I've just packed Stephen off on another trip. He's off to Seattle and then onto Los Angeles for a conference....Which has curtailed my shopping expedition today! We were up early (7am! - on a Sunday!!) so he could watch the Grand Prix whilst he did his ironing (I didn't have time to drop them off at the 95 cents a shirt laundry, so I had to wash them...must get more organised - or buy more shirts!). Then we headed off to the shopping plaza I was at on Monday, in order to get more bits and pieces for the house. As I said - Ralph Lauren towels at $8 are too good to miss! Especially as the ones I bought from Target don't seem to be terribly absorbent!! I am now also stocked up with Salad Cream, Cadbury's chocolate and Walkers Shortbread! Yummy!!
I need to phone the bank in the morning though...our debit card seems to be limiting our spend to $250 a day. I can spend that much in 5 minutes with my eyes closed, so we need to get the limit raised. I can see why the might limit your cash withdrawals, but to limit your debit card spend seems a little silly! I'm sure there will be a fight....
It had to be a pretty short trot round the shops, as we had to stop for some lunch (we went to this burger bar called Johnny Rockets which is done up like a 50's diner - all red leather seats and lots of chrome - very retro!) and do a quick food shopping, then be back here in good time to get Stephen packed, print out driving directions to the hotel he's at tonight, put out the garbage....and then be ready for the taxi all by 3:30. It was all a bit of a rush, and Stephen was panicking because he seems to have a lot of room left in his case...which probably means he has forgotten something. Usually this means his underwear (he knows directions to the nearest clothing store from half the hotels in England!) but I definitely put that in the pile to be packed...
It seems that he's not the only person who forgets items of clothing! After hearing from Hilary how often she has to drive up to work with cuff links or a tie for Paul, I've said that I'll keep a few spares in my desk when I start at the office. Hils thinks I should go one better and hand out Ziplock bags for the wives to fill with shirt, tie, cuff links, pants, black socks... People often cycle into work (won't be me!) and there is always something they leave at home!!
I got a really nice bracelet from Stephen after dinner or Friday whilst we were wandering King Street. I think it was guilt! He's not been here a lot in the past few weeks and I missed out on the QNA conference which was held at a very nice spa hotel round near Dulles. I mean - a SPA hotel - and he didn't arrange for me to go with him! I could have had a couple of days being massaged, polished and having my zits squeezed...not fair!!
We went out to Manassas yesterday to visit a Civil War battlefield, which was really interesting. The Civil War centered on Virginia (Richmond was the Confederate capital, and many of it's Generals were Virginian including Robert E. Lee who was born in Old Town a few blocks from us), and there are a number of battlefields around. This one was significant though, as this was the opening battle of the war - the Battle of Bull Run (if you're from the North) or the Battle of Manassas (if you're a Southerner). They came back for a repeat the following year - both were Confederate victories.
The Union guns pointing toward General Jackson's troops
The Henry House (farm and homestead) and the surrounding fields where the battle took place
Me, looking hot (sweaty!) with the battlefield behind me
The first battle of Bull Run/Manassas was where General "Stonewall" Jackson got his nickname. In an attempt to rally the Confederate troops who were in danger of being overcome General Bee said "There stands Jackson like a stone wall! Rally behind the Virginians!"
The statue of Stonewall Jackson - with the physique of Rambo!
We also went to the second Smithsonian Air and Space Museum out by Dulles airport. This was quite interesting as they display the aircraft suspended in giant hangars. Amongst many, many exhibits there was an Air France Concorde, a Blackbird and the Enola Gay...which I was a little unsure about. It seemed a little strange to me to exhibit a plane which dropped the bomb which caused such utter devastation - I think I felt there should have been more remorse about the exhibit perhaps. But the Japanese tourists around us were snapping away and not looking too disgruntled so perhaps I'm wrong...
There was also a Space Shuttle! The Enterprise was the original test vehicle that initiated the shuttle programme, and no less impressive for not having actually been into space. As with all things space related it was smaller than you might imagine. I can't remember if I mentioned this last week, but the Apollo 11 module is tiny! ...And this carried 3 men - jammed in like sardines in a tin!!
The Space Shuttle Enterprise - named cos thousands of Trekkies wrote to demand it!
There is also an IMAX cinema here, so we had to go! We saw a film "Fighter Pilot - Operation Red Flag" which was really good. Plenty of stomach churning, motion shots of skimming across the valley floor and over hills and canyons. If we had held on for another few hours we could have watched the new Harry Potter film in IMAX, but we were tired and there was cold beer in the fridge back home...
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