Washington DC Trip, 2014 - Day 3

Day 3 of our Washington DC trip started off with all four of us sleeping in until sometime around 8. A well deserved treat after the non-stop action of the previous two days, if you ask me. After everyone was up, dressed, packed, and ready to go, we headed downstairs to grab some breakfast at the hotel restaurant. Luckily, the breakfast was much, much better than the dinner we had eaten there earlier. The kids had pancakes, while Mariah and I took advantage of the breakfast buffet.

While we were eating, a gentleman sitting at the table next to ours leaned over and said, "Hey, I see you have children, are you aware of the Science & Engineering Festival going on today?" We responded that we had not heard of such a thing, and he proceeded to inform us that the festival is held every 2 years, and that this was the last day for this year. He said that there were lots of interactive exhibits and activities that would be fun for the children, and we thanked him for the information and said we would certainly keep it in mind if time allowed.

After breakfast, we left the hotel and walked back to the Metro station to head into town for the last time. Our first stop was the National Mall, where we were planning to hike over to see the Washington Monument, but were temporarily sidetracked when we saw several stands of teepees set up in the grass. We walked over to check them out along with a few wagons they had parked nearby.

Ben and Emma were excited to see how tall they were, and enjoyed walking around inside of one and trying to guess how they built them. I assumed that this was some sort of educational endeavor, but I found out later that it was part of a protest against a pipeline.

As we were leaving, Emma discovered a ventilation grate in the ground which was blowing out air at high speeds. She had a blast jumping back and forth through the gusting air, and sticking her face down in it to have her hair blown all about.

We continued our walk and eventually made our way to the Washington Monument, which was, unfortunately, still closed off due to the damage caused by the earthquake in 2011. We got as close as we could, and Ben and Emma were very impressed by the size of the obelisk.

We had been planning to go see the Lincoln Memorial next, but it was already starting to get close to lunchtime and I had an appointment at noon that I had to keep (more on that in a bit), so we decided to head north and see the White House instead.

It was a beautiful day and the crowds were out in full force. There had been a half-marathon in the city that morning, so everyone who had come for that was still walking around, taking in the sights. The walk to the White House was a long one, and the previous days activities had taken their toll on little legs. The children were getting very tired already and it was clear that seeing historical architecture was not as compelling to them as the sights and sounds from the zoo and museums.

Are we having fun yet?

They soldiered on though, and we were able to make it through the crowds to see the White House.

Next, we headed up New York Ave to 12th St NW where the Tesla Motors showroom is located. This was my little treat to myself, as I had scheduled a test drive of the Tesla Model S, an all-electric sedan that I've been pining for. Sadly, the children were not allowed to ride along in the car, as we could not bring any car seats with us, but Mariah, Ben, and Emma were all magnanimous enough to wait in the showroom while I took a 30 minute test drive around town.

Mariah, checking out the Tesla Model S	Fits like a glove, I'll take it! (I wish)
The kids got a big kick out of the front trunk, or "frunk."

Oh man, this car is amazing! I drove a blue P85 model, which is the performance version, capable of 0-60 in just over 4 seconds. I wasn't able to put that number to the test in D.C. traffic, but I had a few clear spots where I was able to put my foot down, at least a little bit. It is quite a different experience from driving a regular car. First, it is completely silent; no engine means no engine noise. When you take your foot off the accelerator the car immediately starts slowing down due to regenerative braking, which converts the car's momentum back into electricity. Other hybrid and electric cars do this too, but it's the first time I've experienced it myself. It slows the car down enough that in most situations you only have to lightly touch the brake pedal right at the end to bring the car to a full stop. Unlike most electric cars that can only go a few dozen miles per charge, this one can go 265 miles on a full battery!

Everything in the car is controlled through a giant touch screen display in the center of the dashboard that can quickly switch between GPS, climate controls, stereo, rear view camera, adjusting the ride height of the air suspension, and on and on. The Tesla rep who rode with me was friendly and knowledgeable, and did an excellent job of steering me though all the traffic and crazy Washington streets.

The test drive was over all too quickly, but I returned back to the store hoping that the kids weren't dying of boredom due to my selfish side-trip. Mariah kept them busy and entertained though, and assured me that all was well, so we packed up and headed out to lunch. Now, as if my family had not indulged me enough, we walked a couple of blocks over and had lunch at one of my favorite burger places, Fuddruckers. The one in Richmond that I used to frequent closed years ago, so the only time I get to eat there anymore is on trips, and I jump at any chance I get.

The place was crowded, but the burgers were delicious and we ate our fill (and then some, in my case). From there we decided to take a short stroll north to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center to see the Science & Engineering Festival we heard about that morning.

The convention hall was gigantic and packed full of thousands of people wandering around. It took us a few minutes to get our bearings, but we eventually made our way over to a section of the hall with activities and booths geared towards children. Like any convention, there were tons of little freebies going around, so the kids got some yo-yos, sunglasses, coloring books, etc. They got a chance to try making some spin-art using a marker and a little spinning table made from Lego bricks, and looked at different insects through magnifying glasses.

Down one aisle, we saw a full sized school bus made up to look like the Magic School Bus (a favorite book series of Ben and Emma's), but the line to walk through it was very long, so we kept on moving. Eventually, we settled down in a spot where they had some wooden blocks to build towers out of and test the little builders' engineering prowess. Ben and Emma had a good time building their towers, and I was impressed with how careful and precise they were.

Around 3 pm, we decided that we'd better get going so that we would have plenty of time to get to the train station in Alexandria. It took us a while to figure out the best way to get out of the labyrinthine convention center, but we soon spotted the right signs to direct us to the nearest Metro station.

As we entered the station, my heart sank as we were confronted with a huge line of hundreds of people waiting to get through the gates and down to the platforms. At the rate the line was moving, it seemed like we might be standing there forever. To make matters worse, I knew that of the three farecards we had been using, one of them needed more money added to it to make the trip back to the King St Metro station. I told Mariah to stay in the line for the gates with the kids, and I would stand in another long line to add money to the farecard.

From here on, things just kept getting worse and worse. The line for the farecards was moving abysmally slow. Glacially slow, even. By the time Mariah and the kids were almost to the gates, I still hadn't made it even halfway to the machine. Not wanting to get separated, I decided to bail from that line and join Mariah. I reasoned that I should still be able to add money to the farecard at our destination before leaving the station.

As we approached the gates though, we heard a Metro employee telling people that these gates would NOT let you through to the platform unless you had at least $2.70 cents on the card. I looked at our three cards and saw two with over $6 and one with only $2.50! Now I had no choice but to go back and wait in the line I had just left and lost my place in! I gave Mariah and Ben their cards (Emma was able to ride free since she's 4 years old), and told Mariah to just take the kids on the next train rather than have to wait another 15 minutes for one, and that I would meet her at the King St station.

I took my place back in line and waited and waited, but it just wasn't moving. Unsurprisingly, none of the people from the convention seemed to be from the area, and they all had to take their time reading all of the instructions, figuring out what the rate was for their stop, and so on. I decided it was time for drastic action and, checking my phone, saw that it was about six blocks to the next Metro station in Chinatown. I calculated that I could run to the next station, where there would most likely not be any lines, faster than it would take to stand in line at this one.

I bolted up the stairs and out into the fresh air. I got on my phone to call Mariah and tell her of my plan as I began to jog down the street, but when she picked up she started yelling at me immediately, "Where ARE you!?!" I tried to explain what I was doing, but was quickly drowned out, "Ben wasn't able to get through the gate and he is looking for you! Where are you?!"

I heard the distress in her voice and immediately pictured Ben lost and alone in the Metro station, with Mariah stuck on the other side of the gate and unable to get to him. I don't think I've ever moved as fast as I did then; sprinting back to the station and flying down the stairs. I made my way to the gate where Ben was standing near Mariah, safe and sound, and heaved a great sign of relief. She explained that the machine would not take his ticket, even though it clearly said that there was over six dollars on it.

I knew that Ben wasn't going to be able to run six blocks, so this meant that it was back in line at the farecard machine for the THIRD time. At this point around 45 minutes had elapsed and we still had a 20-30 minute Metro ride ahead of us. I was beginning to fear that we were going to miss our train home, which would mean a 2 hour wait for the next one and arriving home after 8 pm with school the next day. Not an ideal scenario.

Our line for the farecard machine inched forward, one confused patron at a time. Ben was a champ and waited very patiently with me. Finally, when there were only two people in front of us and the end was in sight, the guy at the front appeared to break the machine somehow. He was trying to use multiple credit cards or something and got the machine stuck in a loop and couldn't get it to cancel out of the transaction for his smartpass. He eventually just shrugged his shoulders and walked away, leaving the next guy in line to press the "Cancel" button over and over in the hopes that it would suddenly start working.

It was at this exact moment in time that I began to consider the possibility that we might need to take up permanent residence in this Metro station, but as luck would have it, the gentleman at the head of the line was able to crack the code on the enigma machine in front of us and somehow got things working again. After what felt like an eternity, Ben and I were finally able to add cash to our cards. It turned out that Ben's card didn't have $6 on it after all, it had $2.50 just like mine! Apparently the last gate he went through was out of ink, so while the money was taken off of the card, the new value was printed too light to be seen. Fun!

Anyway, we finally had our recharged cards and I was grateful that the enormous line to the gates had shrunk to almost nothing, so we were able to join Mariah and Emma after a few short minutes. The next train arrived and we boarded, headed to the Amtrak station at long last, but would we make it in time?

Our Metro train barreled from station to station, with me watching the time obsessively and marking our progress on my phone's GPS the whole way. At first I thought that we would miss the Amtrak train for sure, but after a few more quick stops I began to hope that we might have a chance. One thing was for sure though, it was going to be very close either way.

The minutes rolled by and then we were at our stop. We had already told the kids how close this was going to be, and made sure that they were ready to run. As soon as the doors opened we sprinted through, kids in front of us, directing them through the crowd on the platform. We made it down from the platform and out through the gates without any problems, and then, as we ran under the tracks and over to the Amtrak platform nearby, I heard a train horn blowing and knew it must be our train coming, maybe we hadn't missed it after all!

We bolted up the stairs and walked out onto the platform and right into the line to board just as the train was pulling up, at 4:18. We boarded and the train was pulling away from the station before we even found seats. If we had been 30 seconds later, we would have missed it. Friends, it doesn't get much closer than that.

We found some quiet seats and collapsed, grateful to have two hours to relax and enjoy the ride home. I thought the children might be tired and sleep on the way back, but they talked and played and watched out the windows the whole way home without any problems. The journey went by quickly for me, and before I knew it we were back in Richmond.

Mom was there to meet us at the station and the kids were tripping over themselves trying to tell her stories of all the adventures they had and hopefully some of the memories they made.



Until the next adventure...