A Weekend

Right after I’ve read, considered, and deleted an email offer for two nights of hotel stay somewhere in our capital city of Washington DC at a good discount, Tom called and asked, “Would you like to stay in a hotel for two nights?” I was dumbstruck and could only utter a tentative “Why?” It turned out that Tim, our friendly neighbor, somehow had an empty and already-paid-for room in a local hotel due to an early departure of one of his clients’. Tom explained that we’d check in on the same day and can stay for two nights. I said, “Yes.”

When Tom confirmed that it was a go, he didn’t give me much time to pack. I quickly assembled a weekend worth of clothing and accessories. On the way out, I thought of my camera but decided against it, figuring it was time for me to try to take more photos with my iPhone.

It was just a right time to spend two nights away from home in a local hotel. A few days earlier, it was Tim who heard and alerted us to a racket our outside A/C unit made. Tom turned the unit off and made a call to a company recommended by our online Nextdoor neighborhood community. Then he took off to take our out-of-town relatives on a sight-seeing trip and left me home alone to deal with the HVAC technician. When the technician quoted a $1k price tag to fix the unit, I figured it was time to retire it, given that it had served us well for 20 years and that someone had recommended its replacement three years earlier and its life expectancy is less than 20 years. Ron said I should replace the heating unit at the same time. I said perhaps I should replace the water heater as well. Ron agreed. He sent his boss over to give me an estimate. Before Carl gave me the estimate, he asked when I would decide on the new system. It might not have been the best response, but I said, “Right away because I don’t have A/C.” I didn’t have time to shop around. I just hoped we had picked the right company. Carl assured me he gave me a great deal and that I’d love his company. He didn’t rush off but spent time talking. It was strange that we, two strangers on a business transaction, talked politics on our first meeting, but we did. As we talked, I sensed that we were not totally on the same wavelength, but it was okay. Carl seemed to be a nice guy.

For a few days since Ron and Carl came, Tom and I were without the full service of our A/C. We had the fan on. The A/C unit is not yet completely dead, so I turned it on occasionally before Tom would turn it off again. The indoor temperature was somehow bearable. I don’t know if Tim knew we were without an A/C, but if we needed to pick a perfect time to spend in a local hotel room, this was it.

When we got to our hotel, we didn’t even have to wait in line. We were recognized as Tim’s guests and were given the keys to our room on the fourth floor. From our room, we could see the theater we once had season tickets for and the surrounding restaurants. We went to a restaurant we knew and had a “love boat,” which is a combination of maki, nigiri, and sashimi. After dinner, we got ourselves gelato for dessert at a gelato store. Back to our room, we relaxed with chocolates, vlahovac, and limoncello brought from home. Tom was excited that we were going to sleep under a blanket, and we did.

Tom was going to skip his morning run with his running partner, but when Didier suggested to change it to Sunday, their off day, Tom felt guilty and went back to running. Tom got back from running before breakfast was served. We decided to chill out and do things we would not normally do. After breakfast, we went to the Reston Farmers’ Market. The market opens at 8 a.m. and we approached it around 8:15 a.m. Cars were already parked on the streets and extended 2-3 blocks away on each side of Lake Anne Plaza. We didn’t even try the Lake Anne parking lot, but drove on and parked a few blocks away on a side street. Tom thought there got to be something else going on, but the traffic was truly just for the Farmers’ Market. That is amazing. We took our time at the market. We sat at the lake for a while, snapping pictures and enjoying the view. Tom held conversations with a few vendors and people carrying petitions for Reston residents to sign. I fulfilled my plan to buy at least one item from the market. I got a basil plant and a soap bag. Afterwards, we went to a nearby park and ate some of the peaches Tom bought. Tom found a chess table and wanted to pretend to be thinking of a move. He currently plays on-line chess with two people.

My phone stopped working while we were at the park. We went back to the hotel so we could refresh ourselves, put the basil plant and peaches away, and see if my phone needed charging. Then we checked out the brewery that Tim told us about. We were hoping to have lunch at the brewery. But when we got there, we were amazed at the line of customers, which wrapped around a corner and as far as we could see, to another corner of the complex. We asked a guy who was pulling a cooler full of beer to his car about the wait. He said he was in line at 9:45 a.m. The brewery opened at 11 a.m. and it was after noon at the time. We didn’t think any beer was worth waiting in line for. We discovered a vegetarian restaurant and had lunch there.

We wanted to visit the Reston Nature Center in the afternoon. We had not been to the Nature Center since it was rebuilt. On the way to Reston, we swung by the brewery again to see if there was still a line. It was about 12:45 p.m. and there was no more line. The brewery doesn’t sell food, only beer. They release only one kind of beer at a time. We were told each of us was limited to three four-packs and it costs $17 a pack. Tom said one pack is enough, thank you very much. Tom couldn’t understand why people stood in line for more than two hours to spend $17 on a 4-pack of beer. As I said something about next time, something like we’d know when to show up, Tom interrupted me with “There will be no next time.” Although Tom complained about the price tag, he admitted it was a very good beer when we split a 16-oz can for dinner later.

The Nature Center closed at 1 p.m., but we got there just in time to get a map of the trails. We took one of the trails to Lake Audubon. There’s a pretty pond at the Nature Center with many dragon flies. I wished I had my camera then. I couldn’t capture the dragon flies with my iPhone. Then we took a cross-county trail that Tom remembers from the time we lived in Reston. The tall trees gave us shade and it was a nice day to hike. The trail was very narrow and we figure we’d suffer later if any of the plants along the path were poison ivy.

After the hikes, I took a nap while Tom went to the pool. We liked lunch so much that Tom went back to the same place to buy dinner. He brought the food back to our hotel room which has a kitchenette. The beer was great with the spicy Indian food. Afterwards, we curled up in bed and finished up our vlahovac and limoncello while watching television.

It was a nice unexpected vacation. It’d be perfect if I could tell you we had a new A/C when we got home. However, I can tell you that it was 72 degrees as we pulled the car into our garage at 8:15 a.m. and that was not bad - not bad at all.