Yeah. Mom asked for it and because it's been a while since she passed away (we were moving my Dad and waiting for this summer) I think we've all had time to appreciate her humorous and slightly rebellious personality at work in the decision. It should be good.
What you should do is stop at the West Falls Church stop......go to Nancy's house she can fix you a meal and you can talk soccer too. She's real close she might even swing by and pick you up too
Message to bungadiri: Uh-oh. (thanks to RickyDCU for catching this and posting it on the DC boards -- I saw it and thought bungadiri might be just a wee bit interested, even if it doesn't directly affect him.)
Appreciate the warning. To avoid the whole mess entirely we're heading due west and will travel north only after we reach western NC. The pick up in Vienna VA worked very well. We chose that option because of all the warnings about Friday traffic and they a) were waiting for me when I got out and b) had a relatively smooth trip in and out. We spent the night just north of Richmond and while i-96 South traffic was heavy on Saturday it was bearable for the short time we were on it. Once again, thank you all very much for your excellent help. You turned my kids into DC United fans the last time we were all in town, now I'm a fair way toward being one myself. PS--In case anybody is curious, the ceremony went well. Nice weather, grandkids all read something, the boat captain was friendly, gentle man. The rest of the week has been pretty wild, however. My wife, sons and I all got caught in a riptide (small one, fortunately, but I did have to tow my panicked and exhausted 14 year old to shore) on Sunday. We had a tornado cross the island to the north of us Wednesday and saw 6--repeat 6--waterspouts all at once just offshore. I saw the first Portugese Man of War I've ever seen in 30 years of coming to the OB, we had dolphins come up within 15 feet of the increasingly sea-leery 14 year old ("Dad I know that's a porpoise but I'm running anyway"). Plus we had to help my nephew win a cub scout merit badge by studying and playing flag football on the beach, in front of everybody. That was traumatic.
The riptide stuff is scary. I was out with my Mom once in the ocean at a beach in RI and we got caught. We had to swim quite a bit to the side to get out of it, the lifeguard came out but we were able to come in finally. My dopey Dad saw us but didn't realize we were in trouble. K
Oh yeah, I was totally petrified. It wasn't until I my wife took care of herself (she got free by swimming perpendicular to the current, like you're supposed to) instead of struggling to reach the kids that I felt comfortable leaving her to help my son. His big brother stuck right with him though. He calmed down once he realized all he had to do was float on his back to catch his breath. It wasn't till I got out of the water that I realized I was completely exhausted myself.