Cherry Blossom Time & Washington DC
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April 8, 2005

Well we're off! We hope to hit the hotel around 5:00 so according to the mapping software we can leave around 10:00AM, but having driven I 95 & the DC Beltway before, we left a bit early - on the road at 8:00. Did notice the flooding along I 81 has gone down a bit from earlier in the week, but it is still pretty bad around Cortland.

As to CoPilot - I like the 3D view and the "Next Turn" feature, the voice giving directions is OK, but trying to do a quick zoom to a specific area is no where near as easy as it is in Street Atlas. It doesn't seem to be possible to mouse a box around the area you want to zoom to. You need to keep centering the map, click on "+", re-center, click, etc - much rather draw a box...

Anyhow, a fairly uneventful drive - even I 95 & the Beltway had all the heavy traffic going the other way.

I knew the drive was too good to be true. Got to the Hilton at 3:00, and they didn't have any rooms available. Very apologetic desk clerk, insisted that a room would be available soon, could we come back in an hour & he would make sure we got something special, and would we like to wait in the bar on his tab? The only problem is neither of us drink! Oh well, since Carol was with me I knew we could find a parking place & since Karin worked in the area we gave her a call. So, after an hour sitting & talking with Karin, we went back. Did I mention that the underground parking for the Hilton is almost impossible to get into when the traffic is heavy & the only way out is to back into the main road? Back to the desk clerk, still no room. Since Karin's is only a couple of miles away, we drove to her place in Tacoma Park. Called the Hilton at 6:00 - No room yet. Since the main part of the Cherry Blossom Festival is tomorrow, things don't look good at any of the other hotels either. Called back at 8:00, still no room, but Raoul (I'm getting to know at least one of the desk clerks far more than I need or want to) told us to come over & he would have a room. It's a bit of a dilemma - we are now in a very nice suite for $140 per night - Should we be upset that it took 5 hours to get our room or be thankful for the upgrade? Since we are willing to sleep in just about anything (see our last cross country trip) the suite isn't all that necessary, but still...

So, tomorrow we plan to pick up Karin & Brian, hit the Metro & go see the Cherry Blossoms & Parade.

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Last Update: March 25, 2012