Doran
02-03-2008, 05:27 PM
Is it awful to admit that I am exhausted? I don't think it's my mother's fault -- more that I must just not be a well seasoned traveler. I think all travel does this to me.
Anyway, we had a wonderful time in Washington, D.C. We were able to stay at the home of dear friends who were out of town. Our adventure included:
1. Not being able to actually unlock the doors - neither front nor back. We had the keys, and we could hear the lock UNlock. But, we couldn't get the door to open. Of course, it was nearing dark, and raining. Fortunately, I had the phone number for our friends' daughter who told us the "trick" -- it's not one turn, but two. Go figure.
2. Setting the coffee pot up our first morning, and listening to it gurgle and spit for 10 minutes while producing NO COFFEE. I still haven't figured that one out - maybe it was broken. Thankfully, these folks also use a French press, so I found one of those. Starbucks was close, but not close enough. :eek:
3. The Metro. THE METRO! What a pair of tourists we were. I can't take the space to describe how long it took us just to buy our roundtrip fare, and get through the little gates. Suffice it to say that the lady in the info. booth, who had been very unsolicitous when we first approached, became like our next of kin by the time we actually got ourselves underway. It was hysterical and a testament to my 80 year old mother's character.
4. The Metro revisited. On our return trip, we exited the Metro at a different exit from the one we entered, which put us on a completely different street, and block. We circled the block in utter confusion (this after 6 hours of visting a museum!) before we stepped into a jewelry store for help. One man there was great. Just great. He fairly skipped, and we loved him. He helped us read our map. Actually, we read the map, and he just smiled, and talked, and said he had NO IDEA how to tell us where we were going. But, somehow, his skippy smile made us feel better.
5. Wonderful conversation, but not enough of it. Our best talk was over breakfast the first morning. I was thrilled that Mom was willing to let go of our ETD and just talk. I was glad to hear Mom say that she was bound to seek out a support group for caregivers of people with Alzheimers/dementia when she got home. Been nudging for that one for over a year now.
6. A full, sobering day in the Holocaust Museum where I learned, I cried, and I left feeling like I need to do so much more to prevent this kind of thing from happening, as it is, right now.
7. A memorable time spent celebrating my mother's 80th birthday, and the reassurance that this "gift" to her was the very best thing I could have chosen to give her -- a weekend for just the two of us!
Doran
Anyway, we had a wonderful time in Washington, D.C. We were able to stay at the home of dear friends who were out of town. Our adventure included:
1. Not being able to actually unlock the doors - neither front nor back. We had the keys, and we could hear the lock UNlock. But, we couldn't get the door to open. Of course, it was nearing dark, and raining. Fortunately, I had the phone number for our friends' daughter who told us the "trick" -- it's not one turn, but two. Go figure.
2. Setting the coffee pot up our first morning, and listening to it gurgle and spit for 10 minutes while producing NO COFFEE. I still haven't figured that one out - maybe it was broken. Thankfully, these folks also use a French press, so I found one of those. Starbucks was close, but not close enough. :eek:
3. The Metro. THE METRO! What a pair of tourists we were. I can't take the space to describe how long it took us just to buy our roundtrip fare, and get through the little gates. Suffice it to say that the lady in the info. booth, who had been very unsolicitous when we first approached, became like our next of kin by the time we actually got ourselves underway. It was hysterical and a testament to my 80 year old mother's character.
4. The Metro revisited. On our return trip, we exited the Metro at a different exit from the one we entered, which put us on a completely different street, and block. We circled the block in utter confusion (this after 6 hours of visting a museum!) before we stepped into a jewelry store for help. One man there was great. Just great. He fairly skipped, and we loved him. He helped us read our map. Actually, we read the map, and he just smiled, and talked, and said he had NO IDEA how to tell us where we were going. But, somehow, his skippy smile made us feel better.
5. Wonderful conversation, but not enough of it. Our best talk was over breakfast the first morning. I was thrilled that Mom was willing to let go of our ETD and just talk. I was glad to hear Mom say that she was bound to seek out a support group for caregivers of people with Alzheimers/dementia when she got home. Been nudging for that one for over a year now.
6. A full, sobering day in the Holocaust Museum where I learned, I cried, and I left feeling like I need to do so much more to prevent this kind of thing from happening, as it is, right now.
7. A memorable time spent celebrating my mother's 80th birthday, and the reassurance that this "gift" to her was the very best thing I could have chosen to give her -- a weekend for just the two of us!
Doran