Road Trip
elmer42 and I are back from vacation. It was 9 years since we got married for the first time, which made it our 17th Anniversary, so in celebration, we hit the road.
Unlike previous vacations, we didn't plan this one. Like.... at all.
I had promised baronernst that we would be standing at the Vietnam Wall in DC on the day he was finally awarded his medals, Memorial Day. Other than that we had no plans.
And when I say no plans I mean: We had no hotel reservations. We had no firm plan of where we were going, when we were getting there or what we were gonna do when we got there. We. Had. No. Plans. We intended to use the Around Me app and the Open Table App on my Iphone to find restaurants, gas, diners, hotels, bank machines and liquor stores as appropriate, and the mapping program to get to where we intended to go, where ever we had decided that was.
On Thursday the May 24th at 1:30 we just got in the car and drove. We tried to make it through New Jersey, because, you know, New Jersey, but ended up crashing in an Econolodge somewhere almost to MD on the first night. We got up the next day, intending on going on to DC, but elmer42expressed interest in the B&O Railway museum, so we detoured to Baltimore and ended up spending the night. We found and booked the hotel room sitting in the car outside the museum at about 1:30. Checked in at 2:00. We walked our feet off in Baltimore! We tried to eat our body weight in crab and wine.
In the morning we bombed past Edgar Allen Poe's grave, and headed to DC. Taking knoggleknot's advice, we ended up staying on the George Mason University campus in a LEED certified hotel. No students on campus, graduation over: we practically had the hotel to ourselves.
Then multiple days of memorials, graves, museums, airplanes, motorcycles, bookstores that had wine bars, The Discovery, people watching, President dodging and walking, walking, walking. We had a last minute dinner with elmer42's friend who works for the State Department at a Lebanese food restaurant where we got an insider opinion on the Syria situation. Oh and we managed to see The Avengers.
Small, vaguely annoying mishap when we realized I had managed to leave my Iphone in a restaurant in Chinatown on Tuesday night itself, and had to go back on Wednesday morning to get it. But then we beat feet out of DC and decided to go to Philly. We ended up hooking up with mrgrumpybear and a friend for dinner, and then was so charmed with Philly itself, we told the hotel we were staying an extra night.
Then we walked all over Philly. My god, the food in that town is awesome. We peeked at the liberty bell, but pretty much resolutely refused to do the tourist thing, contenting ourselves with quirky shops stopping for a happy hour beverage every hour of happy hour, eating cuban food and going out for Martinis at a martini bar. Oh and I got my hair cut and bought a fabulous dress.
Then Friday we headed home, riding the crest of a storm that we now appear to be in the middle of.
All in all? The lack of planning actually freed us rather than impeded us. Not sure how to replicate this experience, but Road Trip for the win.
Also, my husband is awesome. I would marry him a third time if he asked.
Unlike previous vacations, we didn't plan this one. Like.... at all.
I had promised baronernst that we would be standing at the Vietnam Wall in DC on the day he was finally awarded his medals, Memorial Day. Other than that we had no plans.
And when I say no plans I mean: We had no hotel reservations. We had no firm plan of where we were going, when we were getting there or what we were gonna do when we got there. We. Had. No. Plans. We intended to use the Around Me app and the Open Table App on my Iphone to find restaurants, gas, diners, hotels, bank machines and liquor stores as appropriate, and the mapping program to get to where we intended to go, where ever we had decided that was.
On Thursday the May 24th at 1:30 we just got in the car and drove. We tried to make it through New Jersey, because, you know, New Jersey, but ended up crashing in an Econolodge somewhere almost to MD on the first night. We got up the next day, intending on going on to DC, but elmer42expressed interest in the B&O Railway museum, so we detoured to Baltimore and ended up spending the night. We found and booked the hotel room sitting in the car outside the museum at about 1:30. Checked in at 2:00. We walked our feet off in Baltimore! We tried to eat our body weight in crab and wine.
In the morning we bombed past Edgar Allen Poe's grave, and headed to DC. Taking knoggleknot's advice, we ended up staying on the George Mason University campus in a LEED certified hotel. No students on campus, graduation over: we practically had the hotel to ourselves.
Then multiple days of memorials, graves, museums, airplanes, motorcycles, bookstores that had wine bars, The Discovery, people watching, President dodging and walking, walking, walking. We had a last minute dinner with elmer42's friend who works for the State Department at a Lebanese food restaurant where we got an insider opinion on the Syria situation. Oh and we managed to see The Avengers.
Small, vaguely annoying mishap when we realized I had managed to leave my Iphone in a restaurant in Chinatown on Tuesday night itself, and had to go back on Wednesday morning to get it. But then we beat feet out of DC and decided to go to Philly. We ended up hooking up with mrgrumpybear and a friend for dinner, and then was so charmed with Philly itself, we told the hotel we were staying an extra night.
Then we walked all over Philly. My god, the food in that town is awesome. We peeked at the liberty bell, but pretty much resolutely refused to do the tourist thing, contenting ourselves with quirky shops stopping for a happy hour beverage every hour of happy hour, eating cuban food and going out for Martinis at a martini bar. Oh and I got my hair cut and bought a fabulous dress.
Then Friday we headed home, riding the crest of a storm that we now appear to be in the middle of.
All in all? The lack of planning actually freed us rather than impeded us. Not sure how to replicate this experience, but Road Trip for the win.
Also, my husband is awesome. I would marry him a third time if he asked.