Williamsburg, Washington, D.C., and Plantation, Florida

After a long flight to Dulles, we landed in a snowstorm, and my connecting flight to Richmond was significantly delayed. I probably could ahve be Ted a car in Dc and driven to Williamsburg, but luckily my flight made it and we landed in Richmond 24 minutes later. Shlepping the big box for Madeleine in addition to my suitcase, I finally found the rental car, but neglected to check the wipers and lights before leaving the garage. I ended up driving about 40 mph in a heavy rainstorm, hunched over the wheel so I could see the white lines, guild by Madeleine on the phone. Finally mad it t her place, which is very nice, and it was great to see her. We went to dinner at a Greek restaurant she had been to before and really liked, with her classmate Brighten, a sharp young man who is in the class she is TAfor.

The next morning, Monday, we went to a local place for a nice breakfast and coffee, then walked around the lovely William and Mary campus in the crisp coldness. Thee is a gourmet stor that is rath like the Pasta Shop, someone there told Madeleine about it after seeing that she was from Oakland. We load i0 the car as drive up to Arlington, to stay with Ann Monnig. arriving fairly late around dinner time, we headed to a local Indian restaurant which was quite good, although we were almost the only people there.

Tuesday Madeleine awoke at 6:25am to hit the National Museum of African American History and Culture website to score tickets, which she got for 11:00am. We all went to Dc, and spent the entire day there until closing, except for a nice lunch in the Afro-Creole themed cafe. It is a stunning place, very well curated, and we fondly made it through the two lower floors. I learned a lot, and was moved and humbled by the incredible history and the resiliency of the people enslaved centuries ago. One of the most amazing parts was the wall with I cribbed name sof slave trnasport ships, with the dates of the voyages, the number of slaves they brought on, and the number who survived - the mortality rate ranged from 10-70%. We had a lot to think about. We had dinne at a Georgian rrsaurant called Supra in DC (Georgian as in the city, not the state), with all kinds of interesting new dishes, a blended cuisine which also has delicious wines form their region.

Up early on Wednesday and it wa going to be a high of 20 degrees, Madeleine and I headed to the Natoinal Geographic Museum’s exhibit n Egyptian Queens, which we loved, spending 4-1/2 hours there, reading every sign and watching every video, it turns out that four of the objects there were items Madeleine had studied in her class recently, and so many fascinating stori3s behind these women an the society they lived in. After a late afternoon tea, we head back to Arlington and met Ann for tapas at Jaleo which was delicious.

Thursday we had a relaxing morning, hanging out a whistle wiht Ann, then departing for Richmond where I was t drop Madeleine to see a friend, and she would take the train back to Williamsburg. We had a good conversation en route, so nice to see the countryside in the sun instead of the pouring rain at night. I returned the car, and flew to Ft. Lauderdale, and Kim picked me up at the airport, which was nice because the flight had been delayed an hour. Back at her place, we had a lamb in soups vide dinner prepared by Justin, and I had a chance to talk with Justin and Brian 5hat evening. the ne t morning Justin was leaving for a week of snowboarding. I slept tha night n a cot in the living room, about 18 inches from Salty the 6-foot-long iguana, as it wa too cold for her to be outside, so she gets the couch those nights. Once Justin departed, I moved into his room.