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Welcoming Spring 2011

I’m ready to say that spring is here. Sure, the crocuses started blooming a few weeks ago, but it can also snow in April. Beej and I decided to take a minor short cut into spring and visit Washington, DC for a long weekend. We were missing the Kennealy crew, flights to DC were pretty cheap, and when we booked it looked like 60s in DC and snow in Boston – plenty of reasons to get out of town. It turned out that DC wasn’t *much* warmer than Boston, but at least it didn’t snow.

We arrived on Thursday night and were met with wagging tails and wet noses from Atticus and Ronan. We enjoyed plenty of quality time during the weekend with “the boys” especially Ronan, who at 14 is an amazement. He has tumors on his tumors but can still pop a “wheelie” when it’s dinner time. Atticus is as friendly as ever, and still manages to find the strangest “safe” spots to curl up under furniture. We caught up with H and B, then headed for bed.

Friday we enjoyed the cherry blossoms on the mall and explored the Smithsonian’s American History Museum. Our favorite was definitely Julia Child’s kitchen, but we also liked the historic house from Ipswich (hey look, it’s just like our house!), the American President (you know, we definitely need a Ceremonial Host-in-Chief who’s different from the person who get’s real work done), the First Lady’s dresses (and shoes!), the Gunboat Philadelphia (close quarters with 40 of your closest friends), and learning about the atomic age (better living through Chemistry!). We enjoyed a hot pretzel from a street vendor, grabbed a water, and headed over to the Art and Portrait Gallery.

We agreed that in addition to just enjoying art, it often makes us think differently, and after a few hours perusing different genres and media, we definitely had a lot to reflect on. From the “typical” historical portraits to modern studies of sports figures, Kate Graham, large format photography, and futuristic ideas, we had a lot to absorb and consider.

Then, it was time to watch the Red Sox. Note that I can only blog about it now that they’ve actually won a game. Opening Day was disappointing, despite the excellent venue and company at First Down and dinner at a nearby Thai restaurant.

Saturday went at a slower pace. We took our time over breakfast and eventually headed to Mount Vernon for a walk, only to be forced to turn back due to rain. We did drive past the building so we could see it through what was now a rather torrential downpour. Great weather for napping! Then we headed to another sports bar to watch the second Red Sox loss and some NCAA tournament games. Then Sunday it was time to head to the airport and back home.

Other signs of spring:
– Not thinking twice about running in shorts on Thursday, and getting the “pack” together for a noon time run at work
Spring peepers! We heard them while strolling along the Eastern Marsh Trail in Salisbury yesterday
– First trip to Kimball Farm for ice cream! Even though it was chilly by nightfall, the place was packed with all windows open and about 10 people deep in each line
– First bike ride of the season today

Can daffodils and tulips be far away?

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