FMC 3.0

What a long one. With a nice 4 day weekend, a bunch of traveling was on my agenda. With Rose and Tim in town, lots of tourism to be done. After getting home Thursday, I had breakfast, hopped into another car, and went into Philadelphia. We went up to see the Liberty Bell center, and Independence Hall. It’s rather amazing how much history happened in such a small area. I saw the actual Liberty Bell, stood in the rooms where the first Senate and House convened, where the Declaration of Independence was ratified, where the Constitution was drafted, and where the first peaceful transfer of executive power happened in history (The Inauguration of John Adams.) It was all within a block of each other. So much history. It was pretty overwhelming.

On top of that, we had lunch at just about the best Italian Restaurant I’ve ever been in. Apparently Ralph’s is the oldest family owned restaurant in America. It’s also damn fine eats. Best Alfredo sauce I’ve ever had. If you’re ever in the Italian Market area of Philly, go try it out.

Passed out in the car on the way back to Dover. Was awake long enough to say Hi to dinner guests, and make the walk upstairs. There I promptly passed out. (I’d been up nearly 23 hours sans nap.)

Then came the packing. I had one bag go into Nighthawk. I stopped on the way to pick up Liz and Sydney. Then I had 4 bags, a stroller, a basket, a car seat, and a whole bunch of other stuff. This is reason #1 I’m not having kids. Way too much baggage. I’m not sure how Liz and James make do in their two small cars.

Luckily Sydney slept most of the way down, and a quick stop at McD’s took care of any other problems. Once in Chincoteague, it was unpacking, and resting up. Then a nice long weekend of relaxing, taking in shops, beach time, a few museums, and keeping one eye on Sydney. Reason #2 I don’t want kids. I don’t have that kind of time. I don’t know how people can exert the effort.

It was a nice weekend. Beautiful weather. Great food. Even got to go beachin’ in Nighthawk. Reason #3 not to have kids: they are drawn to cold ocean water like moths to a flame. Every other step was to keep Sydney from running into chilly chilly water.

Of course, I did learn a few other things. I learned about Hubble at the NASA visitor’s center on Wallops Island. I learned about stuff on Assateague in their new nature center, which is damn nifty. I also learned that the first night back at work after extended time off is going to suck. It doesn’t matter what you do to prepare, it’s gonna suck.

Also, another scary sign of maturity - I got the car cleaned after it was unloaded. It was nice to get the sand out, and the bugs from the drive off the window. Grand total miles: approx 300 on the weekend. Not a bad round trip, but not a trip to Hburg.