September 22, 2008.

Since our medical examinations were behind us (pun) we were looking forward to exploring more of DC.

This past weekend, Allyson, the oldest girlchild was due to arrive in DC for the weekend. Since Ashlee now lives in DC and Al was to be here it turned into jam packed tourist weekend.

We walked as much as we could on Saturday taking in all the sights of downtown Washington. We walked the monuments including the memorials to WWII, Korea, Vietnam and Lincoln to name a few.


After several hours of hoofing it we decided to hop on the Circulator Bus and take a side trip out to Georgetown.

Downtown Georgetown has several blocks of shops and eateries. We saw a few sections of the barge lock system that has survived for close to 200 years. There was also an original stone house from 1751. The historical sites were pretty much just background noise when compared with the sights of sidewalks packed with shoulder to shoulder crowds. It was a bizarre mix of the uber wealthy and college kids just shopping and being seen. As usual there were some tragic fashion blunders to be seen strutting their stuff up and down the boulevard.

After Georgetown we walked over to the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. It was a pretty ritzy place and we were tragically underdressed as we walked around while suit and gown adorned couples milled about waiting for an opera to begin. Since we had stopped and eaten lunch so late in the day we decided to retire to the boat for an evening meal of appetizers.

Sunday looked to be another day of more forced marches but the girls had a plan up their collective sleeves. Christy’s birthday is later this week so they packed a picnic brunch complete with cake to celebrate.

We were just finished

with walking the Botanical Gardens when Ashlee produced an impromptu party from her shoulder bag. They even had candles for the cake. Afterwards we walked down the mall to the Smithsonian Metro stop so Christy and the girls could take the Metro for surprise manicure and pedicure appointments for the three of them.

I walked back towards the boat alone and was forced to watch Sunday afternoon football at the yacht club. I’m not sure who had the most enjoyable afternoon but I know that my feet appreciated the time off.