Bless me Father, for I have sinned...it has been 56 days since my last blog.

Wow. I haven't written a blog since I had the flu. I'm sure a lot of fun stuff has happened since then, but I'm going to write about just a few.

Lots of movies, lots of miles on the car, and lots of tulips.

First, Bonnie and I took a road trip to American University, where she attended and wanted to go back and see what has changed. I had gone with her several years ago, but we had been to the zoo, and had gotten up at like 5am to ride the VRE/metro up to DC, so I think I was half-asleep last time. This time I paid more attention and asked lots of questions.

I love college campuses. The architecture, the layout of the campus, and the people-watching are all fascinating to me. Not sure why, but that's me. The section of AU surrounding the quad reminded me of the National Mall, surrounded on all sides by grand buildings made of limestone with columns and arches in the front. The quad is anchored on one end by the art building, and on the other end by the library. The campus is small, compared to some, but it full of charm, between the flower gardens and the Shakespearean stage and seating area where Bonnie was attacked by flying squirrels as she studied...





The only bad thing about AU is that, apparently, if you go there, you will want to kill yourself (and write about it on the sidewalk):



After we left AU, we decided to make it a true road trip and just drive around, seeing what we could see. We thought about going to DC, but based on the traffic in Georgetown, we figured every tourist within 100 miles would have had that same idea, since it was the first hot, sunny weekend this year. We tried to find the Obama girls at Sidwell Friends, but since it was Saturday, no luck. We picked a road that seemed to be going downhill, which meant we were going the right way, and drove past the Duke Ellington School of the Arts, who thought it would be a good idea to build a HUGE Adirondack chair, and plop it on the front lawn. Too bad I didn't get a picture. If you've seen the over-sized one at Broadway at the Beach, Myrtle Beach, you get the idea, but this was at least 5 times that size. It was AWESOME.

Then we drove past Georgetown University which, even though I love college campuses, scared the CRAP out of me. I assume the building I'm referring to is that building that every college campus has, the signature architectural masterpiece that is the face of all the institution's literature. JMU has Wilson Hall, UVA has the Rotunda...the Hoyas have this:



Sorry Hoyas, I don't dig it. Architecturally, sure...but I felt like I was looking at a gothic cathedral and heard scary organ music. We sped away (after driving around the block several times trying to get a picture).

What an adventure so far, right? It's not over yet. When we passed the gothic-ness, I saw Prospect Street, and something told me that was familiar and as soon as we turned, I thought we might have found the Exorcist house. We drove down the street and I saw one that looked like it, so Bonnie called Nate to confirm the address. Ashley and Daniel found it a while back and Daniel laid at the bottom, channeling Father Karras. Unfortunately, once we found the bottom of the steps, I was a little disappointed to see that they essentially end in the parking lot of a gas station. Not so glamorous.

On our way home, we tried to go to Arlington Cemetery, but it was closed during its open hours. Hmph. So we decided to make our way back south. We stopped in Alexandria to find the house the Runyons made. We found it, and we found Big Laura's house. We found it funny that when we called Dianne to find out the address, she knew Laura's address, but couldn't remember her own. Now that's a best friend.

Last stop on our trip was Potomac Mills, where we had old man burgers and got some end tables at Ikea.

Great day - it reminded us of the old times when we were barely adults, still had limited stress and responsibilities, and used to take trips like this often. We should do it this way more often...

EDIT: Here are some additional pictures from our trip...thanks Bonnie :)

Duke Ellington School for the Arts:

HUGE Adirondack Chair:

Exorcist House: