YaGoof! goes to Washington, Part 2

(continued from previous entry)

3. On Day 2, we arrived early to try to get a good parking spot on the street (free!). I parked, soon realized I was in a tour bus parking spot, moved to another spot only to discover that it was marked 2-hour parking only, went back to the original spot thinking maybe it was okay after all, then thought better of it and discovered a pay parking lot that was fairly cheap and convenient—except by then the best spots within that lot were gone.

4. That evening, we drove around for about an hour looking for 201 K Street, the address of a coffehouse I had read about, and we (sort of) found that address multiple times, because Washington has both southeast and northeast Second Avenues, but we never did spot the coffeehouse. The next day, I found out it was actually at 201 F Street.

5. On Day 3, I was primed to get another early start, but Janet has this thing about sleeping in. I managed to make use of being awake by showering and dressing without waking her, then arranging the van, which was piled with those freebie books. It took me about an hour, and when I got back to the room at 7:30, I fully expected to see Janet dressed and ready to go. But no, she was still snoozing. I have to hand it to her for being ready to go within a half-hour, but then ...

6. ... as we rode down in the elevator to the parking garage, she looked in her big shoulder bag for this fanny pack that she'd been wearing at the show to carry money and other important stuff—but it wasn't there. She went back up the room while ...

7. ... I stewed in the van even as I had to back-and-fill over and over because someone had parked us in. As I sat and waited, I decided to paw through Janet's big shoulder bag, and the fanny pack was in there after all. I dangled it out the window when she finally came from the elevator.

8. One of the reasons I wanted to get an early start was to be sure to get to a service at a cool church that meets in movie theaters in Union Station. I proposed that we park near the Expo site (the Washington Convention Center) and take the subway to Union Station. Those things take time, and you have to start early to have a chance at a free street spot (I couldn't let go of the dream), but it was not to be, and again, we had to settle for a less-than-ideal spot in the fee (rhymes with free but it's THE OPPOSITE) parking lot.

9. Then we couldn't figure out how to work the subway farecard vending machine and had to ask for help from an attendant who moved slooooooooooowly.

10. Then we were still unsure which train to take and had just figured it out when a fast-moving gal excused herself past us and threw us off just enough that we fell back into discombobulation and missed the very train that she was rushing to catch.

11. So we had to wait 1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8. or so minutes for the next train.

12. And when we got to Union Station ... we were right in time for the service. We had zero boring waiting-around time. So I had been pushing and fretting for nothing.

Doesn't all this just make you want to sign up for a YaGoof! Caribbean Cruise?!