Boston and Washington Spring 2016 - Day 8 - Boston to DC, Air & Space Museum, The Mongol Horde

[Guest]

This is my first trippie (please be gentle)...


Trippie Index Here

Day 7 Here

Boston Shopping Report Here



What:


Boston, Washington D.C. and Baltimore


When:


Spring 2016


Who:


Me (April) Holy Crap - It’s What O’Clock?!

DH (R.C.) Oh, No! A Body Scan...

DM (Judybat) Sleeping Late

DS (Pooter) Aged 9, Looking for (the) Misters Wright



Day 8 - Flight to Washington Dulles, National Air and Space Museum, Dinner with the Mongol Horde...



When I originally booked our flights, we were meant to leave Boston for Washington around 6:30 AM.


But (as seems to be happening more and more often) our departure was changed to 5:30 AM. We were told to be at the airport at 3:30 AM.


I made the executive decision that 4:00 AM would be early enough - but we still had to be up at half-two.


As you can imagine, our hotel room was like a scene from the Care Bears movie that morning...


Me: Darling, I’ve run the bath for you. You need to get up. The taxi’s coming in twenty-five minutes.


DH: I’m not getting up. We’ll pay for new tickets, I don’t care.


Me: I swear, R.C. - if you don’t get up RIGHT NOW we will leave without you and I WILL NOT tell you the name of our hotel in Washington!


DH: Harridan!


The Back Bay Express does not run at 3:30 AM (surprise, surprise) so we had to get a taxi.


On the plus side, there was NO TRAFFIC.


From Back Bay to Logan took about 20 minutes - it was around $20, and I gave the cabbie a $5 tip.


I was amazed to see HOW BUSY the airport was at 4:00 AM! I suppose because it was Monday…?


I don’t know if every terminal at Logan is this way, but Security at Terminal B features the full-body scanners in every lane...


Yay for me though - I was walking with Poot, who at age 9 doesn’t have to be body-scanned. We were quickly shunted through the old-fashioned metal detectors. Poor R.C. endured the ignominy of the scan...


No shops, lounges, etc...were open at this hour, so we just made our way to the gate and tried to stay awake until boarding.

I am guessing that this flight counts as a “night” flight, because one we gained altutude the lights went off, and there wasn’t a hint of breakfast, not even in First.


For those of you wondering, my DM flew back home today (at a much more sensible time than her mad daughter).


-------------------------------------------------------


We had an on-time landing at Dulles. Poot was excited to ride in one of Eero Saarinen’s “mobile lounges”.

This carried us from the gate area to the “Main” terminal.


I *think* they are phasing the mobile lounges out, sadly…this sort of thing reminds me of when airports were glamorous showcases of new technology, places to “be seen”, etc...


Check out this link for more info on the mobile lounges:


en.wikipedia/wiki/Mobile_lounge


Having been woken at 3:00 AM, body-scanned and then starved - R.C. was just...a ray of sunshine - so I suggested some breakfast might be in order.


I am quite happy to eat an apple as I walk - but R.C. likes to SIT DOWN AND EAT A PROPER MEAL.


So we found a typical airport restaurant - let’s call it “The Pleasantly Disappointing Bar and Grill”.


R.C. had some sort of breakfast platter thing, Poot and I had French Toast.


We lollygagged in the restaurant - it was now the height of rush hour, so I wasn’t in a hurry to get the bus/train.


We flew into Dulles, because flying into National Airport (my preference) would have added £1,500 to the cost of our flights (How?!).


Dulles (unlike BWI and National Airport) is NOT part of the train/underground network. It is a HECK of a long way out (I had forgotten just how far!). They are planning to extend the Silver (Metro) Line out to Dulles; I’m not sure when that will happen...


There is a one-stop coach - called the SILVER LINE EXPRESS - between Dulles and the (current) end of the Metro Silver Line (Wiehle-Reston).

For five dollars per person you and your luggage (there is PLENTY of space for bags) are transported from the airport to the Metro Station. The journey takes fifteen minutes; there is wifi on the bus.


When we got to the Metro Station, there was a attendant present to help with travel pass, etc...selection and purchase (though there is no ticket counter, it’s all self-service).


Now I was with my husband, so I definitely DID NOT notice that said attendant looked like a young Denzel Washington, if Denzel had dreads and was built like a rugby player...

Oh, dear...I appear to have drooled on my shoes…


Now maybe it was because we were so tired, but the automated ticket system seemed much more complicated here than in Boston.


Oh, heavens - Denzel - I don’t seem to be able to figure this machine out. You’ll have to give me some personal assistance…


Seriously, though - it was fiddlier, and the weekly Metro passes cost more than TWICE what they cost in Boston.


And unlike in Boston (or London, for that matter), Poot was NOT free. All kids over FIVE pay full adult fare - so remember to budget for that, especially if you have a large family.


April Maths:


If it costs more than it costs in LONDON, it’s too expensive.


-------------------------------------------------------


We stayed near the Capitol - it seemed like a LONG JOURNEY to our stop (Federal Center SW).


It actually took about an hour and ten minutes to get to our hotel once we got on the bus at Dulles. Was it worth the hassle and extra time to save £1,500?


Why, yes. Yes it was.


We had booked the Residence Inn just down from the Air and Space Museum.

I booked this hotel because it


1. Is located very near Poot’s “Must-Dos” (Air and Space Museum, Botanic Garden)


2. Offered free dinner several nights a week


3. Has kitchens in every room, and a “suite” style layout, with a separate room for children



I was happy enough with our choice, though we were later to observe that many of our fellow guests appeared to have been raised by wolves (see below, eek!).


We arrived at the hotel around 10:00 AM, so I was fully expecting to have to leave the luggage in storage and then stagger off, having to find some way to stay awake until we could crash in the room after 4:00 PM.


But, no! The efficient young man (Nick) at check-in took my details and settled us in the lobby with some tea. He promised to “work some magic”.


Woo-Hoo! Back came magical Nick with two keys - we could go up right now. God bless you, magical Nick.

I liked that a room key was needed in order to operate the lift - which is also tucked around a corner and not exposed to the street.


Our room was on the seventh floor, and it was fine - not fancy, but clean and big. For all that the Loews in Boston was nicer (and it was), I really do enjoy having that bit of extra space.

We climbed into our beds and CRASHED.




continued in next post

[Guest]

continued from previous post


OK, as an adult...is there anything better than a nap?


We all slept for a couple of hours. Bliss. Rapture.

Feeling MUCH more the thing, we were off to the Air and Space Museum. This was about a ten minute walk from the hotel.

The security at ALL the national museums was VERY different than it had been on our previous visit to DC (2002).


The staff manning the metal detectors, etc...seemed to have gone to charm school with their colleagues at the TSA…

Didn’t anybody in America see “Kingsmen”?

Ah, well...on to happier topics!


Like the National Museums in London, all the Smithsonian museums are free. Part of me wishes they would charge a nominal fee. Just $1 per person or family - maybe then they could keep the carpet clean?


I DO think there is something to the assertion that people do not value that for which they do not pay...sad...


It was Monday, and not terribly busy. R.C. and I have been to Air and Space before, so we just followed Poot and did what he fancied.


We were straight away off to see the Wright Brothers flyer.

There are a couple of things Poot REALLY loves - volcanology and aircraft engineering. He was in HEAVEN - going around the plane, studying it from all directions, then looking at all the accompanying exhibits.

After getting “Wright”, we were off to watch a flight demonstration in the kids’ area of the museum.

Look at Poot’s face! He was SO happy.

By this point, everybody was a bit hungry, so we wandered off to the museum cafeteria...which was...a McDonald’s (?) .

The food court is HUGE - it is shared by a McDonald’s, a Boston Market - and a pizza counter (can’t remember the name of this one, sorry). It reminded me of motorway services offerings.


Come on Smithsonian, surely you can do better!


We had pizza the day before, and none of us knew what Boston Market was like, so we opted for Mac and Don’s Supper Club.


It tasted like McDonald’s. Poot found a quarter on the floor, that was the high point of our visit.


Back to learning…


Having done “Air”, we spent the rest of the day going through the “Space” exhibits.

I don’t know about the rest of you, I really struggle to get my brain around the fact that these are the “real” things, and not replicas, etc…


Love Poot in his Blur shirt.

I am too old for band shirts, I make Poot wear them now. Tomorrow he will be sporting my Frank Zappa badge.


We enjoyed the museum until it closed. We had to pass through a weird security cordon-thing on our way OUT, that was odd. In the delay, Poot found another quarter, so he was now up 50 cents.

We took a slow walk back to the hotel. It was a warm, pleasant night - it was great just to stroll together in the evening air.


When we got back to the Residence Inn, there was a (fairly long) queue of people tailing back from the dining area...but dinner wasn’t scheduled for another 15 or so minutes...


Now, the Residence Inn offers free dinner/food Monday-Wednesday. The sign in the lobby said it was from six to eight (I think).


Would you think that meant “Stop down between six and eight”? Because that’s what I thought...more fool I!


As we walked past the dining area on our way to the lifts, we saw MASSIVE bowls of popcorn, snacks - and two HUGE jars of tiny Hershey bars.

Poot saw those Hershey bars - he gave me the look…

I told him he could have one after dinner, but one of the ladies laying the tables told me that if he wanted one, he’d better take it now…


Huh?!


We went up to our room to wash our hands and clean up for dinner. By the time we made it back down to the dining area...


...the jars of candy bars were empty, the popcorn and snacks were gone. People were walking to the elevators with stacks of plates and armfuls of unopened sodas - like Vikings carrying away plundered gold...

All that remained was the food at the “manned” stations, where kitchen staff were portioning out chicken, potato chips and salad.


This sort of thing makes R.C. bonkers. Scroll right down if you don’t like stereotyping...


Cue five minutes of:


“This is why Americans are FAT!”


I did remind R.C. of the time we saw a woman at the Hastings Premier Inn tip an ENTIRE PLATE of bacon into a Tesco carrier bag...

But seriously, this was my first experience with a free hotel dinner in America - is this typical?!


---------------------------------------------------


The hotel has an indoor pool (and hot tub) - Poot was eager to swim after dinner. After checking his incision (it had healed, thankfully), I took him down.


R.C. had work to do, so he stayed behind (also, he can’t swim - how can you grow up on an island and NOT SWIM?).

The pool isn’t huge, but it was still good fun.

As Poot is an only child, I always hope that there will be other kids his age. Not tonight. Toddlers and teenagers.


We still had a good time - I LOVE to swim, and Poot and I practised his “Dead Man’s Float” (Do they still call it that?).


I fancied a go in the hot tub, but it was a suspicious colour...

It wasn’t quite this ^^^ bad, but it was bad enough that several people walked onto the pool deck, looked in the hot tub - then turned around and walked back out the door…



And so to bed.


So excited - pandas tomorrow!



Poot's remembrances of Day 8 follow:

He is 9, you will know it.


Poot's Day 8


We got up at 2:30 in the morning to catch a cab to the airport and I found an interesting newspaper (The Boston Globe) - inside it there were two articles about natural disasters.


At the airport, we waited for the flight to get to our gate for a loooooooooooong time!


Finally we got on the plane and a nice flight attendant gave me a stroopwaffle!

Before the plane took off, however there was an annoying man who would not turn off his phone! The stewardess got quite testy before she went over to the man and told him to turn off his phone. :angry:


Then we took off.


When we got to Washington, we got on a bus to Wiehle Reston Station where we had to buy our Smartrip cards.

They were even more expensive than Oyster Cards!


We got off the Metro line at Federal Center. The escalators were really slow!

April interrupting here - I had forgotten this, but he is right - all the escalators in DC moved SO S-L-O-W-L-Y. Why?


Our hotel was really nice.


After we had a nap, we went to the Air and Space Museum. We saw the Wright Flyer and The Spirit of St. Louis!

In the Space Hall there was a telescope that William Herschel had used to discover Uranus - that was amazing! Also in the Space Hall there was a meteorite from Mars (more about meteorites later).

We then went to McDonalds and I found a national park quarter!


After that, I bought a postcard of The Spirit of St. Louis.


That night, we ate in the hotel restaurant. Some very greedy people had taken all the candy!

Then we went to sleep The End.


OK...I won't lie, I am finding what Poot found to be important QUITE amusing...



Can anybody help me with a photo question? Once I have uploaded photos to The Dibb, should I just leave them there in a big block under "Show All My Previous Images"?

Can I/Should I delete them?

Does this even make sense (it's my first time, I still have a lot to learn)...?



Day 9 to follow...

[Mamie Baldwin]

I am loving your trippie and style of writing. Poot seems to have a talent for writing too ( and the cutest name)!

Pamela

[Guest]

Originally Posted by Mamie Baldwin

I am loving your trippie and style of writing. Poot seems to have a talent for writing too ( and the cutest name)!

Pamela

See more...

Thanks so much - what kind words.

Poot actually has a (proper, lovely, "normal") Christian name - in fact he was named for my late father.

But when he was three he determined that he wished to be called "Pooter Woot" at all times. I thought that was funny and humoured him (my husband did not, and did not ).

...the name stuck.

I have a stupid Christian name - I promised never to do that to a child of mine - and what did I do?

I have edited in Poot's memories of Day 8, and should be posting Day 9 tomorrow or Wednesday.

[Glee Fan]

Ugh to the early morning flight - painful!

The air and space museum sounds interesting. We loved visiting the Intrepid in New York.

[Guest]

Originally Posted by Glee Fan

Ugh to the early morning flight - painful!

The air and space museum sounds interesting. We loved visiting the Intrepid in New York.

See more...

Ooh, I've not done that! DH and I have been to NY (I've been several times) but none of us have visited the Intrepid...

There are just too many places I want to go!...and never enough money to go to all of them...

And yes, ugh...that was the earliest flight I've ever had. At this point in my life the only three o'clock I want to know is the one where someone is serving me a cup of tea and a nice cake!

[Glee Fan]

Originally Posted by GopherLass

Ooh, I've not done that! DH and I have been to NY (I've been several times) but none of us have visited the Intrepid...

There are just too many places I want to go!...and never enough money to go to all of them...

And yes, ugh...that was the earliest flight I've ever had. At this point in my life the only three o'clock I want to know is the one where someone is serving me a cup of tea and a nice cake!

See more...

A bit like that one I guess, there's a Concorde and a space shuttle and loads of other stuff besides. We spent hours there just mooching around, I loved it!

[Guest]

Originally Posted by Glee Fan

A bit like that one I guess, there's a Concorde and a space shuttle and loads of other stuff besides. We spent hours there just mooching around, I loved it!

See more...

Sounds good - I had NO idea there was a space shuttle there...I see it's the Enterprise!

We should "boldly go" there, for certain...

[disney owl]

a very early morning for your flight

[Guest]

Originally Posted by disney owl

a very early morning for your flight

See more...

Oh, my Lord in heaven - YES.

I can remember the days when I could stay up all night and then go all day the next day...but those days are gone. I could have KISSED that front desk clerk (Magical Nick) when he found us a room.

Blessed, blessed sleep...