A Great Vacation

We are back from our trip to the nation's capital, happy and well-rested. The past four days have been like a dream vacation for us, a perfect combination of great friends, good food, amazing conversation, and morning coffee out on the deck overlooking trees and horses.

I would feel slightly obnoxious raving about how wonderful everything was if Steve and I didn't have such a LONG string of bad vacations behind us. We honeymooned on the equivalent of a deserted island (which sounds romantic until you really think about it). Last spring we stayed in a hotel that had burn marks from the crack pipes in the bathroom. And last summer - while vacationing in my hometown, where you'd think I'd know how to organize a decent vacation - our getaway cabin dangled precariously over a muddy inlet and had a rodent's nest... under our pillow. The pool was closed due to some sort of chemical catastrophe, and the restaurant was closed for renovations. Should I even mention the rain?

This trip was entirely, delightfully different. We stayed with our amazingly brilliant friends I'll call Genius and Harmony, who live in a suburb of Virginia best described as bucolic. They are southern, which means that hospitality abounded - they cooked more for us in four days than I've cooked for us this year. We talked about books and music and relationships. Steve left inspired to take guitar lessons, I left with a new love for the poet T.S. Eliot. To say that our horizons were broadened is an understatement. And as if that weren't enough, Genius and Harmony have reproduced, so there were three little examples of what a great DNA combination can create running around their house (okay, the littlest one didn't run so much as lounge - she's only 3 months old - but her occasional wiggly smile made up for her lack of forward movement).

We saw the WWII memorial, which was jaw-droppingly beautiful. I'm not a huge fan of monuments/museums (I wish I was that kind of person; it's a bit embarrassing that I'm not) but this newest work of dedication was both a powerful remembrance and artistically mesmerizing. I could have stayed there all day. And the Korean Memorial was beautiful and haunting. (Anyone who wonders if we should stop funding the arts should wander through these two displays of vision, skill, and devotion before making a decision). Then we went into Georgetown, to a little French bistro were we celebrated our anniversaries - three years for Steve & I, ten later this summer for Genius & Harmony. Honestly, the DC Bureau of Tourism should have followed us, as that day alone was a great sampler of all the city has to offer.

We're back now, and I need to get to work. I've missed life here in blog-land and hope to get around to see everyone later tonight. In the meantime though, Harmony is thinking of starting a blog - feel free to post words of encouragement in the comments, as she will be a fabulous addition to our online family :)