Saturday, December 24, 2011

Sockmonkey's last vacation post

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stirring... Well that's actually not the case at our house especially because Sockmonkey is busy getting last minute holiday things done and wants to gift all of you with the final chapter of his visit to the eastern seaboard. We woke again to a bright shiny D.C. day and got the circulater bus heading for a day full of tourist sights. We headed to a souviner shop first thing and got a t-shirt for our little house sitter/cat grave digger Brie since I felt like I owed her something more than just a keychain. Visited our two Smithsonian museums that we had chosen before we left California since we knew it was impossible to see them all. Dave picked the air and space museum, it was awesome! He even got to go in a simulater of a plane that would be taking off from an aircraft carrier. Then headed down the street to mine and Sockmonkey's choice, museum of American history. So much fun in there to see the gang from Sesame St. and Julia Childs fridge complete with fridge magnets! Walked a lot and saw the Washington monument which was closed to visiters because of damage during that fluky earthquake, then the reflecting pool which was a nonreflecting dirt pit due to construction, then the Lincoln monument. Walked a lot more and stumbled across the Vietnam Wall, so somber that Sockmonkey thought it would have been disrespectful to take his picture there. In fact wished we would have brought something to leave as a momento. By now we are pretty sure we are late to meet Michelle O. for tea but hurried off to the White House and stood as close by as we could get with all the secret service around. Anyhow such a super day and still beautiful weather so we walked all the way back to hotel on Rhode Island Ave. along with hundreds of others workerbees and tourist enjoying the early evening. That night had to pack up and get a good nights sleep in preperation of Wednesday being all about getting back home. Next morning Sockmonkey and I made sure on the transit map where we would get off subway to catch bus to Dulles, piece of cake except for the excalator from our stop. It was so steep I was afraid to look back and was so paranoid that I was going to fall. Swear it was like going up the Alps!Caught the right bus and didn't even have to pay the $6.00. While getting on asked the driver if that thingy there was where I put my dollars and he said "Thingy ain't working, have a great ride!" Had to wait a couple hours at airport but not too many travellers so very peaceful time to read a magazine and reflect on the last eleven days. Even made a friend on the plane when we had to change in Chicago. So crowded Dave and I couldn't sit together so Sockmonkey sat by a really nice couple who were on the way home to Palo Alto from their little grandson's 2nd birthday. We hit it off and even were on the same anti anxiety pill to get through the flight. Thanks to Brie the house was still standing and we could relax from Sockmonkey's whirlwind adventure on the eastern seaboard. Looks like the inhabitants at Gannimal house will be living back there for awhile so look forward to another visit in a year or so. Thanks for being such a great audience, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Sockmonkey visits our Nations capitol

I know what you are saying to yourselves, doesn't this so called creative writer know how to end a story? Well I last posted that we had gotten to our room and were relaxing with our own large bed and shower after a week at Gannimal house. Decided I should check my v.m. and had a sad message from Brie, she had found our old cat (16 years old so do the math in human years) dead in the garage. Poor little girl was a trooper though, after talking to me found a nice spot in the flower bed to bury Gallagher without too much hysteria. Guess I was going to owe her more than a key ring from Sockmonkey's travels. We had a good nights sleep then were up to a bright and beautiful day to start our touring after continental breakfast. Caught the circulator bus for a dollar to take us right over by the capitol. Had been told that October is a good month to visit the Eastern seaboard and being in teeshirts found that to be the truth. Had a great tour of the capitol, Sockmonkey and I were impressed that in the rotunda among the fancy portraits was a painting of Pocahontas (see earlier post regarding getting educated on her at Jamestown). We then took a tour of the Library of Congress, Sockmonkey and I being library junkies were giddy. Dave was pretty excited because he was sure that if we would have had time to visit the reading rooms after we got our readers cards that we would find a copy of the anthology we have been published in, Vintage Voices. The day was wrapping up, caught the circulator bus again to take the reverse trip from this morning so we could get chinese buffett dinner. As we were approaching our stop an interesting thing happened. A blond woman had gotten on and while looking over at her was so amazed that she was the twin of a woman I knew in R.P. As we are about to reach our stop I overhear a comment about the upcoming stops from her. I turn to get a better look and when we both saw each other said "I know you"! It was Desiree! There came my stop with giving me only an instant to say "OMG well take care" and give her a hug then we had to get off without me giving her my phone number or being able to ask what the heck she was doing in D.C. Isn't life funny? To be continued...

Friday, December 2, 2011

Sockmonkey bids adieu to Gannimal house...

Although Sockmoney and I with Dave in tow were leaving Gannimal house, that did not end our awesome east coast trip. We finally watched the sunrise over Chesapeake Bay while on the Amtrak bus heading to Newport News Virginia to catch the 8 a.m. train to D.C.! As I last posted, the household partied in the mancave celebrating the end of having the old folks couch surfing for the past week. Needless to say when the alarm went off at 5 in the morning no one was in any shape to drive us to the bus stop. No worries, cab showed up within 15 minutes of my call and off we were to begin our Sunday of leisure traveling through Pochantas field and forest to see our nations capital. Saw a couple cute little towns from train window during our 4 hour ride. One was Ashland Virginia, the train went right down the middle of the main street with darling old victorian homes on either side. Guess you would get used to trains in your front yard. Got to D.C. right at lunch time, still needed to negotiate the subway but luckily since a few years ago in N.Y. we became old pros at this sort of thing or at least didn't have a lot of anxiety about it made it to the stop we needed to then hoof it to our hotel on Rhode Island Ave. a few (long!) city blocks away. (Boy that's a run on sentence.) The afternoon was wearing on and we were pooped so decided to forgo the touristy stuff till the morning. Subway early dinner and jammy time. Oh and caught up on some of our shows after the week without cable at Gannimal house. To be continued...