have happened had it been kept in
its original sandy condition. The main visitor center has a
mockup of the Wright Glider that the brothers flew in 1902, as well as
a replica of the 1903 Flyer (the original is at the Smithsonian; the
replica built for the 100-year anniversary is at the Henry Ford
Museum). On the grounds itself is a boulder at the takeoff
point for the first four flights and four concrete markers representing
the distance each flight went. Three were close together, and
the fourth was several hundred feet away. On the other side
of the grounds was Kill Devil Hill, with a large memorial tower atop
it. The tower was intended to mark the 25th anniversary of
the flights. From the top of the hill, one could get a good
view of the surrounding area. It was worth the hike to the
top, which left me a bit winded. Then it was back down to
visit the exhibits in the newer visitor center buildings. It
was at the gift shop here that I bought a book for nephew Brandon about
the Wright Brothers’ dog. I had suggested that he
and his dad come along with me today, but Sharon thought he was too
young to appreciate it; he thought I was going someplace to see
kittycats. Then it was back to the parking lot and to my
rental car for an eagerly-desired dose of air conditioning. I
took a drive around the hill, which allowed me to see the recent
sculpture of the first flight. Then it was time to head back.
One of the flyers I had picked up at the visitor center was for a
pet-item store called Outer Barks in the town of Duck. I
drove up there after leaving the memorial and found some things to give
to my sister and my aunt and uncle. I had two slices of pizza
for lunch at the pizza place across the way, then got back on the road
to Virginia. As I neared Norfolk, I could see dark skies and
the occasional flash of lightning in the distance. I stopped
at Border Station, located right on the North Carolina-Virginia border,
for a bathroom break and a drink break. And when I say it was
right on the border, I mean that literally. The state line
ran right through the store. There were signs at the Virginia
registers saying that fireworks had to be paid for on the North
Carolina side.
As I drove back into Virginia, I had XM’s Old Time Radio
channel playing. Right then, it was airing “Our
Miss Brooks”. I called Sharon to ask about any late
afternoon or evening plans. They were going to spend some
time in the resort area, so I went back to the hotel. I
passed through some rain getting there, but at the hotel, it was
sunny. I called again; they were on the fishing pier, so I
decided to try to meet them there. It was quite a hike, but
as I neared the pier, I caught up with them as they were
leaving. We visited a store where the girls bought hats for
themselves and for friends. We stopped by a place that did
piercings, but they would not pierce Candice’s belly button,
as she was too young for them; they wouldn’t handle anyone
under 16. We went to a Wendy’s on Pacific Avenue
for supper. I got a single hamburger with a baked potato as a
side dish. However, the potato had been overcooked, rendering
the skin rock-hard and inedible. While we were eating, we
noticed a girl walking past the restaurant who could have been
Candice’s twin – same green shirt, same blue jeans,
same frizzy hair. I joked that it was her evil twin.
When we finished our supper, we decided to play a round of miniature
golf. There were two courses to choose from; we chose the one
with the jungle theme located across Pacific Avenue, rather than the
pirate ship one across the other street. Everybody played,
even Brandon, although his putter was a bit big for him; his sisters
got him a smaller one later. Heather got at least one
hole-in-one. When we were finished, Randy got bottles of pop
for his family (I would get some on the way back to the hotel), and we
parted for the day. I stopped in one of the Sunsations stores
and got some pop – one bottle of Coke and one bottle of Faygo
Redpop. I was surprised to see a Detroit icon in Virginia
Beach. Then it was back to the hotel for the night.
Top
Wednesday
July 6
I got up after 6 o’clock and heard the announcement that
London had won the 2012 Olympics. I went out on the beach
behind the hotel for a short walk and a chance to take some pictures
and video. It was a bright, sunny morning, and already it was
getting warm. I hadn’t had breakfast yet, nor had I
visited the Catch31 restaurant in the hotel. I took care of
both things by going there for breakfast. They had a
breakfast buffet, but I didn’t feel like having it this
morning. I just had oatmeal and an English muffin for
breakfast. It was pretty good.
Then I drove down to the Sandbridge area to visit my sister and her
family. Our plans for today involved visiting Motor World, a
go-kart track near the Virginia Aquarium (I passed it on the way to
their place) and going to a murder mystery dinner in the
evening. First came Motor World. We set off for the
place, keeping each other more or less in sight the whole way
there. All of a sudden, I noticed what I thought was their
vehicle turning around. I called Sharon; it turns out that
they forgot to bring their camera, so they were heading back to their
cabin. I could do whatever I wanted for lunch. It
took me a little while to determine what I wanted for lunch; I ended up
visiting an IHOP, where it took me a little too long to get
served. The grilled chicken Caesar salad was still good,
though. While I was eating, Sharon called; they were arriving
at the track. I told them I’d be finishing up
momentarily. I got the bill, paid it, and set off towards the
track. It turns out that the track was set quite a distance
from the main road, so I drove in the main gate and headed back toward
the track. The parking lot for the track wasn’t
packed, unlike the parking lot for the water park. I pulled
in, got out, and looked for my sister’s rental SUV but
didn’t see it. I called, then looked up to see them
coming down the road. They’d been in the museum
parking lot instead of the go-kart parking lot and had seen me arrive.
The track was actually several tracks of varying difficulty.
There was a small kiddie car loop, which Brandon drove while we were
all cheering him on. This was his first time behind the wheel
of a car, so he was a bit ragged, but he did OK. He liked
it. He drove on another track that was for young ones; this
one was a figure-8 (no direct crossing). Later, he would ride
with his daddy in a couple of other tracks. There was one
track where everybody rode. The large road racing track had
the fastest cars, and Randy and I drove that track a couple of
times. It reminded me of a Grand Prix course where passing
was possible only in a few areas. Most of the cars were a bit
uncomfortable for me in some way; generally, they were somewhat tight
squeezes, and the pedals were not in the optimum positions.
Candice and I tried to ride together in one car, but it
didn’t work out. If I were thinner, or if she were
still a small girl, it might have worked. Brandon and Heather
bounced in a harness-like contraption used by acrobats for
training. We saw a couple of people raised up to a great
height, and then they swung down, clearing a chain-link fence by not
enough distance for my liking. We heard and saw fighter jets
from the nearby Naval Air Stations flying training runs.
We’d all put on sunscreen today so we didn’t get
burned, but the heat did drain us a bit. I went back to the
hotel to shower and rest up for the dinner that evening. I
even went up to the 21st floor to check out the outdoor pool and Sky
Bar. It was an interesting place to relax, although it was
not cheap (a $5 Coke). Then it was off to the Doubletree
Hotel for the murder mystery, which was held in a couple of meeting
rooms on the second floor. There was a busload of tourists
there – in fact, it was a fairly young crowd. The
mystery was set during Roman Empire times: who killed
Caesar? Several clues were given in a flyer, which each diner
would peruse in between courses of the meal. The actors were
also the servers, which was a little different. I found the
clues fairly easy to determine, yet I did not come up with the correct
solution; I was partially correct. But I think Candice got the right
answer, even though she didn’t win the door prize.
Back at the hotel, I was checking e-mail when I heard noises coming
from outside. I wondered if someone was on the balcony, but
when I looked out, I saw another fireworks show. This one
lasted for only five minutes.
Top
Thursday
July 7
I woke up in the middle of the night with a sore rear end.
That came from the go-karts, no doubt. I went back to sleep
and awoke after 7:30. When checking the Detroit Free Press
Website, I saw a news item about bombings in London. I read
the story and then turned on the TV. These were serious
bombings. I was saddened to hear about this, for I had been
to London on a couple of occasions many years before. When I
went down to the restaurant for breakfast, one of the TV’s
had been tuned to CNN for the latest news (the other was still tuned to
ESPN SportsCenter). This morning, I did feel like the buffet,
so I got that.
Our plans today involved a trip to the Virginia Aquarium and a
dolphin-watching cruise. We would meet at the aquarium around
10:30. This gave me time to go out and look for a new belt,
for the one I had was too big. I had thought to go to Target,
but I couldn’t find one, so I visited a Super K-Mart
instead. Turned out that the Target was across the street
from the K-Mart. No matter; I found the belt. When
I left, I was a bit thirsty, so I tried to get something from one of
the vending machines. Unfortunately, after taking a dollar
bill, it wouldn’t take any coins, nor would it give me my
dollar back. I was quite upset. But when I put my
money in the machine next to the bad one, I got two bottles of
pop! I couldn’t complain about that, so I drank one
and stuck one aside for later.
When I arrived at the Aquarium, I called Sharon to check on their
progress. They weren’t fully up yet, so they said
they would forego the aquarium and meet me later for the dolphin
cruise. So I spent the next couple of hours enjoying the
sights (no sounds) of the aquarium, which depicted the marine
environment of the Chesapeake Bay – fish, sharks and
rays. I could have petted a ray, if I had wanted
to. I took several pictures, both with flash and
without. One picture of a young child looking at a sea turtle
turned out very well. I had a chili dog at the
café, figuring it would be a good idea to have something in
my stomach on the dolphin cruise.
The dolphin cruises did not leave from the aquarium, but from Rudee
Point a half-mile north of there. I got there early and
thought I would be nice and pick up and pay for the tickets that Sharon
had reserved. By the reckoning of the cruise operator,
Brandon was the only child, so I got 5 adult and one child
tickets. When Sharon and family arrived, though, she told me
that she’d already paid for the tickets. So we went
to the ticket office and arranged to get mine refunded. But
hold on; it turns out that they’d only reserved 4 adults and
one child (although Sharon was sure she told them 5 adults).
It made more sense to refund her tickets rather than mine, for I would
not have been able to board otherwise. Once that was
straightened out, we got on board.
The cruise didn’t go very far off shore; land was always in
sight. And most of the time, so were dolphins. I
took pictures and video, but it wasn’t easy to capture good
images of the dolphins. Sometimes, the camera
didn’t react as quickly as I would have liked it to,
resulting in some failed photos. I wandered all over the
lower level of the boat, heading from port to starboard and bow to
stern. Sharon and the kids stayed at the stern most of the
time. Heather was doubled over for much of the trip trying to
resist seasickness (I think she succeeded), but she did get to see some
dolphins. We were on the water for about 90
minutes. Afterwards, we went for lunch (or
“lupper”, in my case) to a barbecue restaurant
we’d seen on the way to the murder mystery dinner last night
(19th and Mediterranean). I had a beef sandwich, fries and
baked beans. It was OK, but Joe’s Barbeque in Alvin
was better. Randy, who’d had ribs, agreed with
me. I suspect Sharon agreed, too, although she
didn’t say anything. Then it was back to their
house.
After a suitable settling-down period, we went down to the beach
again. This time, I had my swimsuit, so I could join in more
than on Monday. I put sunscreen all over, even though it was
cloudy today. We walked over to the beach but
didn’t bother with the umbrellas because it was
cloudy. The waves were rougher and higher than on
Monday. Randy did some more boogie-boarding, while I waded
into the surf this time. Some of those waves packed quite a
wallop; I was knocked over a few times and washed back to the shore,
getting a mouthful or two of salt water.
Back at the house, I decided to call aunt Marie and uncle Bill, then
ended up passing the phone around to everyone to let them
talk. Everyone but Randy talked to them, I think.
Then it was getting late, so I thought I’d better head back
to the hotel. Once there, I noticed I was hungry. I
ended up ordering another Angus burger from room service.
Top
Friday
July 8
It was time for me to pack up today and leave Virginia Beach.
I took a shower and had breakfast in the hotel restaurant (another go
at the breakfast buffet), then finished packing. I had
enjoyed my stay here and was sorry to go, but I was looking forward to
heading back to DC to meet up with friend and classmate David
Horrigan. I loaded up the car with my luggage (I only had two
pieces of luggage, so I don’t know if that would count as
“loading up” a car), checked out, then left the
garage, taking care to drop my key card in the bin at the parking
garage exit (I needed that key to exit the garage).
I then headed towards Sandridge to see Sharon and family one last time
this trip. They were up but were taking their time getting
ready. They would leave Virginia Beach on Saturday and would
go back to Manassas.
It was around 11:15 when I left. I didn’t want to
get caught in DC traffic at rush hour. There were some
slowdowns as I neared the tunnel between Norfolk and Newport News, so I
thought it best to visit the Norfolk Visitor’s Center for a
trip to the restroom. Then it was back to the traffic, which
wasn’t that bad, really, and onto Richmond and
I-95. As always, XM kept me company – Top Tracks,
Deep Tracks, the Decades channels, etc. I did encounter
northbound congestion at Dale City, which is when I first called David
to let him know where I was. He would be heading out, he
said, but would have his phone with him. I called again once
I got inside the Beltway. He warned me to put on Damy
speakerphone, as DC had a no-hands ordinance. So I was on the
speakerphone as I crossed the Potomac into the District.
David attempted to guide me to where he, girlfriend Claudia, and
visiting friend Bob were located. His directions were close,
but a couple of wrongly-directed turns got me off track. But
we got back on track and hooked up at Logan Circle. They got
into my car, and we set off for our dinner destination, the Lauriol
Plaza restaurant on 18th Street NW. It was a Mexican
restaurant that had three levels, the third being on the
roof. The sun was bright, but the food was good
David and Claudia had just moved into their co-op unit the week
before. It was a 4th-floor unit in the DeSoto, at 13th Street
and Massachusettes Avenue NW. It was on the corner, so it had
a good view up both streets. It had one bedroom, one bath, a
small kitchen, a dining room and living room. There was a
sound system that was rigged to send music throughout the
house. And there was another guest with us: Henri the dog,
whom was being dog-sat by David and Claudia. He used to live
in this unit, until the previous owner moved upstairs and sold it.
I checked my e-mail using my cellphone connection. There were
a number of unsecured wireless networks in the area, but I
didn’t feel like poaching their connections. I
showed everyone the pictures I had taken on the trip so far, including
the dolphin-watching pictures. Those came out better than
expected, although they would have to be cropped to emphasize the
dolphins. I also showed them my recent Texas trip and San
Francisco trip pictures.
We hadn’t had dessert at the Mexican restaurant, but now it
was time for some. We would be having bananas Foster, but we
would have to go and get the ingredients for it. So the three
of us men walked over to the nearby Whole Foods Market (it used to be a
Fresh Fields) for most of the stuff, along with some things for us to
drink while we were there. Earlier, we stopped at a liquor
store for some liquor that was needed/wanted in the
preparation. Now David would be preparing two versions of the
Foster topping, one with the liquor and one without, for he knew I
didn’t drink and couldn’t/shouldn’t
consume any food with alcohol for religious reasons. The
“dry” version was very good, and everyone else
thought the “wet” version was very good, too.
Top
Saturday
July 9
I slept on one of those inflatable Aero beds in the living
room. It was comfortable enough, more so than a couch would
have been. David and I were up fairly early; we ended up
taking Henri on a walk through the nearby neighborhood.
Last night, Dr. Bob and I had agreed that we would treat David and
Claudia to breakfast in appreciation for their allowing us to stay with
them. Well, by the time everyone was up, it was 11
o’clock, so breakfast was no longer an option. But
lunch was, and we all piled into my car and drove over to the Capitol
Hill area, where we lunched at the Capitol Lounge. And by
“all,” I’m including Henri. We
ate on the sidewalk, and Henri was on his best behavior. The
waitress had brought him a bowl of cool water. On our way
back to my car (we’d parked about two blocks south), we
passed by David and Claudia’s old house, a half-brownstone
and half-brick building. It had gotten that way after an
explosion many years ago had destroyed the upper half.
It was 2:15 or thereabouts when I left. My first stop was the
BP station a block or so to the north. Here, I would fill up
the rental car’s gas tank, for I had promised to do so when I
rented the car. Gas was $2.45 a gallon; I hadn’t
seen it so high outside of California. After filling up, I
headed down Massachusetts Avenue towards Union Station. I had
to avoid an accident between a taxicab and another car, but I
didn’t have much difficulty arriving at Union Station and
dropping off the vehicle. After checking in at the garage, I
had to return to the rental counter to complete the check-in
process. That done, I set off for the restroom and for the B.
Dalton store, where I looked for some reading material for the trip
back. The only thing I found was an Economist magazine, but
that would be enough. Then it was time to check in for the
train. Seats were at a premium in the waiting area, so I had
to stand.
Most travelers were heading to Chicago, so those who were going to
intermediate points boarded one car near the front of the
train. I ended up sitting at the back of that car.
We got underway with little if any delay, and we were on our way
west. The scenery was the same as before, as you would
expect. I decided to eat at the second seating for dinner and
had a steak. It was OK, but I had had better. My
dining companions were a couple from LA who had just visited their
daughter, who was about to be posted to the American Embassy in Mexico
City as a military attaché. We continued
westward. I saw more windmills from one or two wind farms,
trying to turn wind power into electricity. Then it got dark,
and it was time for sleep. Once again, I tried to make myself
comfortable in my seat. I did sleep some, though I was awake
when we pulled out of Pittsburgh. A lot of people got on
board there.
Top
Sunday
July 10
Once again, my sleep was off-and-on. Somewhere in eastern Ohio,
in either Alliance or Cleveland, I had picked up a seatmate. When
I woke up one time, the conductor was coming by and said Toledo was
coming up. That was the end of sleep for me, as I got up and
retrieved my carryon bag, then went downstairs to await our arrival and
the pickup of my rolling bag. The train arrived right on time or
only a few minutes late; I went inside and visited the restroom, then
sat down to await the bus to Dearborn. CNN was still on the
monitors in the station; this time, the news was about hurricane
Dennis, which was bearing down on the Florida and Alabama coasts.
At one point, I checked my e-mail. When I pulled out my phone, I
found I had a message. It was from my uncle Bill, who had called
at 4:40 in the morning, complaining that my cell phone had called their
house at that time. And it had! The phone was in my pocket,
and normally I would lock the keys so that inadvertent key presses
could not happen. Either I had forgotten to do that, or the keys
were accidentally unlocked in my pocket. Oops! I would have
to call when I got home (at a more reasonable hour) and apologize.
Around 6 o’clock, the station agent let us know that the train
coming from New York was over 3 hours late. The bus for which we
were waiting was to take those passengers to Michigan too, so it would
have to wait for them. However, we wouldn’t have to wait
for the bus, as vans had been contracted to take us back to
Michigan. I rode in an Explorer with one other guy plus our
driver, and we had a smooth ride back to the Dearborn station. My
car was still there when I arrived (always a welcome sight), and I put
my stuff in the trunk, hooked up the XM radio, and headed for
home. Gas prices had taken a substantial jump in the last week;
the prices were well over $2.30 a gallon. By 7:45, I was home and
began to unpack.
Top
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©2005
R. W. Reini.
All
rights reserved.
Written
by Roger Reini
RevisedApril 20, 2008
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