Washington DC Day 4: April 14, 2008

Alright...time to hasten this thing up. I've been reading the vacation summary and it's really quite a yawn. I have been having fun experimenting with a couple of formatting things, but geez, already. It's just as bad as sorting through the 91 pictures from the trip...

As you are aware, I've been "training" for a 5K run and I have been trying to follow the plan as closely as possible. I fully intended to remain on track even while on vacation. I managed to run the treadmill in the hotel on Saturday evening and Monday, I got the opportunity to hit the road out in Sterling, VA. Kyle and "Tall" Cate took the kids to the Udvar-Hazy Center--an extension of the National Air and Space Museum out near Dulles Airport and I jogged around the Coleman neighborhood with Pat toodling on his bike. He mis-calculated the distance to the pedestrian path (he thought it was 3/4 mi one way, where in reality it was close to a 1-1/2 miles), so I just jogged until he told me to turn around. I uttered expletives under my breath the entire time.

After Elizabeth came home from school, we met up with the others at the Great Falls State Park. I liken it to Gooseberry Falls in Minnesota. Water rushing through, rocks to climb, a great picnic area to play in. Here are pictures from our time there...

We stayed for dinner: hamburgers, pasta salad, and asparagus made especially for "Short" Cate which, to my embarrassment, she didn't eat. Afterwards, we said our good-byes and drove back to return our car rental and metro back to the hotel. The good-bye that evening was the final one for a long time, which made all of us a bit sad... In the end, another full day.