It has been two years, almost exactly, since we had seen the Freymours! So, despite surgery preventing Larry and Donna from joining us, we packed up the van and headed to DC for the holiday.
To make the drive more pleasant, we opted to break it up and stopped in Winston-Salem for the night on our way north. We really liked the Wake Forest campus, where Laura fell in love with a big tree swing. We stayed at a charming historic inn and enjoyed a delicious dinner in the downtown area. After breakfast in the morning, we hit the road once again: DC or bust!
After rolling straight into Silver Spring for some QT and dinner before Ryan’s bedtime, we started the next day with another long overdue reunion: Terri and her family. It was a cold but calm day, and with Covid counts high we decided the patio and fire pit was the right venue. Their sumptuous spread of cocoa, cider, hot sandwiches and charcuterie made for a fabulous afternoon. We really enjoyed hearing about their various travels during their postings in Asia - and snuck in some college talk, too.
Christmas Eve dawned gorgeous and mild, so we made our way to the monuments. Got in some great sights AND photos!
Once Ryan had his fill, we parted ways and we five made our way toward the White House Christmas Tree. We were (somewhat rudely) halted by the police when trying to cross the street…and soon after the Presidential motorcade came driving through! We saw Dr. Biden waving, if not Joe himself. We decided they had made a Chipotle run…
We all cleaned up nicely and made it to mass, followed by our traditional fare - so delicious! We even forced Tim to watch “Elf” after dinner, which most of us enjoyed.
Christmas morning was grand, and after some rest back at our air bnb, we five went to see “Sing 2” before gathering for a delicious dinner. At this point, the picture taking definitely dropped off… but we spent our final day getting some fresh air around the monuments before meeting up with the Freymours for lunch and arcade games - a perfect spot for our particular crew. We grown-ups then enjoyed a nice dinner out while the cousins babysat - a great way to cap off the visit!
We opted to stop in Chapel Hill to break up the drive back south, exploring the UNC campus and then getting dinner at a pretty tasty Indian spot. It worked out well, but we were also very happy to get home the next day.
Another merry Christmas in the books!
