March 20, 2023 - Flight to Washington DC

Title: March 20, 2023 - Flight to Washington DC
Hike Info : Description 

Hike Info:

Type:Tourist

Description:
 

Hopefully today is better than yesterday’s mess. It was good seeing Rachel and Edress last night, even if we stayed up late to do so.

I got up at 6:45, a bit confused. Not badly like where am I at? But more, what clothes to put on and when. But I got that straightened out quickly. The one benefit is that Sherri saw that I was up and got up as well. This enabled us to get packed. My packing plan is working and I have a bit of space in my backpack.

Rachel fixed us an egg and muffin breakfast. Not a bad way to start the morning. We talked a bit about her work. That is a good thing about being here, just having that closeness with my daughter.

It is 8:00am and Rachel is herding us out the door so we can make our flight. It feels good to have children who will look out after us. We get to the airport at 8:50. Our “taxi” service let us off at Terminal 5, not 6-I will have to complain about that on Yelp. But it does allow us to get a few steps in before being cooped up in a plane for 5 hours.

Wow, the TSA line was quick. By far, the quickest we have ever been through one. But after clearing the line, I cannot find my USB drive. May have been lost. Now we wait for our boarding, Both Sherri and Rachel realize we forgot the lunch she made for us. Sherri buys some rations to tie us over. We will see if we want something on the plane.

Apparently this is a school field trip to DC time and the boarding area is filled with kids. Also, the plane is about 15 minutes late in leaving. So we have some time to kill, surrounded by excited youngsters.

Dulles Airport

We get boarded quickly, but it is 10:58 before the wheels leave the ground. The pilot assures us that we have a tail wind and should arrive only 5 minutes late. There is a bit of turbulence, but nothing major. It is an uneventful flight, with only a few times of turbulence-nothing dramatic.

We landed about 6:15pm with the sun still shining, but a bit breezy and cool. And then we start our long, and seemingly endless walk to the Metro station. We walked through the terminal. There was an information volunteer who helped us by directing us to the proper route. We went down a long, long, long walkway-which I think goes under a large parking area. That brought us up on the other side and onto the Metro platform.

Once we figured out how to get through the gate-hold the WMATA card for more than just a tap, The manager was helpful as it was evident I was lost. We waited eight minutes for the train to arrive. Then it was an hour or so of travel down the Silver Line with a connection to the Red Line. This brought us to Union Station. We then exited and eventually made it out onto First St. But I started out on Massachusetts Ave. I quickly figured out we were not going right, so we returned to Union Station and started over again.

 

 

Dulles from the Metro Station

This time our walk went along First, past a small homeless camp and down past CNN and FDIC. And then we got into the 1100 block of First, when we heard a voice greeting us. Trinity, our host, was waiting for us. She took us up, showing us how to get into the building, and then into the place of our dwelling for the next 15 nights.

 

The place looks good, a pretty good choice. Walking distance to the Capitol area, clean, and the room looks modernized. We thanked Trinity and settled in. The first order of business is to get some vittles. Trinity said there is a Harris-Teeter store across the street. So we made our first foyer out. Feels similar to a higher end SaveMart store back home. We stock up with over $120 of supplies.

Back to the place and warm up a frozen pizza. This is a first time rental for the place. We can tell. Small things like no hot pads for the oven or butter knives. But it has enough to keep us satisfied.

And then the disaster of the day happens: the toilet overflowed. It was not us, as only liquid had gone into the toilet, but something before s. We stopped the flow and got the flood under control-notice the theme of the trip. I took a shower to get cleaned up while Sherri laundered the towels. By this time, it was 11:30 DC time and I was feeling tired. So off to bed I go. It took me a bit to go to sleep, as it was only 9pm PDT, still I got to sleep around 12:15 DC time. A little while later I feel Sherri come to bed.

Wonder what new disaster will come our way tomorrow.