April in Washington

I have created a flickr account to store photos, I'll attempt to link them here to get a more solid "blog" thing going on.

We were a little worried about the trip down to DC, since I finally got the orthopedic surgeon to take a look at my knee. I didn't know how bad it would be, but I figured my knee was bothering me anyway, and the operation should be pretty trivial, able to walk out of there. It did wind up OK, but man was my knee tired at the end of every day! I got the pictures of the inside of my knee, in case anyone is interested.

We took a train ride out from Boston, got a neighbor to drive us into the city bright and early. We got a brief surprise visit by Allison's sister Michelle in Boston, one of the resaurants she manages is just a block away from the train station, so she saw us onto the train... and didn't get off in time! She wound up riding with us towards Providence, where she was able to get a ride back into Boston. It was pretty funny. The train ride went well, took longer than flying, but so much easier, and less stressful than driving. Archer got a nice long nap in on the way down, fell asleep watching McGuire play on the DS.

We were met in DC by Mary Ellen, Allison's long-time DC resident sister. She had just announced to us that she was engaged, everyone else had met him, except for me. We went to his place for a picnic later on. First thing we needed to do was meet up with Carrie and her family, who were vacationing in DC for Sean's birthday. It was raining, and they were not having the best vacation time, but it was nice to see them anyway, they are such a photogenic family.

It's getting late, so for now I'm just dumping a bunch of pictures and I'll maybe toss in a bit here or there to describe them.

I can't get enough of Abraham Lincoln's writing. There is something so simple and so eloquent about it. McGuire probably thought I was weird because I felt like I just had to read the Gettysburg Address and this out loud when we were at the Lincoln Memorial.









This statue is in the Capitol building, I can just imagine Senator Clinton pausing in front of it for inspiration when times get rough. The uncarved block in the back is saved for the first woman President. I hope it is not still uncarved when I die.





McGuire and his aunt and soon-to-be uncle at his house in DC. He's a software guy, with a big strong dog and both of them like my kids. Three good marks for him in my book.