The rest of the Trip story

We got back from our vacation three days before the terroristic ordeal at the airports. We felt very fortunate to have come home when we did. We were supposed to come home Wednesday, and that would have been awfully stressful.

We did the tourist thing in WDC and in PA--saw friends in Hershey, road rollercoasters, ate PA Dutch food--so um, thick! We visited family in Pittsburgh, who cooked for us, took us to the community swimming pool, and cooked for us some more. We truly thoroughly enjoyed our visit with them (Scott's cousins).

We visited Hershey, and reunited with some of the "December Moms"--we had fun, and took a group trip to Lancaster (funny that there it's pronounced "lan-custr" instead of "land cas ter"), where we went on a buggy ride with an Amish tour guide, and had a snack made by a Mennonite girl. After that, we drove on to a little town named "Intercourse." It's right next to Paradise, and not too far from "Blue Balls." I kid you not, these were real names of towns. Don't ask me, we didn't learn there reasons for these names. Except for "Intercourse"--that used to be a term for "conversation." Just like some other words, it has evolved (or de-volved) into a word people can't say without a snicker. I spent some Christmas $ I was saving, to get a few Christmas gifts, and one or two little things for me, just before the shop closed.

One night at dinner in Hershey, we had a 1-hr wait time for a table (well, there were 18 of us together out of the 30 who came on the trip). Oh, we were so lucky, since the restaurant was the end anchor for a strip of outlet shops. There was a Children's Place, and I got most of Sarah & Em's school clothing shopping done! It was great to come home and not need to add that To-Do item to the piles of dirty clothes coming out of the suitcase. The meal was way delicious, and the servers, hearing our story, gave the kids an impromptu 10th B'day party. It was great fun.

When we left Pittsburgh, we drove to Gettysburg and virtually relived the battle there during the Civil War--I learned a lot of history that day! God that was a bloody massacre. Four days long, too, before it ended and some of those very young boys and men were related to each other but on the side of the fighting lines.

After Gettysburg, we drove back to WDC, checked into our hotel, which turned out to be a 2 bedroom apartment--it was great!--and returned the rental car. Well, Scott returned the rental car the next morning, because I demanded the girls get a day of rest, to swim or sleep or eat, whatever they wanted.

WDC was very expensive. Not just meals, and not the museums at all; they were free; living there is exorbitant. A 3-br townhouse sold for $700,000!! Yes, that's five zeroes. I thought California was the most expensive place to live!

We saw the Smithsonian collection of museums, but even a five day trip is not enough to see them all, or even glance inside all the museums. I did, however, get to go into Julia Child's kitchen, which was re-assembled/replicated at the American History Museum, and also watched several clips from her shows in the 60's and 70's. I learned how to make great garlic mashed potatoes! I also found out that I think Ms. Childs taught my mother to cook. Several of her techniques were what my mom taught me.

The girls had a great time; they got to pull the DNA from some cow cells in a "hands-on" science center. Scott had a blast with the Air and Space museums--so much to see that there were two of them, and yes, we had got to go to both! It was great to see the Apollo 11, plus some of the Saturn rockets that propelled the Apollo crafts, and see a DC 3 hanging from the ceiling, plus the B117 (the Stealth bomber) on display.

Food was good, but by the last couple of days, I wanted home cooked food from my own kitchen, and to sleep in my own lumpy bed. We lost a few items--a comb, an electric toothbrush, my entire makeup kit--My face, my face, where is my face!!?? So we left a part of ourselves everywhere. Scott left his debit card at a restaurant in Gettysburg, and I think it especially frustrated him that then I had control of the money because I had the only debit card. He had a few rough moments, but all in all, it was a peaceful, happy trip.

When we got home, I told him I'd left a very important item in DC. He got kind of stern-looking and said, "What." I replied, "the Housekeepers!!" Our house looked as if a couple of gremlins in each room had turned everything over or inside-out. Oh well, "Welcome Home."

The laundry from the trip is finally done, just in time to start last week's laundry. Which I ought to start now, so there won't be so much to do tomorrow or the next day. There is also the dusting, vacuuming, straightening, yada yada--the exciting daily living of the stay-at-home-mom.

Of course, this isn't the whole story with all the gory details, but it's what I have time to write. So there it is, the 3-in-1 vacation.