I really don't like to fly. I can handle it ok, but I don't really enjoy it. Most of the time I try to focus on breathing, keeping my food down, and swallowing so my ears don't explode from the pressure. Occasionally I quickly grab my armrests for fear of falling out of the sky. A quick 45 minute flight to Minneapolis and a 2 1/2 hour flight to Washington DC was all it took. I tell you, once we landed, I was so thankful.
We then headed to the motel using a Super Shuttle which had to be one of the craziest rides of my life. Driving in Washington DC is nothing like South Dakota. The roads are much more different with strangely placed stop lights, diagonal turns, random curbs, and lots of one way roads. Plus, the drivers honk at each other constantly and they honk at pedestrians who even think of stepping off the curb. At one point, after our driver had cut-off several cars he actually stood up while he drove so he could see if he was going to hit vehicles on the left or on the right. The roads are very narrow and they allow parking on both sides. Everyone in the shuttle was shocked at the ride we had experienced.
We stayed at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, which was only about 4 blocks from the National Zoo.
While on our crazy shuttle ride, we were listening to the radio, which was talking about a Metro crash. There was a gal on our shuttle who lives in DC and I turned to ask her if it was common for the Metro to crash. She said no. The news was on live when we arrived at the hotel and it was talking about several deaths. As the days passed, the death toll went up to 9. From what we were understanding one of the circuits failed to work which should have stopped the train. It does show the driver attempted to stop when she seen the train, but it was too late and it rear-ended another train.
After watching the live coverage for awhile, we ventured out into the pure craziness streets of Washington DC. We went to Chipotle to eat. If you have never eaten there, I highly recommend it. It was definitely one of my favorite places to eat. They make gigantically enormous huge burritos that are almost impossible to pick up and eat, which is why they are served in a bowl with a fork!
The map on the left is the different lines to take. The crash was on the "red line". It was tricky to figure out. Basically you had to look at the ending on the poles to see what direction the train was traveling. Then you had to pick a stop closest to where you wanted to be. It took us awhile to figure things out. The gentleman working was gracious enough to thoroughly explain it and how to purchase a ticket.
Our next destination was to check out the Metro station. Wow, that was a site to see. The escalator alone was so big it took almost 5 minutes to get to the bottom, or the top, depending on which way you were going. We didn't ride the Metro on the first night, but we had to check it out. This picture was taken going up. As you can see, you cannot see the top.
The map on the left is the different lines to take. The crash was on the "red line". It was tricky to figure out. Basically you had to look at the ending on the poles to see what direction the train was traveling. Then you had to pick a stop closest to where you wanted to be. It took us awhile to figure things out. The gentleman working was gracious enough to thoroughly explain it and how to purchase a ticket.
Then we waited for a train to come to see the whole process. It's just like the movies! People stand on them if there isn't room to sit.
Everything is very fast paced. People get on and off quickly and nobody really talks to anybody. The people in DC are all "busy" and don't wander off their schedule.
I think this is where I'm going to stop this post. There will be more coming with pictures of the memorials and the White House as well.
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