Late yesterday I got word at work that there was a strong desire to send me out the following day on what would have been my first business trip ever. The reason would have been to assist with a time-sensitive video shoot in another state, to ensure that everything went smoothly.

That state was North Carolina. The specific location was Mooresville, in the Charlotte metro area!

It looked probable, but the final decision wouldn’t be made until we discussed it in a group meeting early the next morning. So I went to work with luggage packed, ready to leave in the afternoon.

Since nothing would be definate until just hours before leaving for the airport, I didn’t mention anything to Patty or the kids. First, I didn’t want to get their hopes up incase plans feel through. But also, how awesome would it have been to knock on the front door and surprise Patty and the kids, totally unexpectedly?! (I would’ve had to leave at 5:30am to make it to my shoot, but a short visit is better than no visit.)

Needless to say, I didn’t end up going to Charlotte on business today. If I had, I would’ve been knocking on the front door and saying “Surprise!” right at this very moment. And I also would’ve been posting some totally awesome video too, shortly thereafter.

It was a lot of fun and the weather was perfect. We ate lunch by the side of the river, halfway through. I got to see a Bald Eagle in the wild for the first time, and the trip ended near a waterfall too.

This trip to West Virginia marked the 35th U.S. state (including DC) I’ve been to. Sadly, it was my first new state in over 20 years.

After rafting, I left to go straight from West Virginia to Charlotte, NC to spend Saturday with my family. I first took a five minute detour through historic Harpers Ferry. I definitely would have stopped, gotten out, walked through downtown, and bought a souvenir, but sadly there’s no convenient parking anywhere near downtown. Then I headed south into Virginia. Seven hours and 400 miles later I was in Charlotte (via Fort Mill, SC).

It was great to spend Saturday with the family. I was in Charlotte last weekend but I only got to spend one hour with Patty and Darah the whole time Maegan wasn’t even there last time but she was home this time. I even got to meet Peach. The next time I’m in Charlotte I’ll get three entire days with Patty and the kids.

My original plans for this past weekend was to be in Charlotte to for the Panthers game on Saturday. But open-heart surgery for my mom changed those plans.

On Thursday Amy and I took a bus up to New York. At 5:00 a.m. on Friday we were bringing my mom in to the hospital, along with my aunt. The whole morning was just waiting and waiting. Then around noon we got word to come in to talk with the surgeon. This was earlier than we were expecting so we were worried at first. But the doctor explained that the surgery went as well as possible. They were able to repair a valve rather than replace it. This is great because a replacement would need to be replaced again in the future. So this was all great news. We saw my mom a couple of times after the surgery but she wouldn’t remember any of it.

With everything having gone well in New York, and other family still up there, I took a flight down to Charlotte at the crack of dawn Saturday morning. Patty picked me up at the airport and I had just enough time to have lunch with her and Darah (Maegan was in the mountains). Then it was off to the stadium for the next ten straight hours.

I don’t discuss what happens at the stadium, but it was definitely anything but dull.

Getting home after midnight, I had time to have breakfast with Patty and Darah Sunday morning and then it was already time to drop me off at the bus to take an 8 hour ride back to Washington, DC. That final bus trip was the only part of my birthday weekend that went as originally planned.

So I unexpectedly had a free weekend with no particular plans. In May I played the tourist, visiting several popular attractions in Washington, DC. But except for  the World War II Memorial I had been to each of these locations many times before – and since too. But I had still never been to the Jefferson or FDR Memorials. Since I don’t think I’ll have another free weekend before the fall I decided to fulfill my promise to get to these other attractions. And for the first time I did my sight seeing by bike.

I rode my bike one mile to get to the Metro station. This was the most difficult part because of the hills (which is why I stopped riding my bike to the Metro to get to work). I got off at Union Station so I could start off by getting to the East Entrance of the Capitol building. I hadn’t been on that side of the Capitol since the mid-1980s. But as I was riding up to it I noticed the Supreme Court building. This wasn’t part of my plan because I didn’t even realize that it was located there, but of course I stopped to snap a photo.

Then I crossed the street to the east side of the Capitol. It doesn’t look at all like I remembered it. The building itself did, but the grounds are totally different. I had no idea until I arrived, but the entire east side was completely redone as part of the massive Capitol Visitor Center that opened in late 2008. It is a three story complex below the ground. I didn’t go in because my ultimate goal today remained to get to the Jefferson and FDR memorials. I rode around on top (ground level) where it is all a massive stone covered plaza. It looks nice.

I went around to the West Entrance and then zig-zagged across the Mall and past the Washington Monument. I stopped briefly at the WWII Memorial Visitor Center just to look up my late Uncle Jules.

Then on to the Lincoln Memorial. I’ve been to the Lincoln Memorial literally over a dozen times but since I was on a bike anyway, I just wanted to ride around the back of it for the first time. Nothing exciting, but I did decide to get off my bike for the first time. I went up inside again, sat on the floor, and read the words of the Emancipation Proclomation (I had been just inches away from the real document last month).

Then for the first time I crossed over to south side of Independence Avenue. I rode along side the Potomac, getting soaked by sprinklers. When I got to the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, I had no idea it was a huge walk-through site covering more than 7 acres. It told the story of FDR’s life through each of his four terms of the Presidency.

Then a short ride further to the Jefferson Memorial. I finally made it. The Jefferson Memorial has great views of downtown Washington DC, but the waterfront was obstructed behind tall construction barriers. Also, paddleboats in the Tidal Basin seemed to trivialize the significance of the view anyway.

Before going inside I sat on the steps and had some water. While sitting there a brown squirrel came up the steps and dozens of Asian tourists surrounded it taking pictures and trying to pet it. I was laughing at how much attention this common rodent was receiving, given all of the more impressive and historical significance in every direction. As the tourists completely surrounded the squirrel, he felt trapped and darted straight for me. He hopped through the thin crack of space between my back and the stone column I was leaning against (somehow not actually touching me) and ran for freedom in the woods.

So anyway, I finally made it inside. It was noisy and jubilant with tours of teens from around the world. They were laughing and taking photos in funny poses in front of the statue of Thomas Jefferson. I couldn’t understand why all of this horseplay was permitted when others were recently arrested at the Jefferson Memorial for dancing to music that only they could hear in their ipods, given that the courts upheld those arrests because the Jefferson Memorial was a supposedly a solemn place that you needed to be quiet and respectful. It didn’t make sense.

Thomas Jefferson is my favorite founding father so I was looking forward to finally seeing the Jefferson Memorial. It was nice and had great view too but it was just hard to appreciate with all the screaming teenagers.

After the Jefferson Memorial I headed north, past the Washington Monument yet again, and around the Ellipse. I stopped by the south side of the White House and then around to the north side (for the third time this year). Then through Lafayette Park before zig-zagging my way through city traffic to get to the Metro Center station.

Here’s a map of my biking trip. I had more custom points than Google would allow but it’s fairly accurate, except for the fact that it wouldn’t show me going through the FDR Memorial. Including the two miles back and forth from Amy’s house to the Metro station, I traveled eleven miles by bike today (beating the time in 1989 when Chris and I rode from the far end of East Northport to the tip of Eaton’s Neck).

View Larger Map

Funny story: Darah was very upset yesterday that she was going to have to go to the doctor. She said over and over again, “Mommy I don’t want to go to the doctor and get a boo boo.” After a while Patty told her that she would get her some ice cream after the surgery. Suddenly Darah said, “I want to go to the doctor and get a boo boo now.”

^{(*This was intentionally not posted on her birthday.)}

The weather was absolutely perfect and you could see for miles and miles in every direction. From over 500 feet up we could look down on the White House, Capitol Hill (with FedEx Field in Maryland in the background), the Lincoln Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial (with Reagan airport in the background), and tons more. I took a bunch of shots on the north side and stitched them together to make this giant panorama.

On the elevator ride back down, the glass doors changed from opaque to translucent and we were able  to see the inside of the monument. We had no idea, but the inside is filled with 192 engraved commemorative stones.  All of these stones were completely different like a haphazardly mismatched collage. They were donated from different cities, states, territories, and foreign nations. Many were just local lodges and even individuals. And there are even a few stones that they don’t have any idea of where they came from or why.

Then on Sunday we all went for a private tour of the west wing of the White House. Amy’s good friend was able to take us on a private tour. I’ve been on a private tour of the White House before in 1987 during a family reunion, thanks to my cousin who was a U.S. Representative from the state of Washington at the time. This time I had a full understanding of everything around me and could really appreciate where I was.

We were just outside the Oval Office but the door was closed because Obama was inside (possibly working on the debt ceiling). Then a few minutes later Obama walked out of the Oval Office (outside) and past the windows of the adjacent Cabinet Room. Unfortunately at that moment we were all looking at the Roosevelt Room across the hall so most of us had our backs turned and we just missed him. This photo was taken the same day so this was perhaps the very moment that he walked by the window.

After Obama left the Oval Office the door was opened so we got to see it. (We didn’t get to walk in.) I couldn’t see it from my angle but it was pretty cool to know that the actual Emancipation Proclamation was just inches away, hanging next to the door on the inside.

On our way out we were appreciating a Norman Rockwell painting, “The Problem We All Live With“, hanging in the hallway. Little did we know that the little girl in the painting, Ruby Bridges Hall, was standing right there in that spot just two days earlier.

I went to work on Thursday and Friday. On Thursday Patty, Maegan, and Darah took the Metro into the city with me and continued past my stop to go to the National Zoo. (Sorry, Idon’t have any of the photos taken at the zoo.) Thursday night we all went to Rockville Town Center, and Friday night we went to Downtown Silver Spring. Each place was really nice with live music.

Bigger activities are planned for the weekend.