Washington DC

Time: October 3rd - 5th 2009

Place: Washington DC, Luray Caverns

Company: Wife

Album: Click here

Video: Luray Caverns

Highlights:

Day 1:

Left Marlboro at 2.30 am. Reached Preflight parking at 3.30 am. Airport at 4 am. Boarding gate 1 hour before time! Slept till boarding. Jetblue flight to Baltimore. Landed at 8 am. First time in this airport. Took shuttle to Amtrak. Not so cold here as compared to Boston.

First time in Amtrak. Took 8.45 am train to Union Station, Washington DC. Had yummy breakfast of scrambled eggs at Sbarro in Union Station, which actually has a huge variety of cuisines. Walked over to Capitol Hill. Took snaps all the way. Then walked to Washington Monument. More snaps. Stopped over at National Gallery of Art to take pics of unique art sculptures.

Then took Metro [orange line] to Vienna. First time in Washington Metro, although 3rd time in Washington. Had a different experience. Learnt that one pass card per passenger unlike Boston and New York. Cushion seats! Lighting at the door when train door opens. And all underground metro stations are built very similar to one another, like a huge round-shaped tunnel. Looks very nice and neat.

Reached Vienna at 2 pm. Brother's brother-in-law had come to pick us up. Had yummy lunch of Pulav at their house. Took their car then to Luray Caverns which was about 1.5 hrs away. Luray caverns is a massive cave with variety of cave structures and cave shapes. Also, the pathway is very nice as it wounds itself down to 160 feet where weddings take place amidst huge stalactites that look like bridal veil and waterfalls. There are also "fried eggs" kind of shapes and wishing well and Pluto's Chasm and reflecting pools which is a wonder to see. Its totally worth it to see this Caverns although it does not take more than an hour to see in entirety. Returned back to the house at 8.30 pm. Had a nice time with the family and their kids. Yummy Paani Puris for dinner!

Day 2:

Got up at 9 after a fitful sleep and went out for breakfast at 11 to IHOP but it was packed and hence went to Panera. Left the family then and took metro to go to Farruget-West where met Abhi and Mithun who had come down from Raleigh along with their wives Archana and Swati, just to meet me and Gouri. Went with them in their car to Heritage India restaurant and met A and S who were waiting for us. Had a nice time talking but not so nice service/food. Then we split - me and Gouri headed to White House and world war 2 memorial. After more snaps, we walked to Lincoln Memorial where the rest 4 were waiting for us.

More yapping, more snaps, more coffee, more ice cream, more chat, more jokes, more discussions later, finally bid adieu to the Raliegh folks and headed back in Metro to Vienna station. Instead of calling the folks up again to pick us up, we thought we might as well walk the distance thinking we knew where to go. After about 20 minutes, we realised we didnt know where to go, our sense of direction having failed us. Funny part was, we didnt even know the apt name nor the street address where we had to go, so we didnt stop a taxi. But at the same time, we didnt want to call the folks to pick us up.

Finally after 30 minutes or so of walking in an unknown land at 9 pm on a chilly night, we recognised one of the roads and made our way to the house. 10 more mins and we were home! Got an applause for having reached the house from the station just on our own without knowing the apt name and the address nor even having a map! It was really adventurous and exciting.

Sadly, kids had to sleep and we couldnt spend much time with them. Yummy Masala Dosas for dinner!

Day 3:

Got up at 4.30. Reached IAD airport at 6. Jetblue. Landed Boston at 8.30. Office and back to the grind by 10.

A great trip in many ways. Thanks to Swati for initiating the trip thought amongst Mithun, Abhi and Archie to meet us two all the way from Raleigh. Felt nice and honored to have pals coming down a great distance just to meet and spend time. It was nice traveling in Metro within DC. Always have felt that to really feel the city, one has to travel in the local public transportation system of the city. Walking on our own in an unknown place in the chill night without knowing the address where we had to go was a great adventure! Lastly, kids at the house where we stayed really made this stay so much wonderful and cherishable - playing with them, having fun, running around, teaching them, them teaching us - boy! it was so nice. Missing them a lot!