why is vacation so exhausting??? (part 4)

So I slogged my way thru my post-Seattle trip - working every day, planning my next weekend's trip.

I was planning on being gone for our tea meeting. So Thursday night, I stayed up WAY too late making "Cheesecake Truffle Bombs". It was fairly simple & straight forward. I always forget, tho, and let the chocolate get too hot. And then you can't work with it. Boo. But this recipe has potenital and I'll probably try again & perhaps experiment with different flavors. Friday night was Vestal Festival Parade and Bed & Bathtub Races. It's a great place to catch up with friends & neighbors. Then I got home and had to make a casserole. It wasn't that late when I went to bed, but it should have been earlier.

I woke up somewhere between 4:30 & 5 Saturday morning. Showered & packed up my stuff. Didn't leave the house until close to 6:30. Then stopped at Starbucks and never got on the road until 7. It was a beautiful sunny morning and getting to the exit for my friend's house in Maryland was easy. It was just that my directions and what it said at the junction did not match. So I did a bit of driving around before I actually got to her house.

It was wonderful to see M again. We couldn't remember the last time we had seen each other. She drove to the Metro station & we headed into DC. We arrived above ground on The Mall. I said I needed to eat, so we headed for the Old Post Office. I had a quesadilla, she had a gyro. It was different than I remember it being, but it's been years since I've been there. After lunch, we headed for the National Museum of American History. I wanted to see Julia Childs' kitchen. I was somewhat disappointed because of the lighting and the crowd, but it was still very very neat! We looked at a couple other exhibits, but it was so crowded (Saturdays at museums generally are...) that we headed back outside.

Decided to walk up to the Washington Monument. We didn't go inside. Just sat outside in the sun & the breeze - the weather was lovely. We couldn't decide what to do, so M called her sister and we decided to meet for dinner in Fredrick. We met at an Irish pub. It was neat because it was Fredrick's 3rd Saturday (or whatever they call it) and all the shops & galleries were open late and there was lots of live music on the sidewalks. It was very neat, but we didn't have a chance to wander because we sat in the restaurant until 10. It was So good to catch up with those girls. Our moms grew up together so we've known each other for our whole lives, but have just grown apart. It was neat to reconnect!

Sunday dawned sunny, so we didn't bother taking our umbrellas when we left M's house. After morning meeting - which had about 4 times as many people as they usually have! - most of us went to Bertucci's for salad & pizza. YUM! Then, after much discussion, M lead the way to The White House. From there, we headed to the monuments: Washington, WWII & Lincoln. We just wandered & visited & took pictures. Many phone calls were made as we tried to figure out where everyone was because it was time to head back to the cars. It was very muggy and there was no breeze so no one wanted to walk any farther than was necessary.

We walked past the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on our way back to the cars. We got back to the park near the restaurant. The sun came out and a breeze came up and suddenly, it was really nice out! :) We all hung out there til everyone was back and then sat and visited some more. Finally around 6:30, everyone went their separate ways. It was such a fun day and such a great group of OYP! :)

M & I made our way back to Maryland. We stopped for "dinner" - Baja Fresh for me, Popeyes for her - and went back to her place to eat. I finally left there at 8:15. YIKES! It was good in the sense that there was very little traffic, but bad in that it was 1:10 when I got home. I stopped twice - once for gas and once for a potty break. And still made it to work at 8. The afternoon was rough. I was like totally falling asleep while I was waiting for people to answer their phones. Kinda scary, actually!

But now I'm home for a while. :)



xo