Rain, Rain, Rain

We had a leisurely morning at the hotel.  Nathan had some work to do.

Around 11 am Susan (George's cousin) picked us up.  Linda had walked here.  So we all went to the Dumbarton Oaks Museum.  It has a combination of Byzantine art at one end and Pre-Columbian at the other.

mosaic not quilt

And the pre-Columbian

Nathan

Linda

Then we went for lunch

Nice French restaurant.  We had great sandwiches, soups, salads.  But the best was the desserts

Nathan and Linda shared this

I had the big cup on the right, Linda had the baby espresso.

Then we went back to Dumbarton Oaks Gardens

the l'orangerie.  Sharon & Kris do you recognize this?

fun to see this place again.  I feel like we whizzed through it when I was here years ago.

Cousin Susan and George

blooming quince.

It was raining pretty much on and off all day.  Susan dropped Linda off and then George, Nathan & I off .  We got a few things done.  Then Nathan and George have been helping me to go through my India pictures to try to reduce the number in my file to show. They are ruthless. "...but, but, this picture shows ...", 

At 6:30 pm we went to pick up Linda to go to dinner.

This was a wine bar with very good food.  we stuck with the salads and appetizers.  They sure were yummy.  

we all shared the Parmesan frites.  We had a a bottle of Valpolacella.  Then we went back to Linda's apartment to play some card games.  That was fun.  We taught Linda how to play 10-9-8 and she managed to beat us all.  

weather

We have been super lucky with weather so far.  The rain and hail waited until we were leaving dinner the first night.  It was a torrential downpour. Then every day they predicted storms but we had sunny clear days,  Cool in the mornings.  A little hot and muggy when we were hiking around later in the day, but mostly very nice.  Yesterday was again a very nice day.  Cooler than NC. Again they are predicting rain and then snow.  We will see if that happens.  It seems very spring like with the flowers and the trees are starting to bloom.  But NC was weird since it seemed almost like summer but the trees looked like winter.  

eat hike eat

Breakfast at the hotel.

our hotel - we took a nice walk around the neighborhood.  There was a bike trail we could walk on. Then we drove to Fairfax to meet up with Lou and Paul, 2 high school classmate friends.

Lou, Paul, Nathan, George, me.  It was a delicious Indian restaurant.  It was very nice connecting with both of them.

Paul, me & Lou

Then we went to the Great Falls National Park.  Wow.  that was an impressive park.

We took a break so that Nathan could take care of some school work

We drove home to pick up Linda.  We met some friends for dinner at True Food Kitchen.  Full of healthy meals.  We picked up Linda on our way.

Linda, Nathan, Joan, Steve, Barbara and George

I had Moroccan chicken

A very good wine.  It was organic which was a plus

Steve and Joan

What a nice day with 2 great meals with long time friends and a great hike along the river. 

Happy St. Patrick's Day

After breakfast we checked out and started our drive to DC.  We stopped at the Occoneechee State Park.

We walked a short trail then drove to the lake where they had some picnic tables

We had sandwiches and left-overss.

We went down to the lake.

Family group photo - Rebecca is on the phone - does that count?

We drove on to Culpeper, VA to visit my cousin, Jim and his wife Debbie.  They are out in the middle of nowhere (sort of near Culpeper).  They are on 10 acres plot of land.  

They fed us a very nice dinner and then we headed on.  It took us a bit to get on the right road because we were not getting a phone signal so we could not check the GPS and the little roads were not on the paper map.  We just kept heading north until we finally got a signal.  The rest of the drive was uneventful.  

We got to the Comfort Inn, Arlington about 9 pm.  No glass of port and we did not buy any wine either.  Oh well.  

Wed March 16

This trip has been tough on Nathan because he still has a bunch of school details to finish up and we are here demanding his attention.  We have been fitting in some fun stuff.

Breakfast at the B & B, Nathan & I decided to try the special.  It was called the Southern Breakfast Bowl.  Grits topped with grilled vegetables, poached eggs, asiago cheese and crumbled bacon (Nathan had it without the bacon).   It was an interesting combination but not one I am likely to get again.  

George and I walked around the Duke Pond, or what Nathan calls the lagoon, while Nathan got some work done.  We got pretty close to a heron, before it flew off.

Then we headed off to the Eno State Park and walked the Laurel Ridge Trail.  Very pretty.  

I was surprised at how little underbrush there was.  

We walked to the quarry and then around it.  People come here to swim.  

A lot of turtles. 

vulture, what was it waiting for? 

We went to Parker and Otis for lunch.  A fabulous place.  I would come back. It was a soup/sandwich/salad place.  

very good tangerine beer

A lot of murals around

Then we went to Nathan's place.  

They are cat sitting a very adorable 3 month old kitten

We went on a walk around the neighborhood and then back to the school for another errand for Nathan.  Then we drove to Briar Creek for dinner.  Nell and Joe joined us.  This is a mall which is half way between Durham and Raleigh. Lots of food opportunities.  We picked an Indian restaurant.  I thought it was very good.  

grilled Salmon

Tandoori chicken

An Indian wine - Sula Shiraz

We sat outside for dinner.  Very pleasant.  I could definitely eat here again.  

What a nice day.