Sore Feet but Good Memories

Today was day one of my extended business trip/leisure trip with my daughter as my traveling companion. That sounded a bit Doctor Whoish-sorry. The trip started at the crack of dawn, arriving to get through security while the sun was coming up. A really sparse plane meant lots of room for a pleasant change. After an uneventful flight, no hassles getting our luggage to our hotel via the Metro for transport, no TARDIS involved, sorry again, we set out back into Washington DC proper, to explore the Mall and have lunch at Top Chef celebrity Spike Mendelsohn’s We, the Pizza, and a milkshake next door at his Good Stuff Eatery. As I have been to Good Stuff before, I knew generally where it was, so I thought.  I thought I had expertly navigated the map and metro route to the nearest station. Little did I know that Pennsylvania Ave kind of stops around the Capitol, and my deductive mapping skills were way off. What I thought was going to be a 4-5 block walk, became a 1.9 mile detour in 90 degree plus sunny heat.

We were on a quest though, and trudged on, finally reaching our destination. We savored our time there, sampling between the two of us four different slices. Portion size was plenty, and no way were we able to add even a shake between the two of us. We spent the rest of the afternoon at the Air and Space Museum. While my daughter is heading into a career in the film industry, she is pretty leery of being in front of the camera. Surprise of all surprises, she allowed me to take a picture of her in the cockpit of a mock Cessna plane, but will not allow me to post. I got in the spirit as well, and decided to pose too. We took our time heading back, making sure this time I really did have my bearings, and found a much better metro stop.

We've been lazing about in our room now, realizing once our shoes came off, how many miles were trudged and felt by our feet. We won't be caving into fatigue; after checking e-mails Facebook posts, and blogs, we will head for a swim, a hot tub soak, and a late nosh on appetizers and maybe a beer or two at a pub around the corner. She has her own plans tomorrow while I'm in meetings, exploring a few of the monuments, perhaps another museum, a street vendor pretzel, or perhaps making her way back for one of those shakes. While I'm the veteran DC goer, she is the experienced traveler, and clearly navigated the maps better than I did. I think I'll be happy to keep off my feet tomorrow so that I am ready to keep up with her by Saturday afternoon. This time with my daughter is a blessing-no managing required.

Hot day, sore feet, ready for more