Well, despite being rather cranky most of the weekend (I feel like I've been tired for months now), I saw a great show, went to a very cool museum and really did have a good time with my parents and my brother (I promise I did).
Friday night, my flight was on time, my folks picked me up and we went to the Owl Bar at the Belvedere Hotel on Chase. That was nice and we were able to all catch up a little. It was close to 2 when we got back to the hotel and then my brother and I stayed up talking.
Saturday was a very full day: we went down to the Inner Harbor for brunch at Phillips (Vinnie and Mom shared the cold seafood platter appetizer which was beautiful! I had cream of crab soup and a crabcake sandwich, Daddy had shrimp and crab cakes), then we walked up Federal Hill and went to the nearby American Visionary Art Museum which was the most thought-provoking art museum I'd been to in a while. All of the pieces there were created by self-trained artists--there's no Impressionist Wing at this place. After that, we walked back to the car and drove around Fell's Point, then back to the hotel to regroup and change. We had a round of drinks in the hotel bar before my Great Aunt Lorraine and her daughter and son-in-law picked us up for dinner at Sabatino's in Little Italy. I had the gnocchi, and it was very good. We had tickets for the second preview performance of Hay Fever at Center Stage Baltimore which was much more entertaining than the first (and only other) time I've seen it (which was at least 4 years ago). Plus, it was directed by Vinnie's friend Will (the cute Brit) who I haven't seen in 2 1/2 years, so that was good. And we made friends with the assistant lighting designer Jarrod. I had a headache from the wine with dinner, so I was grumpy before we even got to the bar after the show, so I left with Mom & Dad at 12 and Vinnie stayed a little later to hang out and say goodbye to his friends.
Sunday we went to Fell's Point and had brunch at this bar I can't remember the name of except it included the word Hotel and it was on Thames St. Among the four of us, we had apple french toast, an apple & brie omlette, a crawfish & andouille omlette, and a crab, cream cheese, artichoke omlette (which was the best). And I saw where Broadway and Shakespeare streets crossed and remembered being there with Stevie and Julie the day before I turned 21. So, yeah, we walked around and enjoyed each other's company until it was time to drop Vinnie off to get a ride to the train station and head North and me off at the airport to catch my plane West and the folks to hit the road in their automobile South.
It occurred to me several times today how lucky I am that my "nuclear" family remains close and makes an effort to spend time together even though we're in different parts of the country. I'm used to people assuming I'm still in school because I don't have a dress code at work and I tend to read classic novels at airports, but looking around at the other people out and about this weekend all I saw were young families and couples. Or maybe it was that we used to spend Thanksgivings in DC and it's November and we're not going to be together for TG this year, so this was our TG weekend and that made me feel like I was in high school.
Anyway, I arrived at the airport over 2 hours early so the parents could get on the road, and an hour before my flight, they announce that my flight's delayed 40 min. Then they change my gate, etc. We were an hour and a half late leaving BWI and arriving at MDW. Luckily, I had The Great Gatsby with me, which I finished, and then I bought Wicked at the Borders. I made friends with a woman crocheting an afghan while waiting to board and I had excellent timing with both trains home from the airport (virtually no wait for either)! And when I got home I watched the end of Grey's Anatomy, which made some of the grumpy go away. We'll see what tomorrow brings...
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