Metro ALL the way!

I got a call Tuesday morning from my cousin, that now lives in Maryland, asking me if I wanted to join them for a day at the zoo. Her mom, twin sister, twin sister's husband, and their son were visiting in town from Oregon for the week and wanted to take a trip to the DC zoo. It's been awhile since I've seen them so I jumped at the chance to go. Got Aubrey off to school, packed Jocelyn's baby bag, loaded everything into the truck and off I went to I-95. Traffic was good for 9:30am on a weekday here in Fredericksburg so I was flowing without any problems until I hit the Washington DC area. That's when everything got confusing---yes, even with directions. If any of you have experienced first hand with DC's traffic and mind boggling streets, you'll know exactly what I mean. I guess it didn't help that I was the driver AND navigator. We all know what it's like to drive and read at the same time. Not good. Needless to say (and I'm sure you already guessed where I was heading with this...)I got lost!! I stopped at this turn around road with a hotel at the end and I stopped and asked a couple of gentlemen in tuxedos who happened to be limo drivers how to get to the DC zoo because I was clearly lost! He gave me turn by turn directions and amazingly got me there with no problems. Even with us living about 1 hour south of DC, it took me atleast 2-2 1/2 hours to get to the zoo. I then met up with them, spent 2 hours there, and then had to head back home to get Aubrey off the bus on time. Even though I spent more time on the road than I did at the zoo...Jocelyn and I had a great time. If I EVER need to go back to DC for anything...it will be by the metro train/bus. I will not willingly drive there ever again! I have to admit that leaving the zoo was a bit scary. I almost didn't want to leave because I was afraid I'd get lost again. Luckily I found the freeway without difficulty. It took me all of Wednesday to recover. Pitiful I know...I must be getting old. :) We're going to go back up as a family next month after Aubrey's done with soccer. This time we'll take the metro and we'll take up a whole Saturday to see all the animals. The only zoo I've ever been to is the Portland Oregon zoo and it seems to me that the Washington DC zoo is much bigger. In 2 hours we hardly saw anything. Still fun though and the weather was nice and comfortable. I'll post more pictures when we go back. So our trip all in all was great though because we got to see and hang out with family. I couldn't believe how big my twin cousin's little boys have grown already. Aidan & Micah. They're so cute! It was so good to see all of them!