Hi, Folks! Alan here. Been a long time since I posted, but peer pressure (in this case, from my closest parent peer) has beaten me once again! 😜
Three weeks ago (6/29), Eve and I went to DC to show her passport to someone in the Swedish Embassy in person. They said she had to come in for biometrics (fingerprints, pictures, etc.), but the lady we saw there said they changed the policy and now want her to do that in Gothenburg after she arrives. So, the question remains if we really had to do all this just to show a passport to someone in the Embassy in person, but it seems as such.
Anyway, we made a really good time of it. We flew down early Thursday morning to give us plenty of time for delays or other curveballs.
[5:03 AM] After getting through security and finding our gate in BVT, we went on a nom-wonder and discovered this sneaky observation tower. It was really cool to be able to see the entire airport from above. It was quite hot up there for some reason, so we did not stay long.Look out, DC! Here we come![8:45 AM] First order of business after landing: locate and consume waffles. With some help from The Food Hunter (Jenn), we found this rough little diner. Eve was hot for waffles, and I was excited when I saw grits on the menu! The waffles were good enough and filled the craving, the bacon was fine, but the eggs and grits were completely flat. The other place Jenn found us looked much nicer and had Belgian waffles, but it opened about an hour later, and we were hungry now.
Turns out, DC has plenty of chicken-and-waffle joints but a woeful lack of breakfast waffles. In hindsight, we surely would have gotten a better meal if we had waited, but this got the job done, and we had pressing matters to attend to…
… like wandering around until the museums open. We walked past the museums, the monument to Washington’s willy, and stopped at the WWII memorial. At this sight, Eve said, “What would stop me from putting my dogs in there.” I said, “A lack of dogs on hand?”
[9:38 AM] She said, “I always have my dogs. They are rarely on hand, and are always feet.” (OK, I made that line up, but that is what she should have said.) So, we watered the dogs until it was late enough to head to the Natural History Museum… to hunt stegos!Safety tip: don’t try to walk past the Washington Monument with wet feet. Luckily it was only a flesh wound. I’ve hurt worse.The Natural History Museum was easy to find, and we knew the elusive stego was in there somewhere. After wondering a bit, we found this guy. He looked like he might know the guy we were looking for, so we asked for directions. Apparently, Simon is a big fan of this one, so Eve took this picture for him. (Shutup, Bevis.)[10:58 AM] There’s the big guy! Bestest of all the dinos. Ol’ H. E. Rectus steered us right!Then we found this little guy in the gift shop. He wanted to come home with us. How could we say no?![11:43 AM] Next hunt: Mom’s hole in the wall. Arlington is straight ahead, but the pedestrian entrance is across the street on the left there, and she is way off to the left. We needed water and bathrooms when we arrived, so we went straight that way after getting through security and then out the closest door. Unfortunately, we got 1/3 of the way to Mom before we realized we were outside the fence. Back to the entrance building, through security, take a right out of the building this time, and then…[12:21 PM] We found her! Hi, Momma! Now off to the final boss: the Swedish Embassy!The lobby was beautiful and strict but still pleasant. We had no idea what was going on, but they kept us moving in a way that felt like they knew where we needed to go, and they did! It was very well organized despite us feeling unsure right up until we talked to the lady in the little room behind the glass. She was also pleasant, asking questions while crisply typing and inspecting Eve’s passport.[1:58 PM] As we sat in the lobby waiting for our Lyft (we were very much done walking for the day), Eve’s expression summed up how we both felt: exhausted and not entirely sure the whole trip was necessary but relieved that we had completed the mission even if the parameters changed on arrival.
I guess neither of us cared to take any more pictures, so I’ll sum up the exfil. Our Lyft dropped us at Budget, and they happily got us in our car about 30 minutes before the scheduled pickup time. From there, we headed north, but not before stopping for pretzels and coffee. It took us an absurd amount of time to find the pretzel place in a big, weird, indoor/outdoor mallish/shopping-area thing. So confusing to our tired brains! But we got it done together.
Then, it was off to Rosy’s for an absolutely lovely night’s sleep. Unfortunately, we didn’t get to see the locals because Rose worked the night shift that night and Joyce was off playing Navy in the Mediterranean. Regardless, whenever you are passing through Bingo, I highly recommend a hotel collier.
Several hours of driving later and we were all done. It was a great trip, and we both enjoyed it in the end. It would have been nice to not have to do it, but I’m glad we did, and I think Eve is too.
Eve would never forgive me if I didn’t mention Six of Crows. That’s the book she required us to listen to on the road, and I highly recommend it. Also, she will secretly hold a grudge against you if you don’t read it (and then you will have no choice but to read the sequel, which I just started.)
