July 20, 2011 Going to Washington DC

Grandpa, GG, Isabella and Ryan are going to Washington DC for a two-week exploration of our capital.

Uncle Don took us to the airport. Grandpa was very excited and rushed us off, through the security check and on to Gate 18. Oops! Wrong gate. Hurry, hurry, time is short. We rushed back to Gate 10 and ran down the gangplank, grandpa shouting "Hold that Door! Don't close it. Here we are!" The attendant crossly ordered grandpa back to the waiting area. Grandpa tried to explain that we were supposed to be on that plane, but the lady kept demanding that we return to the waiting area. Finally grandpa got a clue and remembered what happens to the people who argue with airline personnel – they get hauled off to jail, so he decided to shut up and obey orders.

As it turned out, they were trying to open the door of the airplane so they could deboard the plane, which had just arrived. In the meanwhile Ryan, Isabella, and GG were huddling in a corner, pretending that they didn't know Grandpa, but he found us and came and sat down with us.

Finally we boarded our American Eagle flight to LA and takeoff went fine. Ryan and Isabella were both calm and cool.

The trip to LA went by so fast it hardly seemed like 15 minutes and then we were landing.

Since we only had carry-on luggage –grandpa was very adamant about this – our transfer was very quick and easy.

The flight to Washington DC took forever. Ryan and Isabella passed the time watching a movie and TV.

When we finally landed grandpa rushed off the plane to get the rental car. Our plane landed at 10:35 PM and he had to take a train and then a shuttle bus to the rental office. But he made it with time to spare.

In the meanwhile GG, Ryan and Isabella collected their luggage and made their way to the train and then to the shuttle. We caught the last shuttle to the car rental office and grandpa was waiting with the car.

Grandpa brought two GPS units – Maggie and Trixie-- to direct us to our exchange home. We thought we would stop for a bite to eat but we didn't see one restaurant along the way.

So we made it to Greenwood Street and grandpa found the key and then we went in. The house was very hot, even though it was midnight. Grandpa found some pizza in the freezer, so we had a snack of that and by then it was 1 AM. We went straight to bed and fell asleep with the air conditioners going full blast.