12-9 to 12 Amanda & Sal visit

Amanda and Sal arrived on the evening of the 8th. Actually Sal was already out here for work, I came back from an Abq visit and Amanda flew in. Amanda left Abq the same time I did, went to BWI and got to DCA at about the same time I came into the waiting area. So there's a good data point. Sal had to work both Thurs and Friday and work late too boot. Amanda and Sue went to the Portrait Gallery on Thursday to see the great Norman Rockwell exhibit and to National Harbor on Friday. Saturday, we all drove downtown and went our separate ways. Sue and I finished up parts of the American History Museum we had not seen. Here is a picture of Sue by the exhibit at Am History of the Princess Jeanne neighborhood in Albuquerque - an example of new construction ideas after WWII and the use of synthetic materials to build homes.

Amanda and Sal went to Archives and the National Art Gallery. They took us out to dinner that night at the Fish Market in Alexandria. Really good food. They were off by 10am on Sunday.

12-4 Scottish Walk, Handels Messiah

Sue and I had missed the Scottish Walk in Alexandria last year. This year we were at the Parade route bright and early. It was pretty cold though. This parade is a walk through Alexandria of the Scottish families, Pipe and Drum bands and, in place of horses, lots of dog groups. Great fun and great hearing all the pipe bands. the massed band performance at the end was particularly good for a bagpipe lover.

After that great event, we went to hear Handel's Messiah at the National Cathedral. It was performed by a smallish orchestra with instruments of the period. The choir was not huge but the setting was great for the sound. Also, they had large screens scattered on the floor so we had a clear view of the soloists. After that, Sue and I went to the Morgan Adams neighborhood for an Ethiopian dinner. Most unique, finger food is a big shared bowl.

11-25 Thanksgiving in California

Sue and I flew out to Sacramento on the evening of Nov. 23rd, a Tuesday. Tim and Ann picked us up at 10pm at the airport - it was a very long flight from DC - we'd been on the road for 17 hours. We stayed with Ann and Tim from the 24th to the 27th. On Wednesday, they took us up to Napa to visit the tasting room of the fellow who makes the wines they like a lot. I bought some bottles for Thanksgiving dinner - really good wine. On our morning walks in the Davis Greenbelt, Tim showed us the wild turkey flock that lives there.











On Thursday we went to Thanksgiving dinner at the Burns home - Tim and Ann cooked the turkey and other items, Sue did some pies, Kate and Erik added all the extra goodies. It was a good dinner. The pictures here are of Uncle Tim with his nephews, forming a "Burns sandwich"; Ann with Sean's fox; the dinner photo that unfortunately did not have Ann in it; and boys, boys, boys.

On Friday we went to "Brew it Up" with Tim and a group of OddFellows that Tim organizes to brew two batches of beer. Great fun to see my boy embrace brewing after all the noise about my brewing when he was small.

On Saturday we visited the Davis Farmers Market and did some Christmas and other shopping in Davis







On Sunday we went to Church in Davis and borrowed Tim's car to drive over to Kate and Erik's. We stayed there until we left on Wednesday, went to the boy's Karate class, saw the school they go to part time, and generally just hung out with the Burns family. I tired to finish reading James and the Giant Peach to the boys, but didn't quite make it.













When we flew home, it was late when we got in and we took a taxi home - that worked out pretty well and was a whole lot cheaper than parking the car. Great trip, great visit.