Mini-Getaway: DC and Cumberland, MD
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This summer we decided not to do a full-scale vacation because of our super-awesome international trip we have coming this fall. But last weekend we took advantage of a couple of cool things that were happening and escaped for some family fun.
On Thursday night, the President’s Own Marine Band programmed one of husband’s pieces, “Twitch”, for their summer concert series at the Capitol Building, so we drove up during the day on Thursday, picked up fixings for a picnic dinner and ate on the terrace while we waited for the concert to start. A large portion of my family joined us for the show. It was much cooler than your typical July in DC evening and we all just had a lovely time. Our P played out on the grass with her cousins, the music was delightful, and the setting was idyllic. Honestly, I have to admit that I think it would be nice to come back to one of these concerts even if they aren’t performing one of my husband’s works.
On Friday, we decided to take our little one to the National Zoo. She is pretty obsessed with animals right now and sleeps with a stuffed panda every night, so we really couldn’t pass up the opportunity to go see Mei Xiang, Tian Tian, and Bei Bei. In a stroke of genius, we used Spot Hero to find a place to park in Adams Morgan and enjoyed a nice half-mile walk to the zoo. Parking is available right at the zoo, but we skipped our morning run and it was a $15 difference between parking and walking vs parking at the zoo, so we went with it! (Side note: if you use the above link to sign up for Spot Hero, you will receive a $7 off code for the first time you park and I will receive a credit too!)
The weather was awesome and so many of the animals were out and about that we were really glad we went. We entered from the south end of the zoo and walked all the way to the north end so we could start with the pandas and work our way back out to where we needed to be when we left. We got to see pandas, zebras, a tiger, gorillas, orangutans, and lots of other animals. After lunch, we headed back to Northern Virginia to see my niece in a play and had dinner with everyone at Uncle Julio’s.
On Saturday we got up early and headed to a family reunion at Constitution Park in Cumberland, Maryland. We had a great time seeing my dad’s side of the family and watching all of the kids play together.
While in Cumberland, we stayed at the Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott. I was so impressed by the customer service here. The room was fine and the hotel breakfast was a hotel breakfast, but the front desk staff was warm and friendly and when we requested a crib at check-in, one arrived at the room in less than 10 minutes. In addition, they brought crib-sized sheets and two extra blankets for us. This particularly impressed me because when we stayed at the same hotel chain on another recent trip, they said they did not offer sheets or blankets for their cribs, but gave me a queen-size sheet to just fold around the mattress. Penelope really liked the king-size bed, but she slept just fine in the pack & play.
Before we left on Sunday morning, I was able to squeeze in a short run on theĀ C&O Canal Towpath. This is the second time I’ve been able to run from this spot and I absolutely loved it! There is an access to the greenway right off the back of the hotel and it runs between the old C&O Canal and the Northern Branch of the Potomac River.
After a rainy drive back to NC, we dropped P off with some family and headedĀ into Durham to see Punch Brothers at DPAC. We love this band, so we decided to go all in and get VIP tickets which got us a mini-set with a Q&A with the band before the show. We ate some great food and had some good drinks with a friend who was in town from Arizona who also came to the show with us. It was all worth spending the extra money for the VIP tickets and the exhaustion that resulted on Monday!
We crammed a lot into just four days for our mini-getaway! How do you make the most of your time when you only have a short time period for a vacation?
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