Since I know everyone is just dying to hear all about the trip and look at all the pictures with captions. Here's the scoop:
Tuesday Nettie and I rode the subway in from the Greenbelt station(Bert and Bill live in Bel Air, MD so we had to drive there first.). Nettie thinks public transit is one of the coolest things in the world. (We even had to change lines coming and going!) Since it was about lunch time we went to the
Old Post Office Pavilion and ate in the food court then we went up the bell tower. After that we walked over to the
National Air and Space Museum. Planes and rockets are neato. Then the
Hirshorn. You all would have been so proud of Nettie - we walked into the first room and she says "This is art?" (It was a bunch of large geometric shapes and/or stripes). Yes, sweetie, when you grow up you can get paid lots of money to make colored trapezoids. She liked some of the other paintings and the sculptures. There was also a loooong video of a Rube-Goldberg like set-up that was cool. We only did the third level, the second was closed for installation and I couldn't remember if the basement had much. After that we walked on down the Mall a bit and then went home.
On Wednesday Mom, Dad, Aunt Roberta, Nettie, and I all drove in.* We started at the Einstein memorial. Getting her picture with Einstein was a do or die thing for Nettie. Then we went to the Vietnam Memorial. Nettie and I walked over to the Lincoln Memorial and then walked up the Mall to the
National Museum of Natural History, where we spent the entire afternoon. (Literally all afternoon. Nettie and I got to the gift shop at about 5:15 and they close at 5:30.) We then got an impromptu tour of NE Washington as Dad missed an exit. It only added an hour onto our drive back to Bert and Bill's. Oh, and Dad had parked in a 'no parking after 4' zone and got a $100 parking ticket, along with a bunch of other tourists.
Thursday we drove to Cape Cod and Judy and Danny's house. Friday we (all except Danny) went to the Cape Cod National Seashore. Watched a nice video about the formation and geology of Cape Cod; nice example of glacial erosion and deposition as well as reminders that the sea (and all of nature) will do what it pleases despite man's best attempts to control her. Had a nice walk on the beach, too. We picked up many many beach rocks and shells. A shipwreck was washed up on shore last January and some of it is still visible (the sand is covering it up more and more). It is expected that another storm will wash the remains back out.
Saturday Danny took Dad, Nettie and I for a walk along the river (don't know the name) down a spit that separates the river from Centerville Harbor. (Mom and Aunt Judy went shopping.:P) It was very windy and a bit cool so we mostly stayed on the river side of the dunes. We saw tons of little fiddler crabs, four (!) horseshoe crabs, some terns (I think) including babies that looked like cotton balls floating just above the sand. Later, we three went and watched Uncle Danny clam. Best tasting clams ever!
Sunday morning we drove back down to Pawtucket and had dinner with Jim and Peg and several of their kids and grandkids. Their house looks exactly the same as always. The yard seems smaller than it did when I was a kid. I think it may be because the pool is gone. I remember the pool bigger than it most likely was. Jim was doing well that evening, seemed to recognize us all and was generally 'with it' through out the visit, which was really nice. Nettie made fast friends with her cousins.
I flew home Monday. Mom, Dad, and Nettie stayed in Pawtucket for a couple more days then drove back to Maryland. Dad and Nettie spent most of yesterday (Thursday) at the
Baltimore Aquarium. I think today they are mostly just visiting with Bert, Bill, and Aunt Gail (came up from the Eastern Shore) and maybe some of my cousins. I left my camera with Nettie so I'll put her pictures up on Picasa after they get back.
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