Trip, Day 1

Our trip starts with cousin Marjorie taking a Jet Blue flight from Boston to Dulles International. This is the first involvement with air travel I've had since retiring, over 10 years ago. Furthermore, hurricane Kyle has rushed north and is shown off the Massachusetts coast. So, to be sure I meet her timely, I log onto Jet Blue's website. I find not only does it show the status of the flight (on time), but after take-off it shows where in the air the flight is. She's shown over New York, which must be the result of the hurricane, because I'm sure the normal routing is straighter, down the coast.

I used to fly regularly out of Dulles, which is just a few miles west of Reston. But in the years since, they've spent billions on adding parking and parking garages, new concourses, extending the terminal. The terminal is one of my favorite buildings--"modern architecture" mostly doesn't have good connotations for me, but Saarinen's building is always a pleasure to look at. Today, though, I'm too panicked to enjoy the flight, trying to be sure I navigate the changes. The traffic layout is less changed than the building entrance, though, still the loop around the daily parking lot and the terminal building, but the entrance allows for an underground walkway to the baggage claim level. The weather's humid and threatening, but no rain at the moment.

Marjorie comes through (her trip was rerouted over Syracuse, she napped because it was cloudy all the way down), and it's back to Reston. I point out the skyline, Reston actually has a skyline, and we're back home to pick up Lisa. The three of us drive to a Panera, which we discover also has outlets in the Boston area, and have a light lunch. Lisa will stay on, meeting some fellow knitters for the afternoon while Marjorie and I start traveling back into the past. Lisa gives me strict orders on when to put the chicken in the over, which sets an outer limit on the extent of our travel.

[Preceding typed early 29th, rest in evening, at the end of a tiring day]
We go down the toll road, and around the Beltway (inside which all that's important happens), with me providing bits of information as we go. We find Marjorie's old home in University Park, and she gets to go inside and find out what happened there since she left 55 years ago. [Teaser:--much.]

Get back in car, find the old church, drive though Bladensburg (site of battle) and see Celtic cross, drive through DC and out TR bridge, onto Rte 66 and Dulles Toll road and so to home, pop chicken in over, pick up Lisa, she finishes preparing dinner, we talk, Marjorie describes her father's work on chicken (need to tie this into a post on food) and her honeymoon in Naples when no one knew where she was. After take her to her hotel , come back and pack.

[Updated--errors corrected]