Don't get me wrong - I love my parents. They worked very hard and gave up a lot to raise me and my six siblings. But.....traveling with them is not always the most enjoyable experience. They have only traveled outside of Dubuque, IA a few times and most of those trips have been with other people. So, they tend to get lost easily and get very over-excited about things - a lot like 5 year olds.
Mom and Dad were left unattended yesterday for the afternoon so Carissa and I could get get a rental car from the airport. I also think she may have wanted a few hour break. We get a call from them letting us know that they were in Maryland since the took the wrong Metro train. Luckily some nice people got them turned around so they should be back for dinner.
Today, Carissa and Diego had to work, so Mom and Dad were under my supervision. The day starts with Mom's Metro card "not working". I suspect that she either kept trying to run it in a red vs. green lane or managed to run it twice, but I take her word on things. We ask a Metro cop what to do. He lets us know that either Mom's out the $12 left on the card, or we need to exchange it at the next transfer station - The Pentagon.
I have never been at the Pentagon stop so unfortunately we wandered around a little bit until we found the office. The lady in front of us was running no less than 5 different transactions so we waited forever. Finally we get Mom a new card and get on our way.
At the Arlington Cemetery station the train stops for a while - interesting - I've never experienced this. The guy next to us tells us this isn't entirely abnormal, but means that we are probably in for a long ride. I spend the next 15 minutes or so lecturing Mom and Dad about the Metro system, the different lines, and how to figure out that you are on the wrong train by your next stop instead of the next state. Everyone mistakes me for a local and I get some empathetic/knowing looks.
By the time we get downtown we are STARVING. The day really went up from there thought. We had a fantastic lunch at the American Indian Museum and spent a couple of hours there. We then went to the Hirshhorn until Mom's feet started to bother her. Mine were honestly bothering me by that point also so I was happy to head back and get ready for dinner.
We had another great dinner downtown with my sister. Unfortunately Diego was stuck at work due to trying to get everything done since he was flying out of town again on Sunday. This also let him take Saturday off to help with the party prep. That evening Carissa and I took a bottle of wine up the rooftop of their building and had a really nice conversation. While the day started out rough it ended on a high note.
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