An Impromptu Dinner Stop on Memory Lane

PA Anniversary Trip Journal #2
Arlington, VA - Thu, 7 Nov 2024, 7:30pm

This evening we're en route to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to visit my inlaws for their 60th anniversary. We landed at DCA airport just before 6pm. From there it'd be just a bit over 2 hours of driving to my inlaws' house— if we went straight there. Instead we did a smidge of shopping in Arlington, Virginia near the airport. Then, since we'd had no time for lunch today as our first flight arrived late and we had to run through the terminal at MDW airport to catch our connecting flight, we decided to stop for dinner sooner rather than later.

Where to eat? In built-up Arlington there are tons of choices. First we agreed we were in the mood for Tex-Mex. Then we Yelped the choices and... found a curious choice wasn't too far out of our way.



The Rio Grande Cafe in the Ballston neighborhood of Arlington is an old favorite. And by old I mean old. This is the first actual Mexican/Tex-Mex restaurant I ever ate at, 33 years ago! Prior to that I'd only ever had those shitty Old El Paso hard taco shells from a box with that packet of seasoning to stir into ground beef. I'd never had an enchilada; I'd never had a proper, freshly made salsa; I'd never had guacamole. Yes, I grew up in a very white-bread family, a cultural impairment I overcame very swiftly in college. I ate here weekly with colleagues 30+ years ago when I worked a few blocks away on a college internship.

This restaurant also holds special significance to us, as a couple. It's where Hawk and I met in person for the first time! That was just over 30 years ago. How ironically apropos that while driving to our parents' 60th anniversary we found a spur-of-the-moment stop that aligns with the 30th anniversary of a milestone in our own lives.

Late Night, Late Morning in H'Burg

PA Anniversary Trip Journal #3
Camp Hill, PA - Fri, 8 Nov 2024, 9:30am

Finally we got to my inlaws' house last night. I say finally because here I am, at journal number three (maybe technically number 4) in this series, and this is the first one in which I'm actually here.

The drive up from Arlington, VA went smoothly. We hit the road in earnest after an unexpected anniversary dinner of our own. The upside of stopping for dinner when we did is that rush hour traffic cleared out. By 8pm there was one minor slowdown on the Capital Beltway. We covered about 120 miles in 2 hours of driving. With a stop along the way for drinks and snacks (as if dinner wasn't enough!) we got in around 10:20pm.

It's been nearly a year since we saw Hawk's parents so we had a lot to catch up on. We didn't get to bed until 1:30am! Staying up late was little problem for us as we started the day 3 time zones away. And it was little problem for the parents as they routinely stay up past midnight anyway. That's something that always surprises me because it's so different from my own parents years ago. When I was younger, it always took planning if I wanted to call them at 11pm, when long distance rates were cheaper. (That's another memory lane trip— who else remembers waiting until 11pm to call people when the rates dropped?) Now if Hawk and I are discussing something at 9:30pm in California and we agree, "Let's check with your parents," she just calls them, at 12:30am their time. They're still up.

Well, maybe Hawk's mom doesn't sleep much anymore, but I still need my rest. As a result of staying up past 1:30 I swatted off my 6:45am alarm and then slept in until 9:30. That was unfortunate as today's actually a work day for me. I'm working remotely from a desk upstairs in "our" bedroom. At least for the 9am hour here, 6am Pacific, I'd only planned to work on some reports that aren't due until next week. I can finish them up over the weekend. For the rest of today I've got several hours of meetings. At 6pm local I'll be done and I'll head downstairs to meet various other relatives are flying & driving in, some from overseas, to help my inlaws celebrate their 60th anniversary.