Friday, December 18th 2015
We left Euclid around 6:00 AM for a weekend trip to celebrate the wedding of my youngest cousin Julia. We squeezed six and lots of luggage into the Pilot somehow and had an easy drive to DC in our continued freaky warm weather we have been having. We arrived at the always awesome Hotel Harrington around 1:00. Patty P arranged over 8 rooms for all of us for the weekend. We quickly settled ourselves into our luxurious accommodations and quickly found ourselves at Gordon Biersch – a nice German pub where the great beer made up for the seemingly absence of service. Connor texted us while we were eating as he just arrived in town via the train so he joined us as well. We then spent the next several hours bopping around the mall enjoying the sunny weather and the sites of DC. We went to the National Archives and took a quick peak at the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution; walked through the outdoor sculpture garden; Walked over to the botanical gardens that were decked out for Christmas with lots of poinsettias, trains and Christmas trees and a quick trip into the National History Smithsonian checking out some exhibits and the Hope Diamond. I love D.C. We wandered back to the hotel for a rest. Everyone else arrived during the afternoon and we visited and had a beer before getting ready to go out. We used Uber for the first time Ubering over to Alexandria for the Rehearsal Dinner at Gadsby’s Tavern in Old Town Alexandria – an old Inn built in 1752. Cool place. It was great to meet up with our Davis cousins and their children who we haven’t seen in a long time. Cocktail hour was fantastic with platters of fresh oysters, raw clams and beautiful shrimp. The kids went downstairs for dinner and we were invited to the rehearsal dinner in the upstairs room where we had a great dinner and multiple toasts to the bride and groom. After dinner we went down to the pub downstairs and met up with all the kids and had a few more drinks. We ubered back to D.C. and I gathered the brave troops for a midnight monument stroll. It was a clear, crisp moonlit night. Perfect time for a walk to the Washington monument, WW2 monument and then the beautiful Lincoln Memorial – sitting on the steps taking it all in. We didn’t get back until after 2:00 AM. A long, great day.
Saturday, December 19th, 2016
Slept in after staying up too late and drinking too much. Wandered around downtown trying to find somewhere to eat and then finally found the au bon pain we were looking for and had coffee and chocolate croissants along with the Gail clan. We all then tromped over to the American Smithsonian museum and wandered for about an hour checking out the first ladies, Julia Child’s kitchen, Dorothy’s ruby slippers and other American artifacts. We then walked across the mall heading to the Jefferson Memorial – my favorite. We hung out there for awhile and then Claire, Sean and Grace headed back downtown as they were meeting Stephanie and Traber for lunch and we joined the Gails in continuing to walk around the Tidal Basin walking through the FDR monument and the MLK monument. The FDR is different in the cold weather with all the fountains turned off. The MLK monument was very powerful in the clear blue sky. We headed back downtown walking in front of the White House checking out the Christmas trees and then had lunch at a sandwich shop before heading back to HH for a much needed rest before the evening festivities. We Ubered back to Old Town to the Torpedo Factory where the wedding and reception took place. It was great to see everyone all dressed up and excited for the wedding. The wedding was great and Julia was beautiful of course. This is the second non religious wedding we have been to this year and they both were very meaningful and personal. Cocktail hour was upstairs in the gallery where there was also a New Orleans Jazz trio playing. Great venue. The reception back down stairs was beautiful with really great food: short ribs, Brussels sprouts and sweet potatoes. All excellent. Wally gave a great toast as well as both the maid of honor and best man. A great wedding. The band didn’t start up until late but I think every single person danced the entire rest of the evening. The band was great and it was fun fun fun. We somehow managed to Uber back downtown with only one small Claire mishap and quickly crashed completely exhausted.
Sunday, December 20th, 2016
I must admit I don’t remember much of Sunday. I know I got up and found a Starbucks around the corner. Courtney and I went for a quick 45 minute walk around the mall and we left the hotel around 10:00 or so and stopped and had a really bad rest stop late breakfast somewhere and had an uneventful drive back to CLE. A great weekend and a great start to Julia and Hampton’s married lives. CHEERS.
Eat On Edgecliff 