Well, it turns out that a few of them are heading to our nation’s capital via different means. Mommy and Alexander are already on their way via medical transport from Raleigh-Durham International Airport (RDU for you aviation geeks like Daddy out there) direct to Dulles International (IAD) and then by ambulance to the hospital.
Nicholas, Grammy, and Daddy get to experience the joys and wonders of I-95 and Capital Beltway (I-495) traffic to meet them there later this evening. We had a quick stop at a McDonald’s north of Richmond but for the most part we proceeded direct to Washington. Memo to self: traffic on the Beltway stinks most of the time but it’s really awful at rush hour! We had made good time getting to the District and then spent the next hour and a half going from The Mixing Bowl (where I-95/I-395/I-495 converge just southwest of Washington) round the western bit of the Beltway to Georgia Avenue between Bethesda and Silver Spring in Maryland right above the top of the District.
A little aside, if I may. I went walkabout in early 2001 to follow the Hurricanes on a West Coast swing through Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Anaheim. So I’m sitting in Phoenix’s Sky Harbor International Airport (geeks: that’s PHX!) reading the Los Angeles travel guides and the two books I have seem split on their opinions of Los Angeles traffic. One’s take was that it was no big deal at all and the other suggested that the freeways in LA were a death trap. I managed to find an Angelino in the departures lounge and decided to ask a local’s opinion as to which guide was correct. The conversation went something like this:
- ANGELINO: You’re from the East Coast, right?
- ME: Yep.
- ANGELINO: Ever driven the DC Beltway?
- ME: I drove it once but I prefer the tube!
- ANGELINO: Good. It’s far worse than anything you’ll find in LA. Even the 405 doesn’t stink as bad as the Beltway!
- ME: Great! I feel a lot better now!
Wouldn’t you know it, he was right on the mark. I only hit two traffic jams my entire time there (I-10 from Malibu and I-5 north of San Diego) and it was nothing compared to the nasty traffic we encountered from Springfield all the way round past the I-270 merge from Rockville.
Getting to Children’s National Medical Centre was still an interesting journey because the streets aren’t all that well lit south of Silver Spring. But we did see Walter Reed Army Hospital and made a couple of passes through Howard University before finally finding tiny Harvard Street NW which would get us over to Michigan Avenue NW and finally the hospital itself.
The hospital was kind of an interesting sight…it’s half futuristic-looking pod architecture and half scaffolding and finding the entrance wasn’t as easy as it could be. Once you’re in the hospital proper, it’s actually very nicely decorated and isn’t quite as bad a rabbit warren as some of the places we’ve been.
Alexander has settled into his PICU bed just fine so now it’s time for us to find the Ronald McDonald House where we’re staying for the duration of the surgery. Fortunately, it’s not too far away along Michigan Avenue (now NE) to Quincy Street NE. Our home away from home for however long it takes…