Welcome to DC

There was a bag on our bed when we checked into our Hyatt Hotel room. It was from the bride and groom, welcoming us to Washington, DC

It had been a long day. The Airporter came to get us at 5 a.m., and because we were anticipating its arrival, neither of us slept well. I think I'm going on 3 hrs of interrupted sleep at the moment.

Ashley had asked me to put a leash on Polly so she could get to her easily, which I did. But Buttercup and Shiloh just had too much fun with that leash. They both grabbed hold of it and dragged Polly all over the house until she was shaking like a leaf and looking at me with a begging look. Please make it stop! So I took the leash off. I hope Ashley is able to make friends otherwise.

The flight was fairly uneventful...nice that it was a non-stop this time, but oh how I miss the days of empty seats and meals and actual room to put your feet.

We got in here at about 3 p.m. DC time and went to the baggage claim area to meet Norm and Olivia, who were arriving from San Francisco about an hour later. Then we got a cab which took us the $60 ride to the hotel. Traffic was horrendous.

But our driver (from Bangladesh) wove so expertly in between cars that we felt like were on The Amazing Race.

I have to admit I loved this sign...

...which gives you an idea of what DC traffic is like!

So we are here at the fancy Hyatt which means NOTHING is free, even though we are paying $150 a night for the room. The water is $3.75. Internet connection is $10 a day. There is a place to have breakfast, but you have to pay, and the hotel dining room will cost you $50 for a steak. Give me a Quality Inn any day. Maybe it doesn't look as fancy, but who flies 3,000 miles to stay in their room?

But our room is nice

and is right next to Norm and Olivia's, so we can open the connecting doors so it looks like a 2-room suite.

The four of us went out looking for food and ended up at a weird place called Vapiano, which was a pasta and pizza bar. When you enter, they give you like a credit card

and then you visit the various stations -- pasta, pizza, antipasto, etc. and order your meal, each time tapping the card on a register so that your purchase is recorded (you pay at the end of the meal).

The food was excellent. Most had pasta, but I went wild and crazy and went with carpaccio, which I'd never had before.

(That's raw beef, sliced paper thin so that it has the consistency of butter, topped with a sauce and parmesan flakes)

There was a family there with lots of children. If I ever see Tom and Laurel letting Brianna behave like that, there will be hell to pay. These kids shrieked, they climbed under several tables, they swung on the edges of the tables, they stuck straws in the olive oil containers, they climbed over tables. They were absolutely horrendously behaved and the worst part was that the mother and father just let them. Any parent has had more than his or her share of those bad restaurant moments, but we don't just sit back and refuse to reprimand the kids!

It was amazing how much quieter the place was after the family left!

At some point after we were eating our dinner, Cousin Gerald and his wife Melissa arrived and joined us. At the same time Walt and Norm were texting with Alice Nan and her husband, who had flown into National instead of Dulles and were traveling to the hotel by metro instead of cab. They had arrived at the hotel by the time we got back from dinner.

Tomorrow many of the wedding guests are going golfing (Walt is not). I'm meeting my friend Melody and spend the afternoon with her. I'm hoping she can find me a photo store because I realize, to my chagrin, that I've forgotten to bring either a spare battery or the charger for the one I have now and I'm going to be in bad shape if I don't have batteries for my camera on this wedding weekend.

While I was writing all of this, the others were down in the lobby bar watching the first National League playoff game. They were all dressed in their Giants finery. But when the bar decided to close there was NOWHERE to see the game. No lobby TV, no in-room TV with a channel that got the game, not even an AM radio in the room (there is an FM radio).

They all gathered in here with their iPods and whatever software they had to get scores.

Walt fell asleep. I was trying to upload this journal and it kept knocking me off. Joe wanted me to get to an internet page where they could at least HEAR the game, but that would freeze the computer. Lemme tell you, I know a Comfort Inn in the LA area where you can get 1000% better internet reception than you can for the $10/day I'm paying here!

We finally connected with the game at the top of the 9th inning, just in time to hear the Giants strike out the Braves. And eventually this journal page uploaded. I think Next time I'm going to look for a Motel 6.