A Great Way to End it All

No, no...I didn't meant that! I just meant that today was the perfect way to end a perfect long weekend.

Can any day be bad if it starts out with people wanting to read your blog? Of course now that I know who's reading it from time to time I'll have to be more careful about what I write.

[NOTE TO SELF: No more disparaging remarks about Ernie!]

We had spent the night at Ernie & Lucille's house, along with Alice Nan and Joe and in the morning, Ernie fired up the waffle iron and made waffles for us all, which were delicious.

Alice and Joe are spending another night, so they had the day to explore and decided to use our 2-day tickets to the Newseum, so they headed off on the Metro.

In truth, I would have been perfectly fine just lounging around the house until time to go to the airport, but Lucille, the consummate hostess, made suggestions for how we could fit in a bit more sightseeing in our weekend. We talked about borrowing their car and going to Gettysburg or going to see the National Zoo, but a trip to Great Falls sounded like something nice to do on a beautiful day, so we did that.

In 1954, Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas responded to a Washington Post editorial recommending that the Cumberland and Ohio Canal be turned into a parkway. Douglass agreed and wrote, "It is a sanctuary for everyone who loves woods -- a sanctuary that would be utterly destroyed by a fine two-lane highway." And so a national park was born, and it was as beautiful as Lucille promised.

I, of course, am always put off by the words "It's a bit of a hike..." but I'm game to give it the old college try and I was rewarded for my efforts with some really spectacular scenery.

At one point we turned off the path and went to a series of bridges that gave you the Great Falls Overlook.

We eventually headed back to the car and home to get our bags, where we were a little concerned to see a woman with a toddler in one hand and a chain saw in the other. I don't know about these Maryland people. But maybe I've been reading too many crime dramas lately!

After giving us food to hold us for the journey, Ernie and Lucille drove us out to Dulles Airport. We were delighted to discover no crowds anywhere, so we zipped through security and out to the gate. Unfortunately, when we got there I discovered I'd lost my iTouch. I called Lucille, who was still in the car headed back to their house, and it had fallen out of my purse and was on the back seat, so I haven't lost it, but wouldn't you know that the one time I didn't have my iTouch with me would be the time that I had the seat with no reading light and I couldn't read the book I bought. Fortunately, I am never without a backup, so I listened to a book instead of reading one.

The flight was uneventful and we arrived safely. I want to get photos organized and posted to Flickr, but I have to be on the road by 9:00 in the morning for my next unusual adventure, and as it is nearly 1 a.m. California time (4 a.m. DC time), I'd better get some sleep because I'm going to be driving all day long.

3 Hours

Walt has a guide book for here which says to allow "at least 3 hours" to visit the new Newseum, the history of news and a celebration of freedom of the press.

They lie.

You can hardly get off the first floor in under 3 hours. It's no wonder that your $20 ticket (this is a privately owned museum, not under the auspices of the Smithsonian, the entrance to whose buildings are free) gets you not one, but two days admittance to the building. Believe me, you'll want two days there.

But first...we got up early in the morning and went with Jeri & Phil, Norm and Olivia to the Tastee Diner, an old hangout for the Sykes kids when they were growing up.

They reputedly had a "short stack," which would be great for Phil.

(it turns out they didn't and he had an omelet, but who cared?)

The booths only sit four but the aisle between is tiny and so we sat 3 on one side and 3 on the other (and yes, Lawsuit folks, we did do "3 on that side, 3 on this") Jeri read us all the day's Spiderman comic.

Then on to the Newseum, which is located on Pennsylvania Ave., right in view of the Capitol.

You start in the basement with introductory films. We saw two, one on how best to explore the museum and one on the the importance of news gathering. From there we checked a display about the fall of the Soviet Union, walked around a section of the Berlin Wall,

stopped at the food court to get something to drink, since we were thirsty. Then on to the Sports area where there were some of the most amazing sports photos. I just marveled at this one of Serena Williams--my snapshot does not begin to do it justice.

They recommend that you start on the 6th floor and work down, so we did. From there is an amazing view of Pennsylvania Ave., with the Canadian Embassy off on the left.

On the top floor inside is a display about Katrina, and the coverage of it. It was so nice to see things not whitewashed, with reporters like Anderson Cooper and Brian Williams and many others still expressing outrage at the lack of government response. There were film clips, photos, and artifacts. I was taken with this reporter's camera, which was found in some house after the flood waters receded, with a frog making its home in the lens.

Also the interpretation of two pictures, which appeared in different newspapers.

(it was never about race....nahhh. And I have a bridge to sell you...!)

There is a huge area of archives, along with three different films on several aspects of news gathering, ethics dilemmas (the problem of using anonymous sources, etc.) Every one more interesting than the next.

I wanted to get to the fourth floor, where you could see Tim Russert's office.

On that same floor is the 911 exhibit which is overpowering.

The structure is the media tower that sat atop one of the buildings and the wall is covered with front pages of newspapers from around the country. In the little door at the lower left is a room where you can see a film of the attack, and which contained film, interviews and photos I'd never seen before and reports from reporters who covered the story. I was so impressed with the professionalism of those reporters and photographers who were intent on getting the story at whatever risk to their own lives. Just before you enter there is a box of tissues on a ledge. If you visit the museum, take one. You'll need it.

We were getting hungry so we took a lunch break and then there was not much time left to see it. There were floors of the museum I never got to. Next time I'll allow a full day, not just half a day to see it.

We had already checked out of the hotel, but went back to pick up our bags and head off to the Metro with Alice Nan and Joe to ride out to Gaithersburg, where we were spending the night with the bride's parents.

We had a lovely dinner here and celebrated Joe's birthday.

Then the men settled in to watch football.

I was so exhausted, I lay down on the bed to stretch out my leg and didn't notice when the other guests left or when Lucille fired up her computer (with wifi). I ultimately moved to the couch, where I slept the first good sleep since we got here!

I'm Crabby

Nobody would ever say I didn't get enough crab today. The morning started off with another breakfast at the Madeleine, where we ate yesterday, and then a leisurely stroll up about 6-8 blocks to Steamers, where the party was to be held.

We weren't exactly sure where we were going and the one who knew (Walt) had gone off to find an ATM machine. After listening to grumbling and speculation about how much farther it was, I reminded Norm and Olivia that they had iPhones.

We found out we were only 3 blocks away, after we turned down a side street.

At first it was just us and the teams of Norm-Jeri and Walt-Phil had a good game of pool.

The first guests to arrive were actually my friends, Mary and her husband Joe.

As Mary explains our friendship, "I have followed Bev since I started journaling back in 2002; she had already been doing daily entries for several years. But we started conversing through guestbooks and comments and realized that we were kindred spirits. We finally met in person in 2005 and it was like we'd already known each other for years." It was so delightful to see them again. She's right...we are kindred spirits and Joe is a real sweetheart. I was thrilled they could come!

The two of them stayed for most of the afternoon, at least until the end of the winning Redskins game, not until the end of the winning Giants game and they certainly were not there when the 49er game started.

Eventually others arrived and soon the party was in full swing.

A great time was had by all and there was great food--an fabulous crab dip and crab quesadillas among them.

At one point, Mary ordered a huge soft pretzel with some amazing crab sauce on it and shared it with me.

In about Hour 6 or 7, when the Baur spouses (Melissa, Olivia and I) were sitting off marveling at the how much our spouses can find to talk about, we saw Vanessa, who is young Ernest's girlfriend.

We asked her if she was familiar with the Hour Baur phenomenon and she rolled her eyes. We introduced ourselves as the Hour Baur widows and told her she was welcome to sit with us whenever she felt the need!

After the Redskins won their game, Phil and Olivia sat down to watch Game 3 in the National League playoffs

And then there was the unfortunate "chair incident"

Eventually things began winding down and I looked around and realized that for the last half hour, the only people there was us!

I thought we were going to go home...but no. After much hemming and hawing (because this group never does "a bit" of hemming and hawing), it was decided that it was so late, we might as well have dinner in the place too. So we moved out of the TV/poker/pool and onto the outdoor porch.

(all the people in the white boundary are ours)

Walt and I each had a crab soup and then an appetizer portion size of Snow Crab legs. I think I finally got my fill of crab for the day! I am definitely "crabby."

Finally Hour Baur started in earnest

A couple of people actually DID leave.....and the rest of them sat down again!!!!!

By this time we had been at Steamers for TEN HOURS. Melissa had actually almost made her escape, deciding to go back to the hotel alone, but, like the Corlione family, just when you think you're out, they pull you back in again. I was ready to order breakfast, figuring we were going to be spending the night. (I do like crab eggs Benedict!) But no, it appeared that this time we might actually leave the restaurant.

So after all this good bye-ing at Steamers, we finally were on the street and what do we do? We walk together back to the hotel.

I went right upstairs. The others stayed in the lobby for awhile, and then moved to Norm & Olivia's room to watch the end of the 49er game. Tomorrow, because we haven't had enough of each other, we are moving to the home of the bride's parents, where we will have dinner, spend the night and start saying goodbye before the flight the next day. Walt and I have a 7 p.m. flight and we might possibly be finished saying goodbye by then.

Incidentally, I may not publish an entry tomorrow night, so be advised that if you don't see one, it means there will be two the next night.

The Unexpected Things

I sometimes think that it's the unexpected things that make this journal fun.

For example, today was the reason why we are here in the first place, and I could tell you that the big wedding today was beautiful (which it was)

I could tell you that Jeri played beautifully (which she did)

I could tell you that the bride was gorgeous (which she was)

I could tell you that the reception was great fun (which it was)

But really, wouldn't you rather hear about the blood streaming down my face at 2 a.m., the bus crash, and the secret things I found at the Congressional Country Club? Sure you would. Let's start with the blood.

I got up in the middle of the night, as I often do, and made my way to the bathroom. On my way back, I forgot that there was a big credenza holding the TV between me and the chair and I ran smack into it. It was no "I know it's here somewhere and must be careful" kind of crack but a "the floor is empty and I'll just walk my usual pace" kind of crack. I literally saw stars and when I went back to the bathroom, there was blood dripping down my face. I got a wet washcloth and held it to my head and it was pretty gross looking, the blood having soaked through about half of it (head wounds bleed a lot). The bleeding stopped, but during breakfast with Jeri, Phil and Tom, it started bleeding again and I ran through lots of napkins and some ice cubes before it stopped.

Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, we did have a lovely breakfast at a French cafe a block from here. We have already decided what we'll order there tomorrow. And before we'd finished, Alice Nan and Joe had come in too, so we waited while they ate their own breakfasts. By the time we left, we were walking through the lunch crowd!

During our time there, Tom regaled us with tales of a girl on the plane he took to get here and her reaction to a horror movie that their seat companion was showing her.

Around 1:45, we assembled to board our buses to go to the wedding. This was a brilliant idea, having all guests stay at the same hotel and then have 2 buses to pick them up and take them to the church. With parking the way it is, I can't even imagine how we would have parked cars.

An additional wonderful thing they did was to anticipate the ~45 min. drive to get there and they made up this great travelogue of what we would be seeing along the way. Unfortunately nobody told the bus drivers and they went a different route, so we didn't see anything in the travel booklet...but it was a lovely, thoughtful thing to do. And Norm, Walt and Alice Nan regaled us with tales of places that had been important in their childhood, which we passed along the way.

And then there was the crash. About a block and a half from the church, our bus sideswiped a car while trying to negotiate a tight turn. It dragged a car a few inches forward. The driver got out to make a report and when we found out how close we were to the church, the whole bus emptied and we marched as a group to our destination. The last we saw of the bus driver, he was filling out paperwork.

(Damage to the bus)

After the wedding, there was a receiving line outside the church before we were returned to our hotel.

Because the reception line went on so long (this was an hour Baur without anybody actually saying goodbye!), by the time we got back to the hotel, we only had 30 minutes before we were to board the bus for the reception, held at the Congressional Country Club, a gorgeous setting, incorporated in 1921 with its honorary founding president, Herbert Hoover. It will soon serve as the site of the U.S. Open, for the third time.

The site is beautiful

But I was more intrigued by what they give away in the women's bathroom

The fact that the women's rest room has a telephone in it with a line to the Senate Pub,

and that they have specially shaped butter.

I loved that the cousins had such a great time visiting with each other, like old friends, despite the fact that they have only seen each other a few times in their lives.

The bride and her father had a very sweet dance, while Jeri and Phil had a more energetic one.

While Walt's cousin Bonnie had a great time dancing with her grandson, Hazen.

I liked getting to dance with both Walt and Tom

There's lots more to tell, but I don't want to bore anyone. It was a fun, lovely and loving wedding which had, at its conclusion, perhaps the largest hour Baur ever.

I felt bad that we had to rush for the bus, and I was not able to find ANY of the people in charge to tell them what a great wedding this was and marvel at how few glitches there were. I also didn't say goodbye to Tom, who is leaving tomorrow morning for South Carolina. But thanks, Ernie and Lucille for a beautifully planned event, and to Kayleen and Sean for being such a special couple.

I think Walt demonstrated how we all felt after the big day, when we got back to the hotel.

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...and just to make it a good day all around, I had word from Ashley that Buttercup got adopted today!