Ms Sarah Goes to Washington

I returned from Memphis only to return to ORD just a few days later, meet my sister, and head to Washington, DC. And keeping with my recent theme, I have not been to DC since 2016 when I spent time on the Hill lobbying on behalf of my employer at the time. 

This time, Kristin and I traveled to DC to see our Dad's cousin Jill. Now, Kristin and I have been calling her our first cousin. Jill thinks we are first cousins, once removed. And Google would say we are Jill's cousin once removed and her children would call us his second cousins.

Now that we've got that right, let's move on. Kristin and I last saw cousin Jill in 1988 when we were visiting our Grandparents in California. My Granny and Jill's Mom were sisters. In fact, they had homes right next to each other in California and Jill didn't live too far away from them at the time. We met Jill's first child, a son, on that trip (now, we would call him our second cousin). A second son was born and a few years later, Jill and her family moved overseas where they remained. 

Now Jill's second child - Harry - lives in the United States and lives in the DC area. Jill came to the states to meet her grandchild for the first time. And so she asked if we would be willing to come to DC to meet with her and her family and of course, we said yes.

Now Kristin and I are becoming pros traveling together. 

Upon landing in DC, Kristin pointed out the Washington Monument. So I do what one does, take a photo.

Notice the plan taking off in the photo I took.

Jill and Harry picked us up at the airport and dropped us at our hotel. We had a few moments to freshen up before heading to meet Harry's wife and daughter for diner. After dinner, we stopped at the Target to pick up a few things we forgot and Kristin and Jill did some ornament shopping. I should tell you know that Jill loves decorating trees as much as Kristin does.

Anyway, once we finished shopping, we spent the evening at Harry's place getting to know each other a bit more since we have never met. I should mention that Harry and Amanda also have a dog - a Golden Doodle - named Maggie. She's very sweet, but very energetic.

The following day we headed to a winery in Virginia. Now, my job was to drive Kristin, me, and Jill there (we decided to take two cars so Harry and the family could leave when it was time for the baby to nap). Driving someone else's car on the DC beltway and in Virginia was not on my bingo card, but we made it in one piece.

We spent the afternoon chatting, people watching, and enjoying good wine and food.

I drove us all back and we had a nice dinner with Jill.

The following day, we decided to head into DC and visit the National Museum of American History. Both Jill and I were confident that we had not visited before, but Kristin had (although it had been many years). We saw many of our countries national treasures, including Julia Child's kitchen, a "jeweled" Tiffany bicycle, the First Ladies dresses, White House China, Dorothy's Ruby Slippers, Walter White's Hazmat suit, Willie Nelson's bandana, Billie Jean King's tennis dress, Mr. Roger's shoes, and even a Bob Ross original painting.

But what was most impressive was the original star spangled banner. You cannot take any pictures or film in the exhibit, but I was overwhelmed when I turned the corner and saw the flag. It reminds you what those who have come before us. have fought for and what we need to continue to fight for - our freedom. The flag is kept in a temperature controlled room with very low lighting in order to protect the fabric.

Kristin last saw the flag as it was being restored. She recalled watching as those restoring the flag laid flat on their stomachs above the flag and used dry, white cosmetic sponges to clan the flag. So cool.

We didn't see anything else that day. We thought about walking the Mall and visiting the Vietnam memorial, but we needed to get out of town before traffic started. I will tell you we did have to reroute hone due to streets being shut down for anticipation of the presidential motorcade making its way through the city. 

The last thing I was able to do that day was to get Jill eSIM figured out. She and Harry hadn't been able to figure out why it wasn't working. I'll say Mint Mobile does not make the process easy - nor are there instructions great. 

Before leaving, Kristin convinced Jill to join us for the Festival of Trees next month  - both in Peoria and Des Moines. So, if we didn't spend enough time together this past week, we will spend another week together shortly (which we are all looking forward to).

Our flight back to ORD had a bit of excitement. Former transportation secretary, presidential candidate, and Mayor of South Bend, Indiana,  Pete Buttigieg, was on our flight. 

Until next time...