Greetings, squadlings!

As I mentioned in my last post, I did end up going to D.C. to my mother’s friend’s memorial service. Let’s talk about that, shall we?

The memorial was last Friday. Up until last Tuesday, my mom and I had pretty much accepted the fact that we weren’t going to make it to D.C. in time for the memorial. Then, Tuesday night, I get a text from my mom… 

Yep, that’s the ACTUAL message from my mom, received at 5:12pm on Tuesday night.

As you all know, I go to school three hours from home. If we were going to D.C., that meant I would need to catch a bus to Minneapolis (an hour and a half from my school), find a place to stay, and fly out to Chicago the next morning…AKA I had less than 24 hours to get my shit together.

Wednesday rolls around, and my mom and I have been going crazy trying to get everything together. I keep telling my mom “I need an answer here.” If I was going to catch a bus to Minneapolis, the bus leaves from my school at 3:30pm. As you all know, I’ve been staying with my grandmother, meaning I would have to find a way to get back to my grandma’s house, pack, find a way back to school, catch the bus, get to Minneapolis, and find a place to stay within the next six hours. So, of course, I’m freaking out and calling my mom, trying to figure out what the hell to do. Then, I get this: 

Again, the actual text from my mom. Yes, I call my mother “Woman” and her name in my phone is “Birthgiver.” Don’t judge me.

So, starting at 11AM, I went into frenzy-mode. I booked a one-way bus ticket from my college town to Minneapolis, a one-way ticket for a 5:00am Thursday morning flight from Minneapolis to Chicago, I called my aunt and uncle who live in Minneapolis, as well as my friend who goes to school there in an attempt to figure out where to stay, then called an Uber and took off towards my grandma’s house.

I managed to pack all my stuff and get back to campus in time to catch the bus. I actually emailed my teachers WHILE on the bus to tell them I wouldn’t be in my Wednesday afternoon or Friday classes (occasionally, I won’t have class on Thursdays, and luckily this was one of those weeks). 

I made it to Minneapolis in one piece, though I must admit, I almost got off the bus at the wrong stop, but I didn’t!

I should mention, my Pillow Pet giraffe, Gary, came along for the ride and his travel saga was documented on my SnapChat.

         

 

Believe me, there are at least 20 more of those, but you get the point.

So, Gary and I spent the night at my aunt and uncle’s house. Can we get a round of applause for my aunt for driving me to the airport at 3:30 in the morning?

My aunt dropped me off outside the airport, and I went in by myself.

I’ve flown on planes a million times, but I have never bought a ticket, made it to the airport, and gone through the whole process all by myself before. It was slightly terrifying, but eventually, I made it past security and to my gate.

I had a window seat on the way to Chicago–behold:

The second picture is Chicago (if you look closely, you can see the skyline in the background), and that first picture is probably somewhere over Wisconsin.

ANYWAY, Gary and I got to Chicago around 7am and were stuck there until my mom showed up for our 11:50AM flight to Washington D.C.. Being in an airport with only the company of a Pillow Pet for four hours is very boring.

Eventually, my mom arrived, and OUR FREAKIN’ FLIGHT WAS DELAYED TWICE. There were some thunderstorms in D.C. that day, and the D.C. airport grounded all planes.

Eventually, three hours behind schedule, my mom, Gary and I made it to D.C.. We didn’t have much to do the first day, because it was already almost 8PM when we got there, but if you’ve ever wanted to see what I look like running on four hours of sleep, having been awake for almost 24 hours, while eating a french fries in Washington D.C., here you go:

Stunning.

The next day, Friday, we spent the morning at my mom’s friend’s memorial service. It only lasted about an hour, and since there were so many people at the reception afterward, we decided to go for a walk around Georgetown University’s campus because it was right up the street. Behold, Hogwarts’ baby: 

After we walked around Georgetown (and had a very brief run-in with my friend who goes there), we went back to the memorial service, where we talked to the family of my mom’s friend.

After that, we went sightseeing. It was freezing and raining for part of it, but it was still cool!

We walked so much, I thought I was going to die. We also didn’t have lunch that day, and we were starving, but there are NO FREAKING RESTAURANTS IN WASHINGTON D.C.. SERIOUSLY, DO YOU PEOPLE NOT EAT?

Eventually we went back to our hotel for the night. I love sleeping.

The next day, our last day in D.C. (yes, I’m serious, we were there for less than 48 hours), the weather was great! 

We also went to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, which was really cool! I won’t post all the pictures, because of course I took a ton:

After the Smithsonian, more sightseeing, and walking around D.C. with my friend from Georgetown that I mentioned earlier (we have a picture together, but I won’t post it because I don’t know if she wants her picture posted), we headed back to the airport for a 7:30pm flight back to Chicago. 

I apologize for that second picture being blurry, I took it as we were landing.

We got back to my hometown at around 11:00pm, and then at 1:00pm the next day, I was on a bus back to my college town.

So, yes, I embarked on possibly the world’s shortest Washington D.C. trip ever. It was good! If I could do it again, I’d want to stay in D.C. longer. I didn’t get to the Lincoln Memorial or Arlington Cemetery, two places I’ve wanted to go to, but there’s always next time.

Other than the memorial, it was a swell time.

Thanks for reading, squadlings. Be well.