Washington, D.C. Day 5 June 2,2015

We had to rethink the packing this morning. For one thing, the pillow forms didn't stay vacuum sealed and flat. Somehow, what we were taking back was bulkier than the birthday gifts we'd brought. We did manage to get it all into the carry-on luggage, the backpack and the bag I was carrying. 

It rained again and we thought we might just stay in the hotel until check-out time at noon. However, my husband wanted to go to the National Air and Space Museum, which is a couple of blocks from a subway stop on the line we'd travel to to the airport. So, when it had not been raining for a while, we thought we should give it a try and visit for an hour. 

We easily made the change from the Red line to the Yellow at good old Gallery Place. When we got out at the L'Enfant Plaza exit, we saw the food trucks that our daughter frequents for lunch. At the museum, we had some trouble at security, when they saw a corkscrew in my husband's suitcase with the scanner. He had to go outside to get rid of it. I could see him in the entryway trying to find the darn thing. A visitor overheard and told me he should just put it in his pocket, but he was outside and I couldn't tell him. (He should have just put it in a planter to retrieve later, but he threw it out.) What bugged us was that TSA hadn't cared about it for the plane. Why did the museum?

The next frustration was that there was no bag check. We had to drag everything around with us. It didn't help that the place was packed. My husband said that he'd heard it was the most popular museum in America. I was surprised to see so many kids, since school is still in session there. However, I soon realized they were often in groups, so it was probably field trips. 

Before the satellite went out last night due to the storm, we'd been watching a show on lNational Geographic about the Wright Brithers and Glenn Curtiss. We thought, we'd continue learning about them here. The first exhibit we visited was on the ground floor and focused on early flight as if we were at an exhibition in the teens of the last century. There were exhibits on the Wright Brothers' company and Glenn Curtiss' company, as well as foreign pilots and female pilots. In watching the program last night, I'd come to favor Curtiss, because the Wrights were so litigious and not "giving their plane" to the world, as people claim. I was glad to see him in this exhibit and the next. 

This is the Wright 1909 Military flyer. 

Going upstairs, we passed The Spirit of St. Louis and SpaceShipOne. 

What a timespan they represent!

We visited the room devoted to the Wright Brothers. They were odd ducks, but they accomplished a lot. The exhibit showed the front of their home and the Wright Flyer. 

It was a well-documented exhibit that explained why the museum replaced the fabric on the Flyer and did not flinch from discussing the accident that resulted in the first death of a person  on a plane, which is where we left off last night. I was glad to read that Curtiss became the biggest plane manufacturer pre-World War I. The exhibit even included the airplane in popular culture, such as songs, movies and books. Really interesting!

No museum visit is complete without a visit to the shop. I fought my way around the kids to get postcards and a pin, while my husband waited outside with the luggage. My Smithsonian discount had the effect of getting the postcards for free. 

It was time to head to the airport and a light, but insistent rain had begun. It is not easy to use an umbrella while pulling a suitcase and dealing with a bag. We had to wait a bit, but the train came and we headed off for Reagan Natiional Airport. I really prefer calling it National. We figured out which way to go to reach USAir's gates and headed off. 

When we were near security, we stopped so that I could change out of sneakers into sandals. I made a quick check of a monitor and was glad I did- the plane was leaving over 1 hour late and from the other end of the terminal. Well,drats. We could have stayed at the museum longer or eaten at the Native American Museum. Like the woman ahead of us, we had to explain to TSA that the gate had changed since we printed our boarding pass. We didn't have PreCheck on this flight, so we had to go through the full-body scanner and she even patted down my pockets. 

I established a base camp at a table, while my husband went off in search of food. I took that time to call two of the officers of my club to say I would be later than expected, but I would get there, perhaps in time for the business meeting at 7. (I am the president .) My husband returned with a Jackson salad (chicken, bacon, avocado, walnuts, and honey Dijon mustard for himself) and a Pattison hoagie (citrus braised pork, sautéed broccoli rabe and sharp provolone) for me from Taylor Gourmet.  The sandwich was good and rather different, but I was frustrated by how often the broccoli rabe fell out of it. 

The gate changed again and the departure time was pushed back another 21 minutes. I took a walk, as I felt a migraine coming on. I decided we needed fruit. So, I got a fruit salad in a cup from a pizza palce,and then picked up a Coke Zero from another shop. The delay gave my husband time for business calls and me time to read and play games. 

My husband had changed our seats last night to give us more room, but we still wound up with a person in the window seat, while the rows around us had no more than 2 passengers. Yet another irritation. 

The plane wound up taking off almost two hours late. We finally found out there had been mechanical problems with the plane while it was in Charlotte before coming to us. I did finish the Smithsonian I'd brought, so, hurray. Also, since the plane was less full, they gave us whole cans of soda. 

It was a bumpy ride and it was raining when we reached OIA. 

By the time we reached the terminal, it was 7:25. I called the Vice President, who said she was almost through with my agenda and I should go home. On the shuttle to the place we'd left the card, I found myself giving advice to a couple heading for Disney. I told them about the parks and recommended the Animal Kingdom Lodge's restaurants and animals. I begged the, to not eat American food in Epcot, to please not be those people. They appreciated the advice. 

We stopped for a burger from McDonald's for me and I got our mail and papers from a neighbor. 

When I checked my email, I found messages indicating the gate changed 3 times and that the first one announcing the delay said to show up at the original time anyway!!! A message on the home phone said the same thing. Why? When have they ever gone back to the scheduled time after announcing a delay? 

It was a very good trip. It was a great way to begin my retirement, but now I should unpack. 

Washington, D.C. Day 4 June 1,2015

We took our time this morning, as we had no appointments. This let us miss the rush hour and its higher fares. We found a train in the station when we arrived, so we hopped on. It only went as far as Silver Spring, Maryland. We got out and waited for the next train. This let us watch the train we'd just been on pull up to tracks in the center and follow the spur over to our left to head back into the city. Our destination was Wheaton. The train dives so far under ground after Silver Spring that you can feel it in your ears. The result is that the Wheaton station's escalators are the tallest in the Western Hemisphere:

Going through the turnstile, I noticed that the fare was over $3. I also noticed my card was low. I tapped it on a payment machine and found I was down to $1.85. We decided to load another $20 on each card. 

With the help of Google maps, we were able to orient ourselves outside the station. We set off downhill then uphill (ah, my home state!) to Chuck Levin's Washington Music Center. My husband bought his first clarinet there in 1972. Today, we were seeking an E flat for his music department. They had one that needed a little pad work, which they did while we waited. He tested it again and was satisfied. After buying a mouthpiece for it, arrangements were made for its shipment to the university. Of course, we couldn't leave without him getting a little something for himself. Luckily, it was just a ligature, because that will fit in the suitcase. 

It was now after 12:30 and we thought we'd better eat before heading into town. We noticed a place called Filippo's Italian Specialties in a shopping center behind the Metro station. It was a small shop with refrigerator cases with drinks, cheese, prepared meals, and racks with all kinds of pasta. In the back was a sandwich counter. Behind the racks were 4 small tables, each with two chairs. We found out it has been there for sixty years, started by the uncle of the current owner, who has been there 31 years himself. We each ordered a $6.99 special, consisting of a small sub, bag of Utz chips and a soda. I chose a panino with wonderful Italian meats and my husband had a turkey sub.

We couldn't leave without trying some of the wonderful cookies in the display case up front. They are sold by weight and reminded me of bakery cookies from my childhood. We gave some to our daughter at dinner tonight. 

The trip on the Red line to Farragut North took 26 minutes. After getting a bit turned around at first,we found our way to the National Geographic Museum. We'd gotten a coupon at Awesome Con to save $3 on a ticket. Their Indiana Jones and the Adventure of Archaeology: The Exhibition sounded interesting and turned out to be even more than we hoped for. We spent a good 2.5 hours there and had to hurry up at the end due to dinner reservations. You receive headphones and a tablet at the beginning for audio and visual displays. They had props, costumes, drawings and clips from the movies. They had presentations and objects from real digs. It was great! We're really glad we sought it out. My pin and postcard collections benefited, too.

We were very happy to see the torrential thunderstorm had started and passed through by the time we came out. 

We rushed back to the Metro, getting out at Chinatown. Our daughter was already waiting at a table by the window of La Tasca at 722 7th Street. It is one of a chain of Spanish restaurants featuring tapas and sangria. I wound up trying two of the latter- cava (sparkling with blueberries) and Blanca (very peachy)- while my husband had Spanish red wine and our teetotaler daughter had Sprite. We opted for the Spain sampler, figuring my husband would eat the two things my daughter and I wouldn't eat- paella and squid. 

They brought out the dishes three at a time. The first were Pan a la Catalana (a delicious Spanish version of bruschetta with thick bread), Serrano ham and thin triangles of cheese, and Ensalada de Espinicas (spinach leaves, pear, dates, walnuts, crumbled cabrales cheese dressing). They were a terrific start to the meal! The olive oil here definitely tasted different from the Eastern Mediterranean one last night. 

Unfortunately, I failed to take a picture of the second round of three. The first of these was Berenjenas Rellenas, which was baked baby eggplant, that looked more like sausage, with vegetable stuffing and a light mushroom sauce all covered with a wonderful thick, melted cheese. Tortilla de Patatas was a moist potato and onion omelet that would have been great for any breakfast. Gambas al Ajillo was sautéed shrimp with extra virgin olive oil, garlic and hot peppers. The peppers turned out to be flakes, that I had to scrape off to avoid the burn. But, boy, were those shrimp good!

The last round was the paella, Calamares a la Andaluza (the squid) and Solomillo de Cerdo (bacon-wrapped pork tenderloin with cabrales cheese). Luckily, there were two of the pork tenderloins, to avoid splitting. We found the pork very tender, with a nice flavor. My husband enjoyed the other two items. 

The restrooms were downstairs,where there were many more tables, especially larger ones. There was a bar with large containers of various sangrias, and, rather oddly, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2 on TV. 

While I was gone, they ordered the dessert sampler. We continued to watch the intermittent storms, some with driving rain, and people , which is always fascinating. I had a view of a corner electronic advertising board on the Verizon Center and eventually wished for some new ads, although I did enjoy the Nationals' ads with the racing presidents. The desserts took so long, my husband and I were given cold cherry liqueurs as an apology. 

The desserts themselves needed no apologies and were worth the wait. There were 3 warm churros with a chocolate sauce.Trufa de Chocolate, which was a creamy, rich dark chocolate truffle croquant with vanilla ice cream was our next tasting. Normally, I'd save that for last, but the ice cream was melting. We then ate the Flan Casero, which was egg and vanilla bean flan with whipped cream. It reminded me of the cheese flan I love. Last, but by no means least was Tres Leches con Fresas, moist, dense sponge cake dipped in evaporated, condensed and whole milk, with cream frosting and strawberries. What wonderful desserts!

 We'd chosen to eat here due to the trip the four of us are taking to Spain next month. We thought, it would be a good idea to find out what the food would be like. The three of us are now definitely looking forward to eating in Spain and have pictures to show the other daughter how great it will be. 

Back on the Metro, we bid our daughter farewell as we approached our stop. We won't see her before our flight tomorrow. We are really glad we were able to spend her birthday weekend with her. 

All three of us were lucky to miss the rain at our respective stops. It has rained some more and knocked out the TV satellite for a while, just like at home. We haven't decided if we are doing anything tomorrow morning before our afternoon flight home. My husband has printed out our boarding passes.  So, I guess, it is time to pack.