By George, what a surprise!

Another nine hours in a car, why the heck does the rest of my family put up with my hair brained ideas? We left Oakville at 5:20am this morning and headed south, over the border at Fort Erie and with our 90 day green cards still in effect from our Aussie trip we stormed through (at 5 miles per hour) with no delays. Our route then took us south-west towards our Pennsylvainian friends in Wattsburg, but sadly we had no time for a lay-over as we blew through Erie and then punched south towards Pittsburgh, home to the Superbowl champs of 2006. The interstate skirted PA's big steel town and soon we were headed back east and into Maryland. The route really surprised Jo and I, we hadn't expected it to be so hilly, especially after 18 months in Ontario, which is thanks to the grinding glaciers of the last ice-age, as flat as a pool table. The Appalachians however are sorta interesting, not peaks per-say, more like the high country back home. So I-70 took us right through the mountains, at one point literally as we took a multi-Klm tunnel, and we started to see evidence of spring having sprung at bloody last. The buds are out, officially in Maryland at least, even if Canada is still in denial.

So where are we? Are you following this on Google? WTF right? District of Columbia baby, Washington. A few days and nights in perhaps the most powerful city on the planet, and one with a very high murder rate. Important Safety Tip : Stay off the streets at night apparently. We're straying at the Embassy Suites about 3 blocks from the White House so hopefully we'll be safe enough.

Leaving in the early hours has it's own dangers. For example packing the kids into the car still in their PJ's, talking their clothes and forgetting to bring their shoes... I thought you were bringing them... backatchya babe, bugger. Quick stop at an outlet mall along the way and the kids have shoes then back on the turnpike before Jo's itchy credit card finger starts twitchin'.

The drive into Washington DC was a little disarming. I'd expected the standard expressway and buildings and crap everywhere, not so. The drive along the George Washington Parkway was awesome, the cherry blossoms have just started to come out and the parkway is a beautiful stretch of road that weaves it's way through a forest before depositing you on the banks of the Potomac River and presenting you with a view of the Washington Monument (the obelisk thingy) and the Capitol in the distance. We drove through Georgetown (much here named for the revolutionary general of course), a great uni suburb and promptly had problems with our GPS. Not really it's fault but we had some issues with lane choice in a town with lots of traffic and more one-way streets than Sydney (if that's possible). Despite our best efforts to remain completely lost for the rest of the day we somehow managed to make it to our hotel just in time for the kids to fall into the pool. While there my eyes to developed a fantastic sting from the chlorine while simply reading at the pool side (thank god I didn't go in the water, prolly would have dissolved completely). Anyway that's for the best, it was completely full of kids so the standard ratio applies - 2 parts water, 1 part urine, throw in some more chlorine, too much is barely enough.

The hotel provides a free breakfast (hot thank goodness) and a managers 'reception' each evening, which is basically happy hour without having to get your wallet out. So here I sit, dear reader, a couple of beers on my way to a good nights rest, waiting on room-service sushi and a Sam Adams chaser. Tomorrow the plan is for the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum and perhaps the Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery (Fields of Stone, JFK's grave and the Iwo Jima memorial). Stay tuned...

Andy, out.