Washington, DC to Richmond, Virginia
So, this morning (being both Sunday and downtown) not much was open in the way of breakfast. We rolled out of bed around 7:30 and decided to eat at Union Station. The hotel did offer breakfast… according to the rooom service menu, we could’ve gotten fruit, coffee and bread for a measly $14.50, plus 10% tax, 18% tip and a $2.50 room surcharge. (And the bread’s not even toasted.)
We checked out of the hotel and bought our last D.C. Metro ticket and took the red line to the Amtrak station. I stood in a long line for my will-call tickets, only to discover that they could only be retrieved through self-service kiosks, not actual persons. (Who’d-a thunk?)
Next, we grabbed a table at Au Bon Pain and ordered breakfast right on time… they switched the menu over to lunch right after we ordered. (In case you’re interested, “lunch” began at 10:13 am)
Nothing much of interest took place until we got on the train, and from that point on, nothing much happened at all. What was supposed to be an hour and a half trip dragged into a 3 and a half hour trip. (A threeeeee hour toooouuuur…)
The deal was, our train was supposed to leave at 10:55 am, and as long as we rolled into Richmond before 2pm when Enterprise closed, they’d come pick us up at the Amtrak station and everything would be hunky-dory.
Nothing was hunky-dory.
The train was late arriving, late leaving, and stopped on the tracks for prolonged periods of time at random intervals. At one point, the train in front of us stalled on the tracks and proclaimed a “state of emergency” (!!!) and we were of course stuck behind them for quite some time.
I kept in contact with Enterprise througout (”We’re moving!” “No… we’re not.” “Yes! We’re inching along again!” “Er… scratch that.”) and although they dispatched a cashier to pick us up (and she waited in good faith in front of the Amtrak station for a full 15 minutes after the whole Enterprise branch shut down) we were still inching past Asheville when she had to give up and call it a day.
So, when we finally detrained (that’s a word Amtrak uses – not sure if it’s real, but hey) in Richmond, we were tired, hungry, crabby, and afflicted by a killer case of cabin fever.
We taxied to the airport ($41), which had the only open Enterprise location, and I was hit on by our cab driver, Pedro, who slipped me his phone number on a pink business card and made sure I knew where he’d be clubbing later. (???)
At the Enterprise station, more excitement ensued once I discovered that they couldn’t open my reservation because only one computer could pull up a record at a time, and the *closed* enterprise station still had it up on *their* screen. Yay. Plus I got to have some fun airport taxes, additional airport fees, and so on and so forth until I’d added another $75 to the fee. Joy.
Finally, we pulled onto the highway in our barely-dented 2006 cherry red Toyota Corolla and headed for the hotel, which turned out to be conveniently located next door to an Olive Garden. We walked over to the O.G. and got some grub (me: eggplant parm w/ gorgonzola fettucine, rob: pepperoni & sausage pizza, andy: cheese ravioli w/ meat sauce) and came back to the room feeling a little less stressed.
I went to the lobby to ask for towels (we only got one) and to ask what kind of fun stuff was going on in Richmond on a Sunday evening. Everyone agreed: you could go to the movies, or you could stay home. Rob, Andy and I conferred and came to a quick group decision: movies it would be.
We were, however, wrong. We went to two movie theaters, one in a shopping plaza and the other in a mall. Although all the stores were closed, every single parking space was filled because every breathing inhabitant of Richmond, Virginia was at the theatre.
We decided to cruise around randomly instead, and as luck would have it, we came across a Dairy Queen. (And an adventure. But you knew that.)
Andy orders first (chocolate fury blizzard) and the cashier (young girl) says, “Is that all?” Fair question, I guess, if a bit odd – after all, there were three of us.
“No,” I answer, and nudge Rob. He orders next (snickers blizzard) and the cashier says, “Well, is *that* all??”
Oookay. “Er, no,” I answer. “I want a blizzard too. Is that okay?”
She tosses her hair and answers, “I guess. But if you would’ve asked me an hour from now, I’d be really pissed off.” (!!!)
Once we (finally) got our blizzards (oh yeah – mine was cookie/brownie/cheesecake) we sat outside on picnic tables and spent a couple hours in heated discussions of world politics, Generations X and Y, the pros and cons of space exploration, higher taxes versus national healthcare and improved education systems, and whether the 80s or the present day is more “me” oriented.
I have to say that I find it really cool that my brothers are the sort of people with whom one can have “real” conversations. I’m very proud of them – especially when they know enough about what they’re talking about to argue with me, and tell me things I didn’t already know. They’re pretty cool guys.
So anyway, now we’re back in the hotel room. Andy is boring Rob to death (near as I can tell, Rob’s desperately trying to suffocate himself by lying face-first into the mattress) with the most recent installment of the History Channel’s “Revolution” series, and I did promise Rob that I’d let him check his email.
Til next time!
