On the Road Again

Earlier this week I got a request to attend a meeting in our Arlington, VA office next week. Despite being pregnant, I do enjoy traveling, and I do want to show my commitment to my job, so I accepted the opportunity as an easy one day trip that would not impact life back home too much.

As you may know from reading this blog, the Hoos and I used to live in Arlington, and we went to school in DC, a five minute metro ride. When I confirmed with the Hoos that the trip wouldn't be a problem, he wondered if perhaps he and LP might join me. We still have friends in the area, and one couple just had a baby that we would love to meet. Plus, DC is a great walking city and a good place to entertain LP. Even if she doesn't look at all of the exhibits in the Smithsonian Natural History museum, I am sure she would love to run around its big open corridors.

With the decision to spend a few days below the Mason-Dixon finalized, we moved on to the logistics. My meeting is from 1pm-5pm. DC is about a 4.5 hour drive without stops. There is no such thing as no stops with a toddler. We laid out our options:

1. Drive down as a family the morning of my meeting. Unless we leave the house at a ridiculously early hour to contend with the stops and potential traffic issues, we would be left stressing about making my meeting on time.
   
2. Drive down together (all the way or part way) the night before. We might get there in time, but we would most likely have a miserable night with LP sleeping in the car, waking up around midnight when we arrive and probably not falling right back to sleep.
3. Amy take the train or fly one way and the Hoos and LP drive down and meet me. Obviously not a problem for me, work pays for my flight or ride, but neither of us has ever driven alone with LP for more than an hour and a half. Without a passenger, there is the challenge of keeping the munchkin satisfied and happy. Even food bribery is difficult when your main job is to have your eyes on the road.

We decided on option 3. I will cab it to the train station the morning of my meeting and catch an Acela Express that gets me into DC at 11:45. The Hoos and LP will leave at whatever time works for them and meet me at the hotel a couple of miles from my office that afternoon. My plan is to pack pre-packaged snacks that the Hoos can open in the front seat and just pass back (e.g., raisins, goldfish single packs) and set him up with multiple water sippy cups since LP throws one when she is done and then complains that she wants more but can't reach it.

We figure if it is a miserable ride down for him, at least it is only one way and he then has a couple of days of vacation to recover for the trip back home. Let us all pray.

PS - Sorry for all of the typos lately, Blogger spell check isn't working. Harrummpf. I bet you all thought I had awesome spelling skills all by myself:)