On the Road Again

Tomorrow we are going on a road trip! That's right. Elisabeth's first car ride longer than 2 hours! We (Rich included) are driving down to Washington DC (Alexandria, VA to be specific) to see Auntie Karyn! I'm so excited. Rich is going to China on Saturday so at least he gets to spend a little time with us down there. I'm not sure what all the plans are, but I have plans to take Elisabeth to the zoo one day.

The National Zoo is awesome (and it's free...even more awesome!). I went there once when I was in 8th grade and my mom, brother and I went to DC to visit my dad who was doing some kind of Navy school thing there. I remember two things in particular about the zoo, exceptthey're not really about the zoo. They're about the metro station where you get off to get to the zoo. That metro station had the longest escalator I had ever seen. I was really nervous to get on it. About halfway up it, I made the mistake of looking down. In case you didn't know, heights give me the heebie-jeebies. The rest of the way up, I'm leaning as far forward as I can and giving the rails the grip of death. Karyn might remember I had similar issues when I came to see her last time in DC. This time however, no escalators for me. I'm a member of the elevator brigade now, because of Elisabeth's wheels. The other thing I remember about the zoo trip: my brother bore a striking resemblence at that time to Macauley Culkin in Home Alone. So we're in the metro station and he's dressed in a coat with a scarf around his neck. We're waiting for the metro to get there and this nice little Asian lady starts staring at us. She walks over to us and says, "Home Alone! Home Alone" and laughs. It was so funny, not to mention random. So yes, these are the highlights from the time I went to the zoo 14 years ago. I don't remember the animals at all so it will be a treat for me. I'm hoping they have this one animal that I like in particular except I can't remember it's name. It's kind of a rodenty-antelopey thing (not a capybara...I thought that was it, but it's not). I think there's one at the Miami MetroZoo. I'll know it when I see it...hopefully there's one at the National Zoo. Plus I know there are flamingos and pandas, so if nothing else I will see those and be happy. Yes...I actually think I'm taking myself to the zoo and Elisabeth is just coming along for the ride!

It will also be nice to spend time with Karyn. I think we are even going to go out one night as "adults" because one of her friends offered to babysit Elisabeth. Woohoo!! Momma's gonna cut loose in DC...watch out! You see the things that make me excited these days. A night out on the town is something that doesn't happen too often these days. Not that I would trade Elisabeth for nights out on the town, but it's nice to get a night off every now and then.