DC/West Virginia Recap

Well, I didn't get a chance to post much more information about our trip so I'll have to do my best to complete a recap here. Thursday evening we had dinner at Morton's and it was delicious. We shared a bottle of Charles Krug "Generations" which is a Meritage (a type of wine that I had never heard of and apparently is a blend of grapes that changes at each winery) and it was absolutely delicious - Matt and I both truly enjoyed it. As always the food was delectable and as always, we managed to eat too much and decided to just go back to our lovely hotel room (in our defense it was after 10:30pm when we finished dinner).

Friday morning we headed out to West Virginia, stopping in Hagerstown along the way to do some shopping at the outlets. Our only true purchase was at Kay-Bee toy stores where we purchased several water pistols as we planned to ambush our friend Foxie at the cottage when she arrived. Unfortunately as we got closer to Berkeley Springs, I realized that Matt's laptop didn't download the directions in his email so we had to stop at the public library to use their internet access to get the directions to the cottage and we were not the first ones to arrive at the cottage.


The cottage was adorable. Unfortunately, there is not much of a castle view when you get there and there is a slight obsession with cats, right down to the cat performing voodoo on a dog in the picture in our room. Fortunately, it had central AC and comfy beds and we had a great time. Matt and I had the chance to see some really good friends and to meet some others whom we had not met before. We were given the opportunity to share in our friend's wedding and see her light up the church as she walked down the aisle. (Keep checking back b/c I'm hoping to get Matt to post some pictures soon) We were even able to catch up with some friends who live less then a mile away from us and we hardly ever get to see :)

Let's see - the highlights of Friday included surprising the bride with a surprise visitor; buying lots of alcohol and ice cream at Food Lion as our "necessary staples for the weekend;" watch my friend Sugar smoke Twizzlers so that she could be a "smoker;" saving the American Legion lady from certain death as my Snarky friend attempted to kill her right after the American Legion lady informed us that the gift table could not stay where we had placed it; and just seeing my friends and hanging out. Oh and Matt and I were introduced to Sheetz which is a gas station that serves food - serious food - you just punch in your order and when your number is called, you have real live food.

Saturday was the day of the wedding and we had a lovely morning followed by a beautiful ceremony (mercifully short b/c there was no AC in the building) and then followed by a lovely reception (the food was delicious and the first "real food" that I had eatten since Mortons - Matt had two hot dogs from Sheetz so he was ahead of me). After the reception, we headed out to the bride and groom's house where we drank and ate and drank and sang and talked and hung out until we were thrown out sometime after midnight.

Sunday was a sad day as we all took over this cafe in Berkeley Springs and then had to say goodbye. After much delay, we headed out. Matt took the wheel for the trip back and the poor thing had to deal with downpouring rain for most of the first 3 hours of the trip. Eventually it cleared up but he was dead tired by the time we reached Boston almost 10 hours after we left. The highlight of the trip for me was definately the diner that we stopped in where I saw one of the largest chocolate chip cookies I had ever seen. In fact, all of their baked goods were ridiculously large. Even the bun for the burger was huge.

So now we are home and I'm back at work and Matt's back at work and we still need to unpack and to start laundry. I'm exhausted but I wouldn't have missed this weekend for the world.

Day 1 of DC Trip

Well, Matt and I are just about completing Day 1 of our DC trip extravaganza. We
left Boston last night after work and I took the driver's seat. We made great time until we hit the Jersey Turnpike. That's where we ran into a ton of traffic on the southbound side of the highway b/c of a massive accident on the northbound side. I don't really know what happened but Matt was able to identify an axle being hauled away on a trailer. As a sidenote, I would like to commend the state of NJ for their turnpike system - EZ Pass lanes at 55 MPH, merges that are easy to handle and well detailed road signs.

Our original plan was to stop in Delaware but unfortunately there were no motels available so we headed into Maryland and stopped at a very sketchy Motel 6. Unfortunately that was just about the time that all the drunks, drug dealers and prostitutes arrived. The room was nasty and we didn't dare use the comforters. We managed to get a few hours sleep and then off to DC we went.

We arrived in DC and checked into the Omni Shoreham where the staff was helpful, personable and just all around wonderful. You can imagine our pleasure when we finally got into the room and saw how beautiful it was. Then we were off to the Metro Station where I had my first opportunity to ride DC's subway system and then to Arlington Cemetary where we walked around, saw JFK's resting place, the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier (and just for Daddy - No, his wife wasn't there this time), and were privy to a portion of the burial of a serviceman. (For a beautiful vision of the sight we saw as we stood in silence to the sound of "Taps" being played indicating the conclusion of the burial service, see below.) We then walked across the Memorial Bridge to the Lincoln Memorial and walked back down along the reflecting pool to the Washington Memorial.

All in all, a wonderful and relaxing day (even if we were both hot, sweaty and smelly when we were all said and done). Now we are enjoying some cocktails before we get ready to head out to dinner at Morton's in Georgetown. I can't wait for Day Two to start.