2021 Italy - Day 12 - Washington DC [#mustacheaboard]

Heading home, Jack caught a 1 pm Air France flight from Rome to JFK. He was on the ground in New York at 5 pm. From there, Jack boarded a 8:15 pm Air France flight to Dulles. He took an Uber to his apartment in Washington, DC. After fifteen and a half hours of traveling, Jack was home about 10:30 pm.

Work from Home - Day 402 [2021 Washington DC - Day 11]

Getting coffee from Starbucks and having granola for breakfast in the room, Sharon and I spent the morning working remotely. We had originally planned to work from DC last November. I will post a few thoughts on working remotely from the east coast in the next couple of days. At noon, we checked out of the room and left our bags with the front desk.

We walked to meet Jack for lunch. The three of us had lunch at Sette Osteria Dupont Circle. Jack and I had Margherita Classica pizzas [San Marzano tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, basil], while Sharon had Veal Piccata [Veal scaloppini, spinach, rosemary roasted potatoes, lemon caper sauce].

After lunch, we walked back to AKA White and picked up our the luggage and the car. Heading to the airport, we had a short adventure looking for a gas station...

Dropping the rental car and catching the shuttle to the terminal, we breezed through luggage check and security. In spite of the fact that we haven't traveled in the last fourteeen months, I have maintained our CLEAR accounts.

Once we took the bus to the terminal, I was shocked at the number of people milling around. We decided fairly quickly to use a couple of United Club passes that Sharon had. We spent a leisurely hour in the United lounge having a glass of wine.

When we booked the trip, we made a decision to travel first class both directions. Boarding at 5:30 pm and taking off a little after 6:00 am, we were on the ground about 8:45 pm in Sacramento. It was an easy, uneventful flight.

Drew picked up us up at the curb. We were home in Carmichael just before 10 pm.

2021 Washington DC - Day 10

Sharon and I cooked breakfast at the hotel. One of the advantages of the AKA Whitehouse is that it is essentially a small apartment with a kitchen and living room.

After breakfast, Sharon and I took a power walk to the World War II Memorial on the Mall. We walked back around the back of the White House. It is sad how much fencing there is now around the White House.

We headed towards Jack's apartment in the middle of the day. We had some struggles finding a parking spot. Grabbing Jack, we walked to lunch at Sorellina. I had a LYNN [salami, pepperoni, ham, provolone, iceberg lettuce, tomato, onion, house vinaigrette, sub roll], Jack had Eggs tacos [Scrambled organic eggs, red onion, jalapeño, salsa, queso fresco], and Sharon had Chicken tinga tacos [Shredded organic chicken, queso fresco, red onion, cilantro].

The plan for the afternoon was helping Jack organize his studio apartment. While I tried to take a long nap, Sharon worked on the kitchen and framed a couple of Jack's art posters. The two of them ordered a desk, work chair, bed frame and some screens online. Jack and I put together some storage cubes from Ikea.

From there, we walked to Sophia's house in Georgetown. Sharon wanted to see her new kitten.

Sharon, Jack and I had dinner at Bar Charley. For appetizers, we split crispy brussel sprouts [olive and caper relish, almonds, parmesan] and fried oysters [creole aioli, parsley, lemon]. For entrees, Sharon had a new york strip [12oz pained hills strip, cafe de paris, gilfeather turnips, asparagus], Jack had a charley burger [wagyu beef, cheddar, truffle aioli, caramelized onion, arugula, fries], and I had marinated skirt steak [bok choy and cucumber salad, sesame, peanut]. While not the best meal that we had during the trip, I enjoyed the food and the cocktails.

After dinner, we walked back to where I had parked the car earlier in the day. We dropped Jack at Sophia's place in Georgetown and then headed back to the hotel. We crashed a little after 11 pm.

2021 Washington DC - Day 9

Just as it was a coincidence that the Nooters had a house on Chincoteague Island while we were on the trip, it was serendipity that Jack's girlfriend's mom and sister were in town for the weekend. We decided that we needed to take advantage of the opportunity and head back on Saturday morning to meet them for drinks in Georgetown Saturday night.

Still feeling under the weather, I was moving slowly on Saturday. Everyone slept fairly late. After a light breakfast, Sharon and I stripped the beds and started some laundry. Nooter's high school friends the Wheats and the Mesas were showing up on Saturday afternoon.

We were on the road back to Washington DC about 9:50 am. With a stop in Cambridge at Taco Bell, it was almost 2 pm before we were back at the AKA Whitehouse. We didn't check out, but kept the room while we were on the island with the Nooters.

After we got back to the hotel, we wandered down the steet to CVS for a couple things. I took a fairly long nap while Sharon got cleaned up.

The kids proposed meeting at the rooftop bar the Graham Hotel. We had been there in 2017, 2018 and 2019. Taking an Uber into Georgetown, we found a line of more than ten people waiting to get into the rooftop. When everyone got there, we decided to punt and head down to the Georgetown Waterfront.

We ended up at Nick's Riverside Grill. The group included Jack, Sophia, Sophia's mom Victoria and her sister Rosie, Sharon and I. We had a very nice visit. Victoria, Sophia and Rosie eventually wandered off for dinner at the Ethiopian restaurant on M Street. Sharon and I had dinner at Nick's. Sharon had a burger, while I had a crabcake sandwich.

Afterwards, Sharon, Jack and I took a cab back to the AKA Whitehouse. Jack and I finished the night watching the Warriors play the Celtics. In a very entertaining game, the Celtics won by the score of 119 to 114. Curry had 47 points, while Tatum had 44 points. It was after 11:30 pm before Jack left and I crawled into bed.

2021 Washington DC - Day 8 - Chincoteague Island

As I told Nooter earlier in the week, doing some research before the trip, Sharon became obsessed with the Chincoteague Island ponies. During the week, she booked a cruise for the four of us with Daisy's Island Cruises.

Everyone was lazy and moving slow on Friday morning. Sharon and I had talked about taking bikes back to Assateague Island, but didn't get going. After a light breakfast, the four of us walked to a Posiden’s Pantry to get some sandwiches. We packed an ice chest with the sandwiches and beer. After a quick side trip to buy some binoculars, we headed to the dock to meet the boat.

It was fairly windy. They had some challenges getting the boat fueled and everybody loaded. We ended up taking a two plus hour cruise with a nice view of the ponies at several points. There were three different mares with very young foals. The guide on the boat did a very nice job talking about the ponies and the annual events.

The only issue for me was the wind. I started to feel a little under the weather on Thursday; my typical travel head cold. Unfortunately, the wind and the cold took a notch out of me.

Back at the house after the cruise, Nooter took a nap. I went shopping with Sharon and Barb. I found a couple of nice Christmas ornaments to give Sharon.

I ended up taking a nap while Rob and Sharon went shopping for dinner. They stopped at a local fish market for some crab and the grocery store for some more ingredients.

Rob spent a couple of hours making a nice dinner of crab cakes, potatoes and corn. While the crab cakes were setting in the refrigator, we made nuisance facetime calls to Wallen, Tomasin and Snipes. We ended up connecting with Wallen in Puerto Vallarta and Julie with a guest appearance by Bachman.

After a very late dinner, I crashed hard. Nooter, Barb and Sharon staying up until midnight cleaning the kitchen and visiting.

2021 Washington DC - Day 7 - Hiking on Assateague Island

Up at 7 am, Sharon and I packed up some of our stuff. Keeping the hotel room, we are heading out to Chincoteague Island to spend a couple of nights with the Nooters. They have rented the Inn at Poplar Corner for ten days. We were in the car and heading out about 9:20 am.

With a short stop for gas in Cambridge, we were on Chincoteague Island about 1:30 pm. Struggling to find somewhere for lunch, we ended up eating at AJs on the Creek. We both ended up having a flounder sandwich.

After lunch, we headed onto Assateague Island. We parked and walked on the beach. We hike on the Woodland Trail to the observation deck and along the Bivalve Trail to Tom's Cove. We saw the ponies in the distance from the observation deck. Before heading back into town, we drove around Snow Goose Pond. We spent some time driving around town checking out a couple of restaurants. The Nooters rolled onto the island a little after 5 pm. We spent some time unloading the cars and getting settled in to the Inn.

Eventually, we walked into the historic downtown and had a late dinner at Don's Seafood Restaurant. The four of us split a dozen and a half of oysters. This was one of the worst meals that I ever had. I ordered a linguine and clams special. What I got was some microwave pasta with no sauce with some clams on top. I should have sent it back, but was tired, hungry and feeling under the weather.

Nooter and I finished the night visiting and playing cribbage. I won two out of three games. It was after 12:30 am before I wandered up to bed.

2021 Washington DC - Day 6

Sharon slept very late. The plan for the day was a bike ride. Walking to the Washington Mall, we got bikes from Capital Bikeshare. We picked up the Mount Vernon trail and rode into Old Town Alexandria. It started to rain lightly as we were getting close to the end of the ride. I was shocked by the number of Uber bikes and scooters spread out along the length of the trail. In the future, I would like to ride all the way to Mount Vernon. After dropping the bikes, Sharon did some shoe shopping. I got a glass of 0regon Pinot Noir at Sonoma Cellars next door to the shoe store.

Afterwards, we wandered around looking for someplace to eat. With the rain starting to pick up, we struggled to find a place. We ended up eating at Landini Brotthers Italian Restaurant. Somewhat unfortunately, this is the only place we had eaten before. We ate there in 2011 with Jim Ellis. Sharon and I both had a special lobster and crab salad.

We caught an Uber back to the hotel. After a short nap, we drove to Whole Foods to pick up supplies for the weekend.

We took an Uber to meet Jack for an early dinner at the Iron Gate. As Sharon said, we got upsold on the amount of food. We ordered a Cher's Family Table for Sharon and I. We added orders of OAK GRILLED HAPPY OYSTERS [goat’s milk butter, calabrian chili, pickled shallots], TRUMPET MUSHROOM RISOTTO [rosemary, hazelnuts, truffled marscapone] and LAMB NECK OSSO BUCCO [crispy sweet potatoes, pomegranate, chili, minted yogurt]. It was a lot of food. It was good, but not as good as the Rooster & Owl.

We took an Uber back to the hotel. Using a few Ubers over the last couple of days, I am finding that it takes a while for one to arrive and they are more expensive.

I finished the night watching the 76ers beat the shorthanded Nets.

Work from Home - Day 396 [2021 Washington DC - Day 5]

Sharon and I reserved the workout room in the hotel for an hour in the morning. I ran 5.60 miles on the treadmill in an hour and ten minutes. The hotel cleaned the room while we were in the workout room.

We both worked from the hotel room for the day. It got more than a little chaotic with both of us trying to be on calls and in meetings over the course of the day.

We took a late lunch. Sharon ordered lunch from the Sweet Greens in Foggy Bottom. I got a buffalo chicken bowl. We walked to pick up the food and then headed to Jack's apartment. After lunch, we walked back to the hotel.

We had an early dinner at the Rooster & Owl. This was the best meal that we have had so far on the trip. It was a four course meal with four choices in each of the course.

We started with HAMACHI TATAKI [green mango | serrano | leche de tigre] and FOIE GRAS TERRINE [hazelnut | black grape | pullman]. The second course was SHIITAKE LARB [Thai curry | honeycrisp | little gem] and NAPA CABBAGE [Camembert | pepitas breadcrumb].

For entrees, we spilt DUCK CONFIT [cassoulet | Tuscan kale | red cabbage] and “BEET QUAILLINGTON” [prosciutto | oyster mushroom | curry]. The dessert was PEAR CLAFOUTIS [almond | rosemary caramel | pear sorbet] and BLACK FOREST CAKE [cherries | coffee | balsamic vinegar].

I rarely say this, but this is a restaurant that I would recommend. The only odd thing was that we ate outside on a sidewalk along a busy street. It quieted down over the course of the meal, but initially was very loud. We were literally sitting near a bus stop!

We took an Uber to dinner and then back to the hotel after dinner. We finished the day watching an episode of Treehouse Masters on the Discovery channel.

Work from Home - Day 395 [2021 Washington DC - Day 4]

I took an early morning run. I headed to mall, looped around the Washington Monument, past the World War II Memorial and up to the Lincoln Memorial. From there, I ran along the Tidal Basin through the FDR Memorial to the Jefferson Memorial. Looping back, I ran through the MLK Memorial, the Korean War Memorial and the Vietnam Memorial before heading back to the hotel. There were very few people out and about; unlike Saturday morning, the Mall was empty.

Our plan for this trip is to work from the hotel on Monday and Tuesday. We had planned to work from DC in November, but cancelled that trip at the last minute as the pandemic spirled upward. The three hour time shift made things more than a little odd. Although I imagine that you get used to it, I never really appreciated how awkward the time difference can make things.

We finished the day with dinner with Jack at Kellari. We split starters of Kalamari [pan fried], Keftedes [lamb meatballs, feta-tomato sauce] and Spanakopita [spinach, feta phyllo pie]. For entrees, Jack and I had Paidakia [grilled lamb chops, roast lemon potato], while Sharon had Whole Lavraki [Mediterranean Sea bass, kale sautee]. We were going to sit outside, but the giant restaurant was empty so we ate inside.

2021 Washington DC - Day 3

The plan for the day was to go hiking at Harpers Ferry. Moving slowly, I made sausage and fried eggs for breakfast.

We picked Jack up a little after 10 am. We were at Harpers Ferry National Historical Park before 11:30 am. I was pleasantly surprised. I didn't really realize that Harpers Ferry was a town. Like the Washington DC Mall on Saturday, I was frankly shocked at the number of people wandering around. Getting lucky finding a parking spot near the center of town, we parked and Sharon asked someone for directions to the information center. Picking up some maps, we decided to head out on the Maryland Heights hike.

We ended up hiking almost 4.5 miles in just over two and a half hours. We hiked from Lower Town to the Maryland Heights Overlook. It was a great view and a nice spot for lunch. After the hike, we had a beer at The Rabbit Hole.

As we came back into Washington DC, we picked up fried chicken curbside from Founding Fathers. We finished the day watching Hideki Matsuyama win the Masters.

2021 Washington DC - Day 2

Moving slowly from the time change, Sharon and I wandered around looking for coffee and some breakfast. She wanted to go to Compass Coffee, but we couldn't find one open. We ended up at Starbucks.

After breakfast, Sharon and I did a 3.5 mile walk and run from the hotel. We looped up to Lafayette Park, pass Old Ebbitt Grill, around the Washington Monument, pass the World War II Memorial, along the Reflecting Pond and up the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. From there we headed back to the hotel.

The plan for the afternoon was shopping. Picking up Jack, the three of us headed to Trader Joe's to buy groceries for the week. After dropping the food at Jack's place and our hotel, we headed to Target. Sharon and Jack bought a bunch of stuff in Bed Bath and Beyond and Target for Jack's apartment.

Heading back to Jack's apartment, we actually found a parking spot on the street. The three of us carried a load up to his studio apartment.

Scrambling back to the hotel to get cleaned up, Sharon and I caught an Uber to meet Jack and Sophia for dinner at The Imperial. We split some appetizers of lobster deviled eggs and oysters. For entrees, Sharon and Jack had Beef Wellington [roasted fingerling potatoes, black truffle jus], Sophia had Lobster Risotto [arborio rice, lobster emulsion, tarragon creme fraiche] and I had Pan Seared Atlantic Scallops [charred baby carrots, celeriac purée, pepita pistou]. Neither Sharon, Jack or I were very enhaused about the restaurant.

Jack came back to the hotel with us, while Sophia headed home. Jack and I ended up watching the Sacramento Kings versus Utah Jazz game on my laptop until almost midnight. The Jazz ran away from the King in the fourth quarter and won by the score of 128 to 112.

With some very noisy neighbors, it was a long night...

2021 Washington DC - Day 1

We are flying for the first time in fourteen months. The last time we flew was early February of 2020 for the Georgetown Senior Parent Weekend. Since we got fully vaccinated, Sharon has been on a mission to get to Washington DC to see Jack.

Drew took us to the airport. We caught a 8:30 am United flight from Sacramento to Washington DC. When we booked the flights, we made a decision to upgrade to first class. Except for Sharon's struggles with the wifi, it was an easy uneventful flight. We were on the ground at Dulles about 15 minutes early at 4:15 pm.

Our luggage was at the baggage claim when we got there. We took an the shuttle bus to the Hertz rental car lot. There was a small kerfuffle getting the car; my Gold account had expired.

It was an extremely easy drive from Dulles into Washington DC. We are staying ten nights at the AKA Whitehouse. We stayed at this hotel for a week almost ten years ago.

After getting settled into the room, we walked to Boqueria for a late dinner. We met Jack there! The three of us split DÁTILES CON BEICON [Dates stuffed with almonds and Valdeón blue cheese, wrapped in bacon], PINTXOS MORUNOS [Seared Colorado lamb skewers, pickled shallots, salsa verde] Grilled 12oz hanger steak [confit piquillo peppers, pimentón butter] and PAELLA DE MARISCOS [bomba rice, monkfish, sepia, squid, shrimp, clams, mussels, saffron, salsa verde]. Unfortunately, the paella wasn't very good. Whenever we have paella, Sharon and I compare it to the paella we had in the Barcelona harbor.

After dinner, the three of us walked back to the hotel and visited. Eventually, Jack headed home and Sharon and I crashed.