We had another crazy busy day. We got up and split into two groups. One group, Team Metro, consisting of Cindy, Sarah, Kenzie, Ruby and Sarita, headed to the metro station 20 minutes away with the goal of meeting us at the zoo whenever they could arrive. Surely the underdog, we didn't expect to see them until later in the day. The second group, Team SpeedWalk, had A CAR and a German navigator. Grammy, Grampy, Janel, Mason and I headed out, led by Felix and an iPhone. We started heading in a direction that we had never been before, but Felix reassured us that we were just avoiding traffic. Then we went to a little town called Germantown, and again had some suspicions. Then we drove past a donut shop and were compelled to stop... an experience that stands on its own.
The three-toothed owner with a fabulously strong Indian accent was not impressed that we were rather undecided in our ordering. The menu board just said "donuts," and did not give their entire selection. So when I asked him what donuts they had he listed every donut name (of which there must have been fifty) in about 10 seconds. That started the giggling. We finally drove to the window, with muted permission from the owner, to order in person. When we asked if he had any donuts with nuts he sternly said "no, we only have peanuts." But clearly we thought Team Speedwalking had plenty of time for a detour.
Then we kept meandering. Going nowhere near a freeway. Felix again reassured us that we were avoiding all traffic, which was very true.
After an hour into the trip (which should have been about 20 minutes total) everybody was parched from the salty donuts. So we stopped at strip mall, which happen to have a German grocery store. Coincidence? It is then that we begin to wonder. As we got back on the road and saw the no traffic freeway just paralleling us, we also began to wonder how much traffic there really was that we were avoiding.
Finally, when we hit the DC limits, a full 1.5 hours into our 20 minute trip, I asked Felix how much longer it said we have. He said "5 miles and an hour and 36 minutes." I asked him "Felix, are you using the walking directions or the driving directions?" We have been taking the walking path the entire time and once we got on a thoroughfare we quickly got on to the zoo!
Due to all the walking at the zoo Grammy and Grampy opted for the motorized scooters, which actually made the rest of us quite jealous. They broke all the rules, including the "no kids on scooter" one.
We did have a terrible scare. At one point we looked around and realized Mason was nowhere near. We split up in opposite directions and started looking for him but couldn't find him until a couple told us that the security had come to claim a little boy. So we found him in the visitor center safe but rattled.
After the zoo we again split into our two teams and hit the next leg of the race...this time to downtown DC and the Holocaust Museum. Grammy and Mason opted for a nap in the car, which had been thoroughly searched by the police as we entered one of the two parking garages in DC. Team Speedwalking arrived 1.5 hours behind Team Metro, who patiently waited so we could all go through together.
For our final adventure, we sought out German food in the city. We thought it was only fair since we had Spanish tapas to celebrate Saritas country a couple of days ago. We found a place near Georgetown called Old Europe.
This time Team Speedwalker beat the Metro clan who caught a cab for the final leg. When we walked in Felix was horrified to see that Old Europe didn't represent the modern/hip Germany that he loves...but instead accordion-playing yodelers and lederhosen!! The more embarrassed he became, the happier the rest of the group became and soon we were clapping in step with the polka. Ten out of the eleven were animated and festive. The other tried to bury himself in his hooded sweatshirt. It was perfect! What could make it better? Only one thing...Janel asked the musicians if they could possibly sing him Happy Birthday in a way to fully embarrass him. He whipped out his ID card to let them know this was all a terrible mistake, and his birthday is actually in June. Undeterred, they slowed down the song to make sure we were fully living the moment with him.
