Rose River Falls

This past weekend, we piled the kids into our tiny Ford Ecosport rental car for the two hour drive west to Shenandoah National Park. After our first week crammed into our two-bedroom corporate temp apartment, we all needed some blue skies and open space.

The transition from four weeks of vacation mode to six weeks of training in Arlington, Virginia has been about as smooth as one can ask when that transition requires squeezing three energetic kids into a small two-bedroom apartment. The laws of quantum mechanics are applicable. The vibrations of bodies of atoms resonating at intense frequencies are intensified when those bodies are forced into small spaces. Additionally, when those bodies come to rest, they rarely stay at rest for very long. 

It was never going to be completely seamless. This is very much an additional move, a new apartment, a new neighborhood, new beds, even the small things we take for granted need to be relearned, like a new thermostat and what do we set it to before we go to bed, where does the garbage and recycling go, a new coffee maker and what is the proper ratio of coffee grounds to water to make a potable cup of coffee. In addition to the kids sharing one of the bedrooms, the rental company refuses to provide a third twin bed, so Clementine has been sleeping on a mattress on the floor.

Our week long adventure in the camper van was very much training for this new experience, because cooking in our new kitchen is like camp cooking. It's actually, likely, more challenging. Even our camper van came with salt and pepper shakers, packets of yellow mustard, and sugar for morning coffee. Our corporate short-term rental apartment came with NOTHING. Except a pot and a pan which is less than we had in the van.

So much new is not hard for the kids, but it was never going to be as easy as Elise or I hope it will be. Even when we infuse them with the excitement of coming back to D.C., going to the zoo and museums, and visiting our usual food favorites. Six weeks isn't a long time, but it's long enough to make an effort to make the apartment a home. 

First thing Saturday morning I made the mistake of trying to make a quick trip to the DMV, except there is no such thing of a "quick" trip to the DMV. Especially when everyone else in Northern Virginia who also works M-F has the same idea. Even though I arrived at 7:59 there were already 30 people in line in front of me. I waited a half hour, but it soon became clear this was an exercise in futility and aborted. 

We went to the mall instead and even though the kids didn't exactly have the best comportment in their first week, the fact they had absolutely no toys at all played into the decision to buy the boys a new Lego and Clementine a new American Girl doll that looks just like her. 

Clementine spent the rest of the afternoon saying, "We're hungry," or, "We have something to tell you," which was very confusing and a little bit creepy. We capped the visit of with lunch at the restaurant where sushi comes to your table on a conveyor belt. Easy fun.

That night, Elise and I stole away courtesy of the new babysitter to a fantastic restaurant in Mt. Pleasant, Elle (pronounced "el-lee").

We hiked for an hour or two before coming to a wider part of the river where the thick canopy of mottled green opened up and the dappled summer sunlight drained away to the forest. There, large flat rocks split the stream into low waterfalls and rapids. It wasn't long before Sam and Peter had found a natural rock slide.

As we drove home, winding along the serpentine Skyline Drive which hugs the ridge of the park, we fell in behind a Mercedes station wagon.  There was a guy sitting in the back of the station wagon -- and I mean, the way, way back -- knees pulled up tight to his chest, pale-white kneecaps gleaming for all the world to see.  Funny thing was is he and the driver were the only two in the car.  He wasn't sitting there because he had to; he was sitting there because he wanted to.  We got a good laugh over the course of the next seven miles or so...at least, until they pulled out at an overlook a d let us pass. I guess he got tired of us laughing at him.