We arrived in the Washington, D.C. area on Saturday afternoon with reservations at the Bethesda Hyatt Regency. Traffic was busy all the way there and particularly in the city, but we made it without any significant slowdowns. Soon after getting on the beltway, we saw a sign warning that all lanes were closed a few miles ahead. We figured out that we needed to go farther than that point so we exited at the next available chance and used google maps on my phone to find an alternate route to the hotel. It worked out well for us to do so, and we were proud that we had avoided a long delay on the road.

Once we arrived at the hotel, we encountered the most frustrating navigational challenge of the trip so far. The hotel is under construction including the parking garage. Although I had checked their web site recently and saw that the parking construction would be finished mid-September, it was not complete yet. We circled a bit before finding a spot where we could idle, and I called the hotel for help. The clerk told us where to park which was just a half block from where we sat. Finding the hotel then was another problem. We unloaded the luggage and started in the direction that we thought was toward the hotel. Right there in the middle of multiple tall buildings, I couldn't get oriented. I called again asking for walking directions, but the clerk said that she would send someone to find us. This must be a common problem right now. They have no valet service available.

It ended up taking three phone calls before someone from the hotel showed up to escort us. It wasn't far, but just not visible from where we were. The room ended up okay, but not up to Hyatt's usual standards, in my opinion, even considering the remodeling project. By the time we got to the room, we were pretty hungry, and we went to the Daily Grill in the hotel for lunch.

After lunch, we took the Metro into D.C. to go to see The Capitol Steps at the Ronald Reagan Building. I purchased the tickets online a few weeks ago as soon as we had this part of the trip itinerary set, and we picked them up at Will Call. That process was quick, and we took advantage of the extra time to walk around outside. The Ronald Reagan Building is at 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue. The street was blocked off for several blocks in the area for a Leukemia and Lymphoma Foundation Light the Night event. There were lots of vendors and participants around and at least two live music stages. Philip and I looked around for a while, then headed back to the theater to get ready for the show. The house opened at 7:15 for the 7:30 show.

The performance was just as good as always. We laughed and laughed throughout the show. A group of about fifteen British teenage boys with three chaperones occupied the two rows in front of us. The boys didn't laugh very much through the show, but their sponsors did. I think they enjoyed it as much as we did. When the show was over, we headed back to the Metro stop to take the train back to the hotel. The train and the stations were full of Washington Capitals fans returning home after a winning game. It made the place quite crowded; we both stood for much of the ride.

Yesterday, we had a slow day. We wanted to watch the Cowboy game which started at 4:25 in the room so we decided not to return to D.C. on the Metro. Instead, we walked to Luke's Lobster for lunch and found a street art fair going on in that neighborhood. After eating some wonderful lobster rolls, Phil headed back to the hotel to grade papers and I wandered around the show. We snacked for dinner while we watched the game: Cowboys 30--Packers 16.

Today, we left Bethesda about 10:00 and found our way to the beltway then out of town through some heavy traffic. Once we were out of the congestion of the city, we were able to enjoy the scenery of the wooded rolling hills of Virginia. We have stopped in Lewisburg for the night.