Sunday 5 April 1981 - Washington
It was overcast today when we
stirred and after a good breakfast at Lums (despite objections from Nora, who
wanted to try something else) we set off for the Natural History section of the
Smithsonian. What a place! I could have spent weeks there, but as I only had
about an hour and a half, I concentrated on the American Indian section, which
was really interesting. I only got half way through it when time ran out.
It had been raining on and off all
morning, but we took a chance and went off to the zoo. We got showered on a
couple of times before it came down heavily and we had to make a dash for it.
We enjoyed ourselves and saw some very interesting animals, including the Giant
Pandas, who were having a lunch of bamboo when we were there. The otters too
were very amusing. (Rab had a poor experience with hot pretzels, which we
were sure were not properly cooked.) Once again, our time was so limited
that we could only see a fraction of what was on show.
We drove around for a bit, seeing
more sights of Washington,
including Watergate and the J F Kennedy Memorial Centre, before going to Lums
for supper. A delicious meal of fried clam strips and very reasonable. We got
back quite early and, while the kids watched TV in one room, we played
Rummicube in the other. We had several beers and the girls had some pre-mixed
cocktails - Pinacoladas and some ghastly Strawberry concoction. (Another ‘first’ for us – we’d never heard
of pre-mixed drinks in cans or bottles.) Anyway they enjoyed it and we had
a good evening.
All in all our best day yet in the USA.
Monday 6 April 1981 - Washington -
Stamford
The sun was shining today, as we
packed to return to Stamford,
but there was a biting wind blowing. Vicki was not at all well, so we had the
luggage in the passenger area and she slept in the back, which also gave Matt a
chance to stretch out. He was very tired because he had a lot of late nights
watching TV. We had our final breakfast at Lums and set off on our return
journey.
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| At home with the Schafers |
The journey back to Stamford
was very interesting - through Pennsylvania
- and we stopped off at Bird-in-the-Hand (just near Intercourse!) to have a
look at the Amish community handicrafts. (I wanted to buy an Amish flat hat,
but this was vetoed) We also saw a lot of Amish people in their buggies.
The farms throughout the trip were really so typical of the stereotype American
farm, it was quite amusing. Big red barns, whitewashed houses, all built of
clapboard. Actually it is the one thing that amazes me about America - the
wooden houses. (Virtually all houses in South Africa
are brick built) Most of the houses we have seen have been wooden
construction and, if the Schafer’s condominium is anything to go by,(and Uli
says it is) very flimsy wood at that. The doors are very thin, as are the walls
and floor. We can hear the Schafers talking upstairs when we are in bed in the
basement and also the neighbours TV.
I drove most of the way back, which
I enjoyed. It was interesting seeing the countryside and our trip took us
through the Poconos
Mountains (pronounced
Poke A Nose!). We drove through the Delaware Gap and the scenery was
spectacular. We did not have much traffic on our side of the road, but it was
solid on the other side - 6 lanes at times. We got back at about 19.00, rather
weary, but managed to go down to the pizza restaurant and get two enormous
pizzas and some beers and cocktails, which we drank while having our evening
game of Rummicube.
We decided that we would go to New York tomorrow with
Nora, leaving Uli to look after Michael and Vicki, who was still sick.
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