After 4 weeks in Dan and Malena’s yard it was strange to get back into the campground, touring life style. We settled in to Cherry Hill Park and dashed off to see Bunny and Alan. Alan has had the very bad fortune to have a cancerous tumor on his pancreas. It was a very quiet and subdued visit although Bunny managed to entice me into enjoying some wonderful Maryland Crab Cakes brought by another friend. We smiled and made the best of the visit.
Sunday was a wonderful, family filled day. We visited my cousin Judy and her SO Ralph in DC. We were treated to a royal Sunday Brunch with lox and bagels and homemade kugel. We had not been in touch for several years and it was great to spend a couple of hours catching up and reminiscing. Ralph’s daughter is a professor of archaeology at Brown and. I am pretty sure, was involved with the Coursera course I took a few years ago “Archaeology’s Dirty Little Secrets”. It certainly is a small world that keeps getting smaller. We left there and drove to Alexandria to see Daisy and Steven’s new home there. Dinner was lovely, but even more lovely was the reception they gave us in their marvelous new home. We will be back to meet the baby next year!
Monday we were not quite done with family. We met cousin Bob (that’s Bob Levey, well known to most readers of the Washington Post until about 10 years ago). Lunch was a Metro ride from the campground to Bethesda and then a very short walk to a Nepalese Restaurant that Bob favors. Road traffic was horrible and the Metro spared us from the worst of it and parking was a cinch at the Metro station in College Park. We even got to use our Senior Smartrips which we picked up the last time we visited in DC. Once again the conversation flowed and we spent the time catching up with each other. It is so important to keep family together even though we are scattered across geography and life experiences.
So we were in DC, well Bethesda, a short step form the Metro and all of DC spread before us with a few hours before things started to close. We decided to take up one of Judy’s suggestions and stop by the Library of Congress to see the Reading Room, especially the ceiling. -you may infer a very long pause here- We LOVE libraries! We got there about 2:45 and were there until closing. The only books we saw were in the shelves around the Main Reading Room and the Jefferson Collection special library. I could repeat some of what the docent told us on the hour long tour, but you need to do that for yourselves. To further whet your appetite go to www.loc.gov. The building was built at the end of the 19th century and is a glorious temple to knowledge and learning. Indeed it is in the form of a temple. Every surface is decorated with wit and intelligence and beauty. I could spend many hours there, but we have tickets for the Newseum tomorrow and that is where we shall go.
