The Griswolds, I mean Vukelics, do D.C.
Last spring, when we learned that Meredith would be summering in Oslo, we tentatively planned a trip to Norge where we could spend some time with her and Pam's cousin, Gunnar and his wife, Feli. But plans changed for a variety of reasons and instead we booked a package deal on Hotwire which included plane fare, motel, and rental car in Washington, D.C. Reed was fairly certain he could get up there from Fort Bragg so we greatly looked forward to spending the July 4th weekend in our nation's capitol.
Moments after landing, we were standing in front of the Hertz rental car desk at Washington National Airport when we saw the man on the right with his camera. I jokingly said to him that I was glad his news station had learned of our itinerary and dispatched him to greet us. A moment later, as we left the Hertz desk, the female reporter approached Pam and asked if she could interview her. "Sure," Pam said, "what about?" The essential query was whether the price of fuel impacted our decision to rent a car while in D.C. Pam answered in the negative as we didn't plan to do much driving, mostly to the metro station and later to visit nephew Brent and his family in eastern Virginia. Evidently that was not the answer they were looking for as we never saw any of the footage on the evening news.
We drove to our hotel in Herndon, a solid 45-minutes west of the Capitol, did a little shopping at a nearby mall, and called it a day. The next day, Wednesday, I drove Pam to the nearest Metro station, dropped her off, and headed north to Congressional Golf Club to watch the pro-am event.
Meanwhile, Pam toured the Hillwood Museum and gardens. It is the former home of Post cereal heiress Marjorie Merriweather Post. Of course, Pam had read her biography, "American Empress," so the place took on added interest. The grounds' most significant feature, in my narrow view, was the putting green.
That night we met niece Anna and husband J.D. for a meal at Agraria, a restaurant with ties to North Dakota. It was reportedly started by some Farmer's Union members who lived near Jamestown, North Dakota. The restaurant's theme is "From our fields to your table."
The restaurant has several tables outside which overlook the Potomac, a scenic setting if there ever was one. Yachts pull up to the dock not 50 yards from where we were seated. Occasional helicopters and a steady stream of jets flew overhead. I believe J.D. told us that when the president flies anywhere by chopper, three identical-looking helicopters are launched, supposedly to confuse would-be attackers. We had good food and even better conversation that night.
Reed flew into town on Thursday morning and we met him shortly after he landed, having flown north from Raleigh/Durham. Anna made arrangements to meet us at Union Station around noon.
I mentioned to Reed that Union Station reminded me of an up-scale version of Drapers Hall or Sukiennice, which we visited while in Krakow, Poland. Union Station is chock full of shops and the basement level features every kind of fast food imaginable. We ate there and then followed Anna to her workplace.
Anna is a pharmacist finishing up a stint working for Senator Joe Lieberman. Her portfolio focuses on health issues and she's justifiably proud of some the bills that have emerged from Congress recently. She also got to see lawmaking up close with all its wrinkles and warts. The trite analogy to sausage making is probably true: the product ain't bad but you don't want to see how it is done. Another aide to the senator, a fellow Iraqi war veteran, chatted with Reed and gave him a coin that was impressive looking.
Anna arranged for a tour of the Capitol by one of the interns in Senator Kent Conrad's office. It was good and about the right length considering the throngs of people being led through the rooms by other tour guides. Afterwards, we met Anna and J.D. who accompanied us to the Library of Congress.
The Library of Congress houses Thomas Jefferson's personal library, the first major purchase by Congress. Jefferson's 6,487 volumes were offered for sale to the country to replace the 3,000 books burned when those pesky Brits razed the Capitol and the Library of Congress in 1814. Jefferson's was the largest personal library in the country at the time.
I appreciated one of the many quotes painted on the walls of the institution,
"There is one only good namely knowledge and one only evil namely ignorance."
And yes, that is the correct word order attributed to Socrates.
