I have been on the east coast for 5 days now – first stopping in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania for a work conference & on-site meet and greet with a Vendor. And sure, Pennsylvania is already weird enough (Amish people & the insane amount of ‘Democrats for Trump’ lawn signs), but it was strange to be in a swing state on Election Day. Let’s forget that sad, sad day America failed (again!!) to elect a woman president. After fulfilling my work commitments on Thursday, I headed out of Philly to my next destination: David & the Grandkids in Virginia. David flew in on the red eye Wednesday night and met me near D.C. by Thursday evening for a Friday morning White House tour appointment.
Unfortunately, communications were misaligned since David forgot to let the VA Bennetts know to register for the White House tour. But we still went and this time, I didn’t set off any radioactivity meters (Google: Graves’ Disease radioactive iodine treatment). We didn’t get to meet the Bidens, but we saw my man Barack. This is a painting, not a photo.
Afterwards, Christian & his family met us at the State Capitol building for a PRIVATE tour arranged by my sweet husband. More on that later because I have to talk about the worst restaurant in DC we went to after our quick self-guided WH tour. I’m kicking myself for staying there and paying for their crappy food and even worse service. Don’t eat at Old Ebbitt Grill!!! It was the strangest vibe when we walked in and smelled like lettuce that had gone bad. A woman beside us in line said, “it smells like sewer and gas.” That sounds appetizing I thought. The waiter never once looked us in the face. It felt like we were on one of those “what would you do shows.” And honestly, this interaction soured my morning, but some good news quickly changed that. David had made contact with our district representative Sara Jacobs (or SJ as her staff calls her) and arranged for a private tour of the Capitol building for all of the Bennetts with Elenor, the intern. It was Elenor’s first time conducting a tour but we felt like real VIPs cutting the line. Thank you SJ’s office!
Having won the Guinness World Record for number of steps walked in a day (>19,000), we headed back towards Warrenton where the VA Bennetts call “home.” But first, we stopped for pizza at Mod Pizza. Audrey was given a “push present” gift card and we were all delighted by the pizza Guy’s comedic performance as he delivered it. Yes, our 5th grandchild will be here in December. Baby Girl Bennett (name submissions still being accepted). Seriously, were we secretly being filmed for a tv show??!
And with our bellies and hearts full, we settled in for the weekend in Virginia with Lincoln, Waverly, Scarlett & their parents. David & I are bringing some early Christmas magic (ahem, PRESENTS!) to them so it should be really fun playing with their new toys before we head back to California. I miss home & my dog.
There She Goes... 