A day later…still in DC. Turns out the pop-up storm on Wednesday eve while I was at National Airport screwed up flights and now I am flying to…Chicago. (I was going to Chicago on Saturday morning. Post-storm on Wednesday, I couldn’t get another flight to Des Moines until Friday p.m. so I decided to fly early to Chicago Thursday and went back to the DC hotel Wednesday night, where D was staying one more night. Of course later I found out I could have gotten to DSM very late Wednesday because my connecting flight from St. Louis was delayed in departing…earlier in the night it was first delayed and then back on time just as I was planning to leave DC, meaning I would have missed my connection. Mine was one of many sob stories. Lots of airport confusion.)
From last night: It’s pouring outside the floor to ceiling windows of National Airport so hoping my Southwest flight is not delayed. I spent much of my day at the elegant Library of Congress, where I met with a very nice and interesting archivist who specializes in women’s manuscripts. I walked around the imposing and ornate library feeling a bit intimidated, which I think is the idea, and visited an exhibit comparing British and American suffragettes. Also heard a short lecture on the topic presented by the archivist I later interviewed.
We ended up walking through a long underground tunnel to the Dunkin’ Donuts in the bowels of the Madison Building. Quite the contrast with the above ground library. Felt like I was in the guts of the place.
It was blazing hot when I left around 3 pm and I hadn’t eaten lunch so I went to the cafe in the American Indian museum, which had slim pickings’ but I got some vegetarian chili and fry bread and enjoyed the view of running water over stones out the window.
I made a mistake en route to the airport, by taking the blue line Metro from L’enfant Plaza, which was 13 stops/28 minutes vs 4 stops/14 minutes on the Yellow line. Fortunately I had plenty of time. The sky appears to be clearing!
TakeBetsywithyou 