A Year on Sabbatical: June 10, 2011: Alexandria, Virginia

This morning Jenn and I woke to cooler temperatures in New York - thank goodness. We took a taxi over to the airport where we'd reserved our car rental (there are better deals if you're from out of town and renting). Turns out the rental depot wasn't quite at the airport - typically a renter would just be taking the shuttle from the airport to get their car. Our helpful but somewhat heavily accented taxi driver tried asking an airport employee for directions, but couldn't make himself understood - finally I had to roll down my window to ask. How bizarre - I've gotten used to miscommunication after all this time in France, but we were all speaking the same language here - the airport employee just didn't want to make any effort at all.

Apart from that our drive was fairly smooth sailing. It took several hours to get to the Washington DC area, and it was only at the very end, when we got off the highway in Alexandria, Virginia, that we got turned around trying to find our hotel. And then turned around again as we set out for Mount Vernon - you'd think it would be impossible from there to miss the signs leading you to the home of George and Martha Washington. But we made it in time (just)!

Delores and Quoc's shared love of all things historical inspired their colonial-themed wedding, with historic costume for the wedding party and traditional ballroom dancing like you may only have ever seen before in the miniseries of Pride and Prejudice. One of the most unique and memorable weddings I've been to, not to mention a lovely evening to catch up with friends who we see far too infrequently.