In 2016, the day after a certain inauguration, there was a huge woman’s march in Washington DC that I went to with my sister. The same organizing group was planning another one this year before the election, so we thought a repeat visit would be a good idea. And also we hadn’t seen Rob’s sister Lynn and her wife Amber for too many years, so a trip to DC started to form.
My pals that I will be sailing across the Atlantic with were still in transit going west through the Mediterranean, so they weren’t ready to commit to a time or place for me to meet up. One of the cardinal rules of cruising is that you either meet crew in a place or at a time, but it’s hard to commit to both. But I had a trans Atlantic ticket to buy (on miles of course), so we had to start sorting out at least where I was going to meet them. Getting across the US to the east coast was the first step.
Cross country trips from the west coast tend to be red eye flights for us, and I rarely fly east in the daylight. I’m always scoping out new places to take Nonnie’s Diner when we’re not sailing, and what I saw in the mountains going into DC looked so interesting. Being a west coaster, I still don’t really believe they have actual mountains, but there certainly is some pretty scenery.
One highlight from the trip was a chance to catch up with my niece who moved back to DC last year. She works from home for a big law firm, and had already decorated for Christmas in her workspace.
Lynn was recovering from a double bypass that she had very recently, so we didn’t venture out too far. We did spend one day exploring a key civil war battlefield and learning all about the Battle of Antietam. We also don’t have that kind of history on the west coast, and it was really interesting learning about this major battle. And very sad – at the end of the one day there were 23,000 casualties and 3,600 dead, without a decisive gain from either. What it did do, though, was prove the Union could stand against the Confederates and gave President Lincoln the confidence to issue the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation at a moment of strength rather than desperation.
The following day was spent working to resolve very strong feelings of anger and disbelief, then it was time to get ready to fly east again. The next leg will take me to a reunion with cruising pals I hadn’t seen since the South Pacific some 15 years ago. I will also get to have my first glimpse of Portugal, which is definitely not one and done.
Pix of this leg of the trip are here
