Wednesday, March 15th

Salem to Washington, D.C.


These travel days are for the birds, which weren't up either when we set out for the airport this morning.  But that's what you'd probably expect at 3:30am.  However, we had a lot of distance to cover today and it's best to start early.  The drive was uneventful and we arrived as planned at PDX.  But I never travel without excitement and this time was no exception.

Mystery #1 - Why didn't we get boarding passes for the Dallas to D.C. leg of our trip? We'll find out later today.

Mystery #2 - Why did Hanna get "special" searching again at the security screening?  I'm sure it didn't have anything to do with that $20 I slipped the TSA officer.

Mystery #3 - Why did Bryce's bag get to be pulled and hand searched?  Perhaps the broken protractor in his bag was part of his cunning plan to hijack the plane and take us to Cuba!

[Perhaps this was a long day and my imagination is very active]

We made it to Dallas/Fort Worth airport some three and a half hours later.  A long flight with no audio/visual distractions is a challenge for busy minds.  But all three boys spent a fair amount of time working on their homework.  Bryce's adventure with geometry even drew the attention of the flight attendant who's scowls and grimmances weren't too encouraging.  But hopefully, my tutoring was an adequate substitution for the class time Bryce is missing for this trip. 

This would be a last smile we'd see from Hanna for a while however.  The first part of our trip had been a bit bumpy -- just enough to get the ball rolling in Hanna's "motion sensors."  The next leg from Dallas to D.C. was a lot more bumpy and those bumps seemed to come at precisely the time we were making course corrections or steep banking turns.  By the time we were preparing for landing, the flight attendant was hovering over Hanna, looking concerned and offering the use of an enormous garbage bag.  It was so big, I'm sure Hanna would have preferred to just crawl in.  But she made it without incident. 

It didn't help that the first mystery of the day (the one about the boarding passes) was solved when we got to the Dallas airport.  Apparently, a passenger with a leg injury had commandeered our seats!  The airline juggled our seats around and got us close but not quite together.  Hanna and Brady were sitting directly behind the bulkhead, giving them tons of leg room (you see the irony, right?) but no benefit of visual perspective as a deterant to motion sickness.  David, Bryce and Bailey sat one row behind so that worked fine.  I had the pleasure of sitting next to "Maggie McHips," a woman of great girth, shall we say, that left me plastered against the outer wall of the aircraft for 2 hours and 40 minutes.   The addition of a distinct garlic perfume made it a perfect delight.  (I mentioned I always have an adventure on my trips - right?)  Finally, Washington, D.C. and the safety of the earth.

The rest of the trip to the hotel was uneventful and followed by what is now a tradition - dinner at Fuddruckers!

An after-dinner walk and some time for journalling our experiences finished the day.  Tomorrow the National Trumpet Competition begins.   It should be interesting again this year.

If you click on the picture to the left you can see a detailed picture of Washington, D.C. and spot the Capital, Pentagon, Washington Monument, Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials and more.