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We made it back at about 7:45 last night. Derek picked us up after a long day of flying. The almost four hour flight from Atlanta to Tucson is pretty brutal for a man of my size. We saw Dave Eschoven in the Tucson airport holding a sign up with somebody else's name on it so clearly he wasn't there to meet us though for a moment we pretended he was our welcoming party. :-)
Even though the Preakness horse race was being held in Baltimore we managed to secure a suite on the 28th floor of a beautiful hotel near the waterfront. It was a last minute deal I found on the internet. We walked down along the wharf and made reservations at a seafood restaurant for later in the evening. We had a late lunch at a Cuban place and it was superb. I always enjoy eating stuff I've never heard of before. We are pretending it was all low carb and will not be dissuaded from our pretense. We also rode the elevator to the Top of the World - the top story of the Baltimore World Trade Center. It was impressive.
We headed back to the hotel and hung out until evening and then walked back down to have dinner. After dinner we walked through the Inner Harbor area and listened to various live band concerts held out on the streets. It was cool to see the artists, musicians, acrobats, clowns, etc. working the crowds. One artist created some amazing pieces with acrylic spray paint and I picked out my favorite and decided to buy it. I stepped up to give the man the money and a woman shoved in front of me and bought 'my' painting. Hmmm...
We walked out on one of the piers to enjoy the lights on the water and to watch the boats coming in and out. We found a wall to sit on and as we sat down an amazing fireworks show began. For the next forty five minutes we had perfect seats for one of the best fireworks demonstrations I've ever seen. We thought it had been arranged for our last day of vacation, but someone dashed that idea by saying they do it every year for the Preakness. We got up yesterday, packed, had cooked to order omelets in the hotel restaurant, and goofed off until it was time to head to the airport. When we turned in our rental car, I inadvertantly left my cell phone in the car. I discovered this when we were sitting at the gate waiting for our plane. Fortunately I had time to grab a shuttle back to the Rental Center and get it back. They had already begun to package it in order to mail it back to me. The rest of the day was uneventful which is always good when you travel.
Trip highlights for me were:
1) Finding Kathy after a month of seperation!
2) Mount Vernon. I felt such an amazing connection to my past as I sat where my Dad once sat. It was a peaceful and quiet place and I could imagine my Dad walking the same grounds sixty years before. I had wondered if they would even let us on the lawn in these post 9/11 days, but we were allowed to walk all around it. Being photographed where my Dad was once photographed was cool. It was my personal favorite.
3) The last night in Baltimore. The cities back East seem to have a much better grasp of neighborhood and localness. Coke sponsored one of the concerts on the street, but for the most part it was local merchants and local artists doing their thing together. It felt right. The fireworks were a cool surprise and I love walking along the water at night with my woman.
4) The Holocaust Museum. The descent into insanity is alarming. I don't think I'll ever forget the images and it will be a long time before someone will be able to convince me that man is basically good and getting better. I am more convinced than ever that when we would be God, we are capable of hideous atrocity. It shook me to my core.
5) The National Cathedral. The proportions are mind boggling. Especially when you consider that there is no steel framing but simply stone placed on stone. The cathedral floor is divided into many 'rooms' or areas where different groups gather to worship and pray. God living in temples was never real to me before and I will read of Solomon's temple with different eyes. I found it amazing that the God of grandeur takes up place in me.
6) The White House Visitor's Center. Impressive history of life in the White House. I love histoy and this place was full of story about place and people. Lots of corners to hide in and enjoy.
7) The Pennsylvania Capital Building. May be the most impressive building I've ever been in. The art is beautiful and the whole place speaks of man's higher aspirations. For a last minute decision, it was a great one.
Trip lowlights for me were:
1) The heat. The heat combined with humidity. You just want to die. Everything feels like a sauna run amok.
2) Construction. So many of the national monuments were surrounded by construction fences. "Over that construction wall lies..." is not the kind of thing you want to hear from a tour guide.
3) The Metro. The subway in Boston was cool. The subway in Washington DC is broke down and screwed up. A train that was on the orange line headed for Falls Church ended up going to Arlington on the blue line. The next day we took the same train at the same time and ended up in Falls Church. Of course, the second day was when the other nine billion people had to squeeze onto it. If I didn't say bad words, I might have thought them.
4) Driving. You would think that cities would put signs up. Signs that give meaningful information at appropriate times. Not like the street sign in Baltimore that looked like all the other street signs that said in small print that the 'next' street was Lombard Street. 'Lombard' was written in large letters. 'Next street' was written in small letters. So we turned right on what turned out to be Randolph and then got stuck in one of those 'no way out' mazes that only God and an act of Congress can get you out of. Sigh...
5) Toll bridges, tunnels, and highways. Could we just mail in a check once a year and skip all those innane toll booths with inexplicable designations above them so that you are trying to give money to someone who only takes cards and cards to someone who only takes money and cards and money to people who only take tokens. Do they really need that fifty cents?
6) Security. Every building you visit requires you to be strip searched and examined. You have to take off all your jewelry, watches, phones, etc. and walk through those beeping machines and then get scanned. We had to get scanned just to buy an iced tea (must they put sugar in iced tea?) at the food court in the Old Post Office Building. Can't we just go to one place in Washington and get scanned and probed one time and then wear a little gold star that says we are okay and aren't going to do anything bad. Hurrumph!
7) Have I mentioned sugar in iced tea? No free refills on Cokes? Coke machines that take your money and don't deliver? Seafood they walk out back and pull out of the ocean that they charge a fin and a leg for?
The trip was fun. It was especially fun because Kathy's generous employer paid for part of it. It is good to be home. It is good to have my wife back. See you tonight at Vespers.
Rod | 
