Day 33

So it turned out that my dad was in Washington for some reason. So he canceled his plane ticket home and I canceled my train and we decided to drive his rental car home. This worked because it meant I did not have to wake up at 6 AM to drive to NY to return my rental car and then sit on a nineteen hour train ride. So that’s good. The less I have to deal with those Amtrak bastards the better.

But I still had a full afternoon to haul luggage around. My dad was about three hours away from D.C. and would not be able to pick me up until seven. I had to drop my car off at National (I refuse to call it Reagan) Airport by noon. This gave me seven hours with my luggage and not a whole lot to do in Washington, D.C. I took the Metro to D.C.’s gallery stop.

So what to do…it was a few minutes before one and I decided I might as well check out another movie. I was worried that they wouldn’t let me in with all my luggage but they did not seem to mind. So I went all the way to the top of the theatre where there is a lot of leg room in the corner, put my luggage down, and watched Hulk. It was great. Much better than the first one. Especially the ending.

So then it was three. And I only had four hours left. I decided to go for a walk. This was probably a bad decision but I also probably lost about ten pounds carrying my backpack all over the city in the ninety-degree heat. I was sort of half-heartedly looking for a sports bar that would be showing the Cubs game. I didn’t see anything of the sort. But I did find a library. I went inside for about 45 minutes, checked my e-mail, the score (not good news), and paid some bills. I also used the bathroom. And goodness sakes…I think there was some kind of homeless convention going on up in there. There were like eight of them in there, brushing their teeth, shaving, washing their underarms, etc. They probably saw me with my suitcase and thought I was a new recruit. “No recession my ass.”

And then I started walking again. I went to Chipotle and got myself a good meal and some cold water. Then I decided I might as well go see another movie. I decided to see Get Smart. And it was about what you would expect. Won’t win any awards but it was pretty funny.

My dad picked me up on the corner in front of the theatre at about seven. We drove up to BWI to exchange rental cars. By the time we got out of there it was about 8:30. We stopped in Frederick at a Cracker Barrel. This was nice because we used to live in Frederick. Then we drove until about two in the morning and spent the night in Morgantown. And that is all.