DC

Got back on Sunday from the 1st bi-annual get together in Washington DC. Why is it that just about every time I go on vacation I come back more exhausted than when I left? Maybe it was the 10+ hr car ride both ways. I dunno....
The trip down there was uneventful until we got into the DC/Alexandria area and the traffic was maddening. We got there a little after 4 and didn't actually get to the resort until just after 6 because we were stuck in traffic. Then the parking garage was super confusing and I ending up blowing a tire after hitting a curb in the parking garage. Many thanks to Kev for loaning us the $$$ to get another tire so we wouldn't have to roll home on a donut.

The resort itself was not as nice as the one we toured in Nashville but it was still much better than a hotel. Unfortunately we are incredibly slothful people which means we didn't get out of the room on friday or saturday until after noon sometime so not as much time to do stuff as I thought. We did make it to the Air and Space Museum on the first day though. We ate at Asian Bistro and I tried Pad Thai for the first time and it was deelish. The next day we split up and Chris and I went to Arlington Cemetary. We saw JFK's grave and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We watched the changing of the guard which was awesome to see but my dad picked that inopportune moment to call and then when we didn't answer call again and then leave a voicemail so we have 100+ people staring daggers at us for the interruption. I felt horrible about that.
Next we hopped the metro to the National Mall and did A LOT of walking. We went to the Washington Monument, the WW2 Memorial, walked down the reflecting pool to the Lincoln Memorial and then to Vietnam wall. This little jaunt reminded me of my aversion to large groups of people. The other tourists seemed like cockroaches to me- all over the place, only in this instance there was no way to turn a light on and make them all scatter. Honestly for the Wall I think I would have rather did that one myself instead of with Chris because I asked him nicely several times to back off and leave me alone so I could be well, alone with my thoughts, and he refused to back off. He just followed me around and it pissed me off so the emotion and the whole thought process I had at the time was completely wasted/lost. I have decided if they ever do a monument to Iraq I won't be going. Its not for wanting to forget the people that didn't make it home but more because I don't want to dredge up the memories of my being over there because 99% of them were bad.
That night we ate at a greek restaurant called Taverna Cretekou and it was some of the best food I've ever tasted. A little pricey but REALLY good. I was also thrilled they had a Starbucks in the Hilton right next door.

Unfortunately due to time constraints there was some stuff I wanted to see/do that I didn't get to. I did want to see the White House, the Korean Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial and I wanted to go to the Holocaust Museum and the Museum of American History. They were also having the National Book Festival while we were there and I had planned on going but by time we got that area it was mid-afternoon and I had to make a choice between that and seeing the monuments and I chose the monuments because it is not likely I will go back to DC soon but it is likely that I will attend a book festival/sale at some point in the near future.
Of course the best part of the whole trip was spending it with friends. I am glad Chris got the opportunity to know Kev and Krista a little better but I still wish Sarah and Liz could have come. The one thing that really bugs me about me though is even on vacation I am completely unable to relax. Part of the problem is that Chris and I are polar opposites in that respect. I feel most comfortable and able to let my guard down when all the ducks are in a row so to speak. I like to have at least a vague plan of what I'm doing. Chris likes to just go with the flow and leave everything until the last minute and it drives me STARK RAVING MAD. I CANNOT handle living like that and when it is like that I am constantly on edge and I know it affects the mood of those around me but I can't help it. Its not like I have to have everything on a schedule down to the last minute but I have to have order in my life. I really missed Collin while we were gone and we didn't get home til 10 sunday night and he was already asleep. He was out cold and we couldn't wake him up so we didn't actually get to see him til monday. Overall it was a good trip. The resort staff did put a damper on it right at the end though when we went down to do the survey we agreed to in exchange for $100 in free gift certificates. While they promised it would take 1/2 hr it took over an hour and the bulk of the "survey" was trying to get us to refinance our timeshare and become VP members which would have given us more points but also would have upped our payment another $160. We could tell the guy was getting visibly annoyed with us and he was kind of pushy which I thought was slightly unprofessional but oh well. The rest of the trip was good.
I am trying to plan a family vacation for us and the fam in NY to Newport, RI for next summer but that requires Chris to call them and find out if they're interested so I know what to book. As for the next bi-annual trip Vegas won hands down and thankfully we'll be flying to that one :)

In other news, work has been snooze-worthy since I got back and I am just about caught up on the homework/participation I neglected to do while on vacation. I'm going to a library sale on saturday so I guess that will make up partially for missing the book fest. So life is just about back to normal :)