It’s Saturday…Go home day!! We are all ready to have our own beds and pillows. Though the pillows at the hotel were awesome, to the point that I was going to try and fit one in my carry on; alas, it would not fit and allow me to bring my clothes back home with me. Our motel room was on the ninth, and top floor, of the Comfort Inn and Suites in Alexandria, VA, though it was on the top floor we did not have the Penthouse Suite. The room was very comfortable and the staff were all very friendly and helpful. I would recommend the hotel to anyone, the breakfast was great, they had free WiFi and a pool. The drive into town took about 15 minutes at most, yet we were far enough out to have a ton of restaurants available and affordable lodging.
We got up and around, packed our bags and performed the room sweep to make sure we had everything with us. Then we were off. Our plane was not scheduled to leave until 5:00 pm, check-out time was 11:00, so we had a few hours to kill before we had to be at the airport. I personally wanted to see the Jefferson Memorial and the WWII memorial, so we headed downtown for one last “walk-around” before heading out. We were going to grab lunch in Lafayette Square (which is lined with food trucks). Jefferson Memorial was very majestic. He stands very tall in the center of the dome and his words are inscribed on the walls. Around the top of the dome is the quote: “I have sworn upon the alter of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny”. There is a great area downstairs of history, book stores, and bathrooms. Bathrooms being the main attraction on that floor for those of us that drank our water that morning.
We headed from there down the the Lafayette Square area, drove past the WWII memorial and found parking not far away from the square. Purchased T-shirts for the kids, and went in search of lunch…apparently the food trucks are only out during the week. BOOO! So we decided to just head to the airport and eat there, after getting the car returned and everything settled.
Enjoyed at California Tortilla (very tasty, and recommended for good food), and then found out our plan was delayed until 6:00. After hanging out for awhile, we were informed that our plane was delayed until 7:00. Ugh!! We ended up flying out of DC at the time we were supposed to be arriving in STL. We attempted to keep occupied and in good spirits, but sitting in an airport is not what is considered fun. But we are THANKFUL that we had traveling mercies and nothing happened or went wrong with our flights or while we were driving around the city.
We landed, collected our bags, and headed south…it was great to be in MO. I had been driving in DC all week, so when I got out on the freeway it felt very strange to only have a few vehicles there. No crazy drivers weaving in/out of traffic, honking at everyone, no blinkers being used. We were stopped at a sobriety check-point in Farmington (I passed). The drive home was long, but we persevered and arrived around 2:00 am.
While in the Capitol City we met and had lunch with a lady from Seattle (or at least shared our table with her during our food truck experience) that was in town protesting the education system. We also saw two different protest going on, one for Oromo Students (to stop killing and supplying fund to the militants in Ethiopia), and then on Saturday we saw the protestors for the Gaza blockade. We were able to see democracy and freedom of speech in action.
All in all it was a good week, with a lot of information packed into five days worth of traveling. We can say we walked through the White House, toured the Capitol building and were able to see the underground world that has been created for the Senators and Representatives, visited Arlington and watched the changing of the Guard, and hit some Smithsonian Museums.
Until later…ERM.