August 2, 2011 Flight Home

Isabella's alarm went off at3:30 AM. Ryan set his for four. Finally GG and grandpa got up at 5AM.

We had a quick breakfast of cereal and OJ, GG packed up some sandwiches and snacks and grandpa got us all in the car and on the way by 6:10 AM.

The trip to the airport went smoothly and the car rental return was very fast.

Then we got to the security check. It was one of those with the new x-ray machines. The line was long, but we finally made it through and then into the train and on to gate B. 73. We barely sat down and they began to board our flight.

Now we are en route to LA and then on to San Jose.

We got to LA on a smooth flight and we were sitting in the boarding lounge. The flight ahead of us was overbooked and GG and Grandpa heard the offers to passengers to bump. First it was a $200 flight credit, then $300, then $400. GGs eyes lit up as the auction continued. Finally at $500 enough people volunteered to give up their tickets and the was boarding completed and the flight departed.

Next the plane for our flight arrived and deboarded. Then they started calling for volunteers to bump from our flight. GG and grandpa discussed it and thought if the offer got high enough we would volunteer and then go to Disneyland for the afternoon and catch a flight the following day. But, Isabella and Ryan were voting "NO" on that idea. They wanted to get home and see their brothers. The offer was called out over the intercom, $200 flight credit, then $300, then $400. Grandpa went to the desk and put our names in. OH NO!!! But, in the end they didn't need our seats and we got on the plane and Ryan and Isabella heaved a huge sigh of relief as the attendant shut the door and we backed out of the slip and on to the runway. The last leg of the flight was smooth and fast. Yvonne picked Isabella up and Gary picked up GG, Grandpa and Ryan.
It has been a wonderful trip.

August 1, 2011 Air and Space Museum Annex at Dulles Airport

Our trip is almost over and we have seen a lot of things, Today we are going to take a trial run to the airport to help us make our departure tomorrow a smooth one.

While we are at the airport we are going to visit the new annex of the Air and Space Museum.

The trip to the airport went pretty smoothly and we found the car-rental return easily. It looks like it will take us about an hour to drive from the house to the airport.

The Air and Space Museum annex at Dulles Airport is wonderful. They have a whole blimp-hangar sized space with lots of aircraft from the first and second world wars, Huey helicopters, jets, MIGS and all kinds of aircraft. They had to expand the collection to this additional site because there was just so much stuff to display in the building on the Capitol Mall.

We took a guided tour and it was great. A docent told us a lot of interesting stories about the aircraft.

We saw the Enola Gay, which was the airplane used to drop the first atom bomb on Japan.

We ended up spending four hours there and it was so interesting.

On our way back home we drove past the beautiful Jefferson Memorial. They were doing construction around it so we couldn't walk around it. the construction is for the new Martin Luther King memorial. Then we went home and began to get ready for our departure tomorrow morning. We can't believe our trip is almost over.