A Trip to Philly, part 2

The Abbott kids at the Museum of Natural History. Sharks and elephants and mammal exhibits, oh my.

So a loo-oong Thanksgiving weekend, Christmas preparations, Facebook, and various other concerns have distracted me. But let's get back to the story, especially since I left off right in the middle.

We figured since we were on the East coast, we had to visit people we never get to see. We had two options: Josh and Megan's family in Washington, D.C. or Uchenna's sister's family in Brooklyn. His dad is staying with her, also. Two destinations, roughly equal distance in opposite directions. Only time to visit one. We picked Josh and Megan.

Probably we should have got everything set up long before we even went to Philly, but there were so many variables we didn't know--like how the conference would go, did he need to stay to the very end?--that it was hard to pin down arrangements too early. And besides, we figured we could set up things online at the hotel. Except it turned out we couldn't get online at that hotel. We even ponied up the extra fee for Internet access, but somehow their network didn't work with our computer. Fortunately the hotel does have excellent customer service, along with their fluffy towels, and they didn't charge us the fee after all.

Bless Megan's heart, she helped us get our train reservations, and she stayed flexible and accommodating through all our "well, I'm not sure, let's see how it will play out" dilly-dallying.

Can I just say I love trains? We need more trains in this country. We decided to take the train from Philly to D. C., because it was less time than driving but less expensive than flying. We got to the big 30th St Station early, because obviously we're used to dealing with airports, but we didn't need to stress. Security and check-in was very low key. I was also a little worried because I'd heard trains can run late. But this one left at the scheduled minute on the dot.

One odd little thing--someone was shooting some kind of movie there in the cathedral-like station. A couple of times we tried to cross to the other side, and people posted around the perimeter would herd us back out of the area. Then a pack of guys dressed in riot gear with FBI printed on their backs would go trotting across the station with great purpose, then stop and meander casually back. The other passengers were saying to each other, "I thought something big was going on when I saw all the FBI." It was funny to watch.

Another good thing about trains: space. Plenty of space for luggage, wide seats, good leg room. All very comfortable. And we were just in coach class, nothing fancy.

Josh and Megan and the kids met us at the D. C. station. It was too cold to browse the monuments, and we were trying to decided what to do when one of the kids REALLY needed to go to the bathroom. So the parents dropped us at the Museum of Natural History and went to park (they'd had to bring both cars to fit us and them). Cell phones are great for meeting up again--except when you don't hear it ring. Josh and Megan were looking for us for about 20 minutes, calling the whole time, before we saw them. They were probably thinking, "Great, my children are here somewhere among the crowds and sharks and woolly mammoths."

I love the D.C. museums! Cool plus free, how can you beat that? I was so shocked when we moved away from D.C. and realized that most museums, especially the good ones, ask you to pay them before they let you in.

We stayed the night with Josh and Megan. And by the way, if you haven't been to see their house yet, you're missing out. Craig and Ellen came over, too. We had a great night of visiting and catching up!

The next morning Josh got up way early to get us back to the train station, so we could get back to Philadelphia in time to make our flight. Thanks Josh! Going from the relaxed, spacious train straight to the tense, cramped flight only served to highlight the contrast between these two forms of transportation. I'm asking, seriously, what's keeping us from becoming more of a train-going people?

After our 8-day trip, plus our day of trains, planes, and automobiles (don't forget the two-hour drive from the airport), we were glad to get home. That's when we noticed that our oven had fritzed out. But hey, the rest of the house was still standing, so we can't complain.