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The Long Trek Back Home

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. We’ve made it to Part 7 of my 7-part blog series on my recent trip to and from Northern Virginia and Washington D.C. It was my first trip back to the area in exactly a decade (to the date).

So my family’s Southwest flight back to Dallas Texas (#DAL) was cancelled due to weather. And my American Airlines (#AA) flight back to Tampa Florida (#TPA) was also cancelled. My family was on their way to northwestern Ohio in the very same Avis rental SUV that we drove in all around Northern Virginia. I took the Avis shuttle to the airport to determine my next move.

I soon received a text notification from #AA stating that I was rebooked on the very same flight 24 hours later (on Monday night). So my next move was to book a night at the very same Hampton near Reagan National Airport (U.S. 1 in Crystal City) that I pointed out to my family as we drove by it on our way to Avis. The hotel shuttle picked me up from the airport, and I checked in for the night.

Hotel Room View Of U.S. 1 In Crystal City Virginia

Fun Fact: I paid for 2 Hampton rooms for the same night (including the one outside #TPA that was non-refundable within 5 nights prior). I’ve never done that before. At least I got the Hilton Honors points for both rooms. I think next time I have a flight scheduled to arrive late in Tampa I won’t book that hotel room in advance in the event that the flight back is cancelled. I’ll just hope that a hotel room is available, or if not – then I’ll just drive 2½ hours home.

After I checked-in to my cozy hotel room I decided to get smart with the #AA app. I really did not want to hang around the hotel until checkout time the next day (12 Noon) and then hang out at the airport for 7 to 8 hours after that waiting to board my early-evening flight back to Tampa that has a long history of departing late (or not at all). I soon rebooked a flight back to Tampa for earlier in the day (mid-afternoon), and then a little while later I discovered even earlier flights available – so I rebooked yet again for a late-morning flight. As it turns out – at least with #AA – if your flight is cancelled – then you can rebook as many times as you wish using their app as long as seats are available on the flight of your choice. There is no charge to do so. (I don’t know if other airlines have the same policy, but I’m glad that #AA does since I fly them almost exclusively.)

My packed flight back to #TPA departed and arrived early. I called the hotel (where my car was parked at) to have them send their shuttle my way to pick me up, and there was a bit of confusion on the telephone. After a bit of waiting for the receptionist and hotel manager to get their act together – they finally requested an Uber to be sent to pick me up, as their shuttle was either out of commission, on another assignment, or the driver was out to lunch. The Uber arrived in a white Kia SUV, and the driver was courteous and friendly. He couldn’t figure out why his GPS kept saying that he should go to the hotel when he was requested to go to the airport at a specific location to pick up a customer (me). I explained what happened – that the hotel contacted Uber on my behalf. We talked about Ubers and Kias all the way to the hotel.

I got in my car (a Kia), and I drove home on that Monday afternoon. My 122-hour adventure was complete !

What a wonderful trip this was with my family – brother, sister-in-law, and two nieces. Me and my brother enjoyed our trip down memory lane in Langley, McLean, Tysons, Falls Church, Vienna, and into Annandale. It was fun to take the Metro into D.C., take a 2-hour tour, and then visit a Smithsonian museum. And then there’s all of the good food that we enjoyed together. And finally – the main reason for this trip – to place our Mom’s urn next to our Dad’s urn inside the niche at the columbarium at Arlington National Cemetery.

As I hinted in a previous installment of this blog series – me and my brother have already discussed a future trip back to the Washington D.C. area (both Maryland and Virginia) to do a “deep-dive” into our roots there from the late-’60s (me) to the mid-’90s (my brother). Maybe we’ll get back there as early as later next year in conjunction with a Washington Capitals or Washington Commanders game. Maybe we’ll just talk about it for years to come. (We still haven’t returned to Las Vegas, and we’ve been talking about that off-and-on since our last visit over 20 years ago !)

Later this morning I’ll be at #TPA on my way to my next destination, and so next #TravelThursday – I’ll begin a brand-new multi-part blog series to and from and all about that next destination out west. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2025 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

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McLean & Tysons

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. It’s Part 6 of my 7-part blog series on my recent trip to and from Northern Virginia and Washington D.C. It was my first trip back to the area in exactly a decade (to the date).

It’s Sunday July 27TH 2025 – our 4TH and final day of me and my brother’s trip down memory lane from our childhoods. And of course – my brother’s wife and their two daughters were along for the ride – which was seemingly a boring ride at times since they had no roots in the area.

Me and my brother have already discussed a trip back to the Washington D.C. area (maybe as early as late next year) to do a “deep dive” into our childhoods (and include Maryland as well) – without the girls. More on that in Part 7 next #TravelThursday.

#ButFirst – We all checked out of our hotel rooms on that Sunday morning, and we headed over to McLean Family Restaurant for Brunch. It was a Jewish deli in the ’50s and ’60s, and then it became what it is today in 1969. I don’t remember ever eating there during the early-to-mid-’80s when I lived there, but my brother had eaten there a few times. It is essentially your classic diner in a longtime (70-year-old) strip shopping center in downtown McLean.

We drove by the old neighborhood public library and recreation center. They still look the same as they did 40+ years ago.

Next we hit Tysons Corner Center – built in 1968 – and now one of the busiest and largest traditional shopping malls in the U.S.A. Back in the early-to-mid-’80s it was much smaller and more of a neighborhood shopping mall – where you were likely to see your neighbors and classmates and teachers walking around. Nowadays it’s a regional destination where people from all over the Washington D.C. area take the Metro, get off at the station adjacent to the mall, and spend an entire day there. We spent several hours there, and the place was packed and steadily becoming even more packed. My brother pointed out what stores used to be at specific locations. (Very few stores remain from 40+ years ago.)

We ate a late-lunch at The Cheesecake Factory – by request of my brother. I personally think that they are overrated and overpriced, but I won’t turn down an opportunity to eat there about every 7 years or so.

While getting ready to pull out of the mall parking lot – my sister-in-law received the disturbing news that their Southwest flight back to Dallas Texas (#DAL) was cancelled due to weather. My American Airlines flight was very delayed – by several hours – due to the same reason. My brother and sister-in-law then quickly put a plan into motion where they would drive from there to Ohio (450 miles) – where they would have flown to the very next day (from #DFW).

We drove back to the Avis rental agency near Reagan National Airport (#DCA), and I got in line for their airport shuttle. My brother and sister-in-law headed inside to see if they could drive their existing rental SUV (Ford Explorer) from there to Ohio and then turn it in the next day at the Avis rental agency at the Columbus airport (#CMH). (They could, and they did. They arrived at their destination right around 12:30 AM.)

As I was waiting for their airport shuttle to arrive – I got the text message notification that I dreaded – my American Airlines flight to Tampa (#TPA) was also cancelled. And so I headed to the airport not really knowing what I would do once I got there. I’ll explain what I did – next #TravelThursday. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2025 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

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Cornhole & Mini-Golf

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. It’s Part 4 of my 6-part (possibly 7-part) blog series on my recent trip to and from Northern Virginia and Washington D.C. It was my first trip back to the area in exactly a decade (to the date).

Last week I wrote about our 3+ hours at Arlington National Cemetery. After that we headed back to McLean (our family hometown of 16 years in the ’80s and ’90s), and we ate at a local deli for late-lunch. We continued our trip down memory lane through McLean and into Falls Church. My brother knew where he was going because he used to drive those streets from 1991 to 1996, and before that he was our Mom’s passenger in her car, and he told her how to get to different places around the region (even into Maryland). Aside from downtown McLean I was pretty much lost, as I only drove around the local area for a little over a year 40+ years ago.

We drove over or under I-66 dozens of times. We lost count of the number of times that we did so. It became a running gag as we drove around the local area. “Oh look – it’s I-66 again !”

I remarked that they don’t build new roads in Fairfax County. They were the same roads that we drove on in the ’80s and ’90s, and those were the same roads that our predecessors drove on in the ’60s and ’70s. They simply repair, repave, and restripe the existing roads. And now more vehicles than ever before drive on those same roads. They also don’t cut down forests in Fairfax County to build new neighborhoods. They cut down old houses in existing neighborhoods to replace them with new houses.

Me and my brother took a side-trip to nearby Annandale to visit a store that he used to visit 30+ years ago. (It’s still in the same shopping center but at a different location.) A few hours later we (as a family) took a trip to nearby Vienna, and we ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant that my brother used to enjoy eating at back in the early-’90s. (It’s been there for 50+ years.)

After dinner we headed north up to Tysons for some Friday family fun. We went to a place called The Perch. None of us knew what to expect there, but at least me and my brother were mesmerized by it all. Think of a 2½-acre public park with plenty of green space (including a dog park), gardens, trees, benches, picnic tables, food trucks, drink kiosks, a biergarten, LIVE concerts, cornhole, and an 18-round mini-golf course. Now picture all of that 11 stories up high atop the roof of a 1,600-seat performing arts center and attached to a large 300-room hotel – surrounded by much taller high-rises. It was cooler, breezier, and refreshing up at the park in the sky, and the views were spectacular (where not obstructed by the surrounding office buildings).

I haven’t played much cornhole in my life, but I think I did pretty good at The Perch. And then our 18 rounds of mini-golf after that ? It was perhaps one of my best performances of my lifetime. I was doing so good that my sister-in-law – the scorekeeper – gave up about halfway through on recording the scores. Mini-Golf is a 30+ year vacation tradition for me and my brother. This particular course was a bit on the bland side, but you can only do so much with limited space high atop the roof of a building. (No caves or waterfalls.)

Me and my brother have already discussed staying at that 300-room Watermark Hotel when we possibly revisit Northern Virginia next year. It’s steps away from the McLean Metro station on the Silver Line !

And speaking of the Metro – we take it into Washington D.C. – next #TravelThursday. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2025 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

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Blogging Driving Geography Military Travel

Arlington National Cemetery

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. It’s Part 3 of my 6-part (possibly 7-part) blog series on my recent trip to and from Northern Virginia and Washington D.C. It was my first trip back to the area in exactly a decade (to the date).

It’s Day 2 of our family trip – Friday July 25TH 2025. We all piled in to the big SUV (Ford Explorer), and we headed to Arlington National Cemetery. Google Maps took us on a weird route there from West Falls Church Virginia. Since we were driving with the flow of the morning rush hour – we trusted Google to get us there in the fastest way possible. Google actually guided us across the historic 102-year-old Francis Scott Key Bridge (U.S. 29) into Northwest Washington D.C. We traversed along several blocks of M Street starting at 35TH Street. I remember when our Dad used to work on M Street back in the 1970s at 2020 (address). He would occasionally take me to work with him in the summertime or whenever school was out. His office building is still there today.

We soon crossed over the Potomac River back into Virginia via the historic 93-year-old Arlington Memorial Bridge straight into the Cemetery entrance. Our main reason to be there (and the main reason for this entire trip) was to place our Mom’s urn next to our Dad’s urn inside the columbarium. Our Dad – a Vietnam Veteran – served in the USAF from 1963 to 1969. He met his future wife in the Philippines at Clark Air Base. They got married in 1966, and I was born 13½ months later here stateside. Our Dad passed away in 2010. Our Mom passed away a few months ago.

We arrived about 3 hours before the urn placement time, so we parked in the parking garage, and we visited the Welcome Center which serves as a very nice museum with a small gift shop and restrooms, and you can also book guided tours around the exterior grounds. You can easily spend an hour or more there at the Welcome Center checking out all of the exhibits.

We walked outside, and we toured the grounds on our own – heading 0.7 miles uphill much of the way – to the Tomb Of The Unknown Soldier. We watched the 1030 “Changing Of The Guard”. It was quite the solemn experience to see it up close. I had never seen it before – LIVE or online.

We walked downhill back to the Welcome Center to hang out for a little while longer. Of course – being a Museum Director – I was taking mental notes everywhere I looked and visualizing new ideas for my small historical museum back home in Sebring Florida.

We headed to the Administration Building inside the restricted area of the cemetery, and we were met by our assigned Counselor who explained the process to us. She eventually led us by vehicle to the columbarium and the niche containing our Dad’s urn. The niche was open when we arrived. My brother placed our Mom’s urn in the niche, and they were together again after 15 years.

This was my very first time at Arlington National Cemetery – at age 58. I never went there as a kid growing up in the Washington D.C. area from age 2 to 18. My brother and sister-in-law went there previously for the formal military funeral honors that culminated in our Dad’s urn being placed in the niche at the columbarium. My brother and I discussed visiting our parents again – maybe next year on a future visit to the area. We have a lifetime vehicle pass to visit.

After the urn placement we headed back onto the George Washington Memorial Parkway – up to Fairfax County – and into McLean – where our parents moved us in November 1980.

I played an incredible game of cornhole, and then I followed that up with one of the best games of 18 rounds of miniature golf in my lifetime. Read all about it – next #TravelThursday. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2025 Christopher M. Day, CountUp