Weekend road trip to Virginia

My wife’s cousin Elizabeth was celebrating her 50th birthday this year, although she certainly doesn’t look more than 30. One side of the family hosted a party about two weeks ago, and the Kanianthra (Indian) side held a surprise birthday party this past weekend. We elected to pack on Thursday night, drive down on Friday evening after we all got back from work / school, and eaten a quick dinner. Originally planning to stay at a Westin in the area, we decided to stay with one of my wife’s cousins.

We, of course, didn’t get to pack the night before. I personally had a bit of a fire drill at work on Friday afternoon, and didn’t leave until 6pm. I eventually got home around 7pm, quickly packed my clothes (Nums took care of the rest of the packing for us while I was on the way.) We all scarfed down some leftovers, loaded up the car, and we were off. We reached our destination in 3 hours a little after 11pm.

On Saturday morning after some homemade breakfast, we got ready and made our way to the Wildfire steakhouse restaurant at Tysons Galleria. We were meeting Nums’ friend and former coworker Josh here for lunch. Nice place with delicious cornbread as appetizers. I would have gotten a larger dish, but we just had breakfast. I opted for a basic burger, nothing fancy. Everyone raved about their food, and both the service and decor were top notch. Next time, I want to come back for a nice steak dinner.

Afterwards, we walked around the mall briefly, and I went to check out the suits at Sarar. I’ve been on the hunt for new business suits to update my wardrobe for trips, without spending an arm and a leg. The Sarar store had some reasonably priced suits with what appeared to be good quality. I purchased two new suits, so that was a nice bonus on this trip.

We made our way back to the house, since suit shopping took up more time than expected. We got everyone cleaned up for the surprise birthday dinner. They held it at Elizabeth’s parents’ community clubhouse. It was good to see many of my wife’s relatives, but I didn’t know a majority of the attendees.  There was good food, some performances by the kids, and a lot of conversation. The party wrapped up by 10 pm, and we made our exit.

Sunday morning, we were on the road heading north, with a few pit stops:

  1. We attempted a quick 20 min drive by of a few specific D.C. landmarks that Josh wanted to see. We saw the back of the Lincoln Memorial, the side of the Jefferson Memorial, and we saw the Capitol Building from a distance. The White House was blocked off, and we had no idea where the Supreme Court building was. I’ll admit the drive by tour was less than satisfying, so we promised the boy that we would schedule another trip to D.C. later this year, and would make it more of a walking tour.
  2. We drove next to Arlington, Virginia, to meet up with Anthony, another friend / former coworker of my wife’s now living in the area. Because of the limited time for breakfast, we selected Bob & Edith’s Diner, a “greasy spoon” type diner. While it has garnered some good reviews from the locals, I found it to be nothing special, especially after they got my omelet order wrong. Next!
  3. We were on the road to Baltimore, Maryland, to meet up with my sister-sister-in-law and niece so the two of them (and my wife and kids) could watch Frozen for the umpteenth time. This time, it was the Sing a Long version. Hey, whatever makes you happy. Once was enough for me. Since I already found two suits the day before, my afternoon was free. So, I went to see American Hustle directed by David O. Russell. Not a great movie, but not a bad way to spend your Sunday afternoon either.

 

By 4 pm, everyone was done with their respective movie watching experiences, and we were back on the road for the final stretch to NJ and home. No time for lunch, so the kids snacked and relaxed. We arrived home around 5:30 pm, and as usual, the cats were somehow happy and disinterested to see us.

I picked up Domino’s for dinner, and it was good to be home again.

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