We Went on a Road Trip to Maryland! And played tourist in Washington, D.C. Did you miss me?

Random Bridge in West Virginia

So the kids and I just got back from road-tripping it from Ohio to Maryland! A rather spur of the moment decision to go visit some friends we haven’t seen years. I decided if I waited until John got back (from his TDY), or until we could otherwise all go together, it just wouldn’t happen. It’s funny what goes through your mind when you find out you’re moving — to the other side of the country, no less — a year earlier than originally scheduled: I realized how much I still wanted to get to on this side of the country, Washington, D.C. included. We won’t get to it all, but I’ll do what I can in the months we have left.

Hmmm… some 1,137 miles later, I’m quite content to sit put again for awhile. At least for a couple of weeks.

So, those of you reading this? Are you old enough yet to realize how fast the years can fly by? I mean, ten years since we last saw these friends we just visited? Is it possible?

Okay, I just have to clarify: John has actually visited them a couple of times over the years when he has gone through DC for work. That is so not fair.

But yes, it is otherwise possible for the years to fly by like that. I totally believe that time speeds up the older we get. Remember when summer seemed to last forever? And now it’s gone in a hiccup.

But I digress.

The friends we stayed with were some we knew when we lived in Maryland (Silver Spring) back when Conner was *sniff* just a tot. And our timing seemed to work out for this trip despite the last-minute plans because my friend’s husband was also traveling for work, so it was just we ladies and the kids. (Not that I wouldn’t have wanted to see you, Ken. Mwah.) Our friends’ oldest and Conner were such good buddies Back in The Day, just a couple of months difference in age between them. Back then, we didn’t see them terribly often, what with work schedules and living in different towns and oh the traffic I do not miss it.

Having lunch (yummy hummus!) down by The Mall

But it was enough to cement a friendship that Ligia and I have maintained electronically over the years — recently via facebook (naturally) which has helped me to feel like I already knew her younger son Seth, who was born after we left. Oh, and then there’s the two new people we added to our family since we last saw them! So much fun to put personalities with the faces.

The boys, of course, haven’t exactly stayed bosom buddies over the years. Conner was all like, “We’re going to see who?” But within hours they were jostling and hanging out and getting to know each other again and being good sports about it. I knew things must be going okay when they friended each other on facebook.

But you know when you share a history with people? And you’re together again and it’s like *poof* just yesterday that you saw each other? And the years just melt away. Sigh. It’s just too bad they have to leave a so many wrinkles in their wake…

With so much to see and do in the Washington, D.C. area, I decided that I would make reconnecting with our friends the priority and keeping the kids entertained and healthy a side bonus. True to Budgets form, I’ve crunched some numbers:

Total spent for six days of travel (one adult, one teenager, and two younger children): $387

• $160.53 = gas.
• $45.85 = Metro and parking.
• $180.92 = food and everything else*. Including the toothbrushes and toothpaste I forgot for the little kids and diapers for Peter (because he’s still working on pee control at night) (poor mom guy).

*I am not including what I spent on snacks and groceries/sandwich stuff that I packed for the road. This is melted into our grocery budget, which I am mentally planning a future post about that will update our monthly spending in that area.

Some of the ways we spent money on our trip (and some ways we didn’t):

RACK-O-RIBS: Um, come again?

The first couple of days of our visit, Ligia’s sister-in-law (a college friend of mine!) was also visiting with her two little girls. The first night we went out to dinner, the moms were all focused on ordering for the younger kids and Ligia and I assumed that Conner and Miles were fending for themselves. Whoops.

A whole rack of ribs. For each of them. You’ve got to be kidding me.

Cost = $18

I told Conner whatever he didn’t finish was going to come out of his allowance. I think he took me seriously. It took them awhile, but they each finished the whole dang thing.

City Center Fountains

Rockville Town Square

The little kids loved running around the fountains at the Town Square in Rockville. It was hot and it was humid and it was just what the doctor ordered.

Cost = $0

The big boys were still eating.

The Mall

Ya’ll know that the Smithsonian Museums in Washington, D.C. are free, right? (Including the zoo! Which we didn’t get to this trip – boo.) You could conceivably visit our nation’s Capital for weeks on end and never run out of things to do yet not spend a penny on anything but food and transportation.

And lodging, if you’re not so lucky as us to have friends in the area *happy face*.

Of course, we had to spend money on one of the museums that isn’t free: The new Spy Museum.

(I think Miles got “Spy” confused with Gangsta.)

One Ticket to Spy Museum (not part of the Smithsonian) = $18

Peter in the Discovery Center

That is, it’s new to us since we last were here. I had heard wonderful things about it, and I was really, really glad that Conner got to experience it himself without his little brother and sister lagging behind (or running ahead) and costing me triple the price. Ligia and I dropped off the two older boys, then took the younger kids down to The Mall to visit Darwin’s Museum The Museum of Natural History where we hung out in the hands-on Discovery Center and the Insect Room and then spent an extraordinary amount of time fascinated — seriously — by the rocks.

And the gems and stones. And all the cool gadgets illustrating how earthquakes work and where they happen and how often and computer applications that allow you to control the velocity of a meteorite and show you the impact based on your choices and view a simulated explosion. Who knew rocks could be so enthralling? I wish I could have that museum in my backyard when I start homeschooling. We were quite taken aback at how much time we spent there and how much fun it was. Especially with all the emphasis at the entrance on Darwin and his evolutionary theory. You can just ignore all that if you’d like.

The Metro

Part of the fun of visiting Washington, D.C. is riding its Metro system ( DC-speak for subway). It’s clean and safe and the kids will think they’ve hit the jackpot. I swear you could probably just ride around the Metro all day and they’d be perfectly happy. When we were in the museum, Peter kept asking me, “Do we get to ride on the Metro again?” I hoarded their all-day passes in my pocket but brought them out for them to swipe themselves in the station. Yes, even during the busy rush hour.  The Stuffy Suits can wait just a cute minute while kids practice their Life Skills.

We also just told Miles and Conner to get themselves back on the Metro once they were done with the Spy Museum and come find us down at the Mall. Ah, the beauty of cell phones. (And yes, I shamelessly took advantage of Miles having a phone since Conner doesn’t.) With instructions to look at the map and call us if they had questions, we figured the worst that could happen is we’d have to go retrieve them from off the beaten path down in Virginia or outside the beltway in Maryland somewhere. But they did just fine. More Life Skills, people.

All-Day Metro Passes* for four people = $36.00

*The all-day passes actually start after 9:30 a.m. and cost $9 for ages five and up. Metro fares also increased just this summer, and an additional 25 cents is added to each ride purchased separately… though it seemed to depend on whether the ticket was purchased during rush hours or not…? It got so complicated, I just cut him off and went and bought me some all-day passes, straight up. Sometimes you just shouldn’t have to think that much.

WWII Memorial

The WWII Memorial was another addition since we were last in Washington, and a very welcome respite from the heat and humidity. Oh my, was it hot. We were all ready to jump in clothes and all. Thing is, they don’t mind if you dip your feet in, but you’re not supposed to go wading.

Ask me how I know this.

We did take lots of water to drink with us to The Mall. And we drank lots of water. Have you ever been there? Olivia and I kept laughing and saying, “We walked and we walked. And we walked some more…” (Have you seen that commercial?) It is a lot of walking, and we didn’t even attempt to see all the Memorials: just the highlights. There just wasn’t time, but I’m okay with that. My kids now have a reference to what we’re talking about when we mention the Lincoln Memorial, or the Capitol Building, or the Smithsonian Museums, or The Mall in our Nation’s Capital in general… But I do think that someone missed the boat by not adding at least one more Metro stop along the Mall. Say, around about the Lincoln Memorial area, and maybe the Kennedy Center…

But I digress again.

Walking the Mall and experiencing all the wonderful Memorials and Monuments costs nothing! Ah, but there are ways to spend your money. And we succumbed to one.

Lemon Ice. And it tasted so good. The guy had to reach in deep for the cups: he was having a good day. I didn’t hear what the people behind us asked for, but he was out of it.

Three Lemon Ice and one ice cream sandwich (for Peter) (even though he really doesn’t like ice cream and mostly ate the chocolate and let the ice cream drip on the ground) = $10.60.

Worth every penny.

The visit was a resounding success and worth every ounce of exhaustion. And I have used the better part of two days to recover and finally compose this blog post. (And edit lots and lots of pictures… Have I mentioned lately how much I can’t wait to get me my DSLR? (I’m focusing on being grateful for the opportunity to take this trip, and not on how much better my photos would be if I had a better camera.) (Really, I am.)

I don’t have the time nor do you have the inclination to read and see about all we did and all the old friends we saw on our trip. But I must at least mention a new friend I finally met, a fellow blogger (and military spouse!) who I’ve followed for quite some time and who (currently) lives in Maryland herself. Do you all read The Happy Housewife? Toni homeschools a whole gaggle of kids, and I asked her if I could crash her place and pick her homeschooling mind while we were in the area. Lots of bloggers have talked about making real-life friends through relationships that started with blogging, but this was my first opportunity to make that transition. Though I hope it’s not my last. I got such great specific homeschooling advice from Toni, and one of the appeals of meeting her was that two of her children are teens and are well into “high school” by public school standards. I totally see myself picking their brains in the future as well. They were all so nice! We ended up hanging out for five hours. And we even managed to talk about homeschooling for some of that time!

Thank you for being so welcoming, Toni! I look forward to picking your brain some more (about homeschooling, yes… or whatever!) in the months to come!

But that’s a topic for another day.

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