Last week we went on a road trip to Baltimore, the details of which I’ll unleash on you this week, with photos, as soon as I download all 3 million of them off of my camera. Dave had to go to a conference, so the rest of us tagged along. The final result being that I now have so much more appreciation of what Dave goes through when he travels for work. It’s not actually all the fun hotel-room luxuriousness that I had pictured. Dave often complains about hotel mattresses, and I didn’t really get it. Until now. We stayed in a fairly fancy hotel, but oh my gracious I am not sure I can accurately describe how ridiculously awful the mattresses were. And me, someone who’s always so tired she can sleep on concrete. But these were like army hammocks made of…of…I don’t know. Something soft and wimpy and uncomfortable. It was awful to want to lie down and rest after walking all over with Zuzu on my back, and the only place to lie down was the awful mattress. My back is still killing me (the situation wasn’t helped by the 12-hour car ride on the way back). Ugh. Plus, no matter how well you try to eat, eating out in restaurants is always going to be less healthy than the way we eat at home. I ate a lot of fruit and salad and fresh fish, but then, of course, crab cakes and such, which made my body start protesting in horror after a day or two. Work travel is not actually all peaceful solitude, like I thought.
We did hit some fantastic museums, had some great food, walked miles and miles, saw Dave’s parents, and wore ourselves out.
The best part: the garbage boat we saw on the first morning, with its big metal flippers that scooped the floating garbage onto a conveyer ramp that led to a big hopper. We were riveted.
The worst part: Henry announcing he was carsick 15 minutes after we left Baltimore to head back to Maine. I sacrificed a Barnes & Noble tote bag I’ve had for 20 years. This is what parenting is, in a nutshell: “Yeah, so I’ve had this thing since way before you were born, but good grief if you’re going to barf don’t do it on the seat of the car!”
I won’t get grumpy about your being 20 minutes away and not calling (and us, with a science museum membership to get you in free!), but I will beg that next time you stay on our firm guest mattress and treat your kids to our insane backyard.
Mary Grace, I was thisclose to calling you, or actually, since I didn’t have your number with me, doing some sort of Facebook cry for help. I would have loved loved loved to stay with you, but we sort of had to stay in the fancypants hotel because that’s where Dave’s conference was. In the end we decided to leave a day early rather than prolong the agony. But we’ll be back, I’m sure, and then I’m totally invading your house in some form or another. It’d be nice to unleash our boys on each other.
Hey, where the heck is that beautiful salad you were eating everyday for lunch?? I jsut bought a nice new jug of real maple syrup and a chunk of parmasean. Must check eating well magazine now.