The Calm

I was contacted through the mail that I had "won" plane tickets to travel anywhere in the US (Canada or Mexico also). Skeptical? So was I. So, I called and sure enough there was a catch. I had to go listen to a sales pitch that some travel club wanted to give me. As the folks were telling me about the tickets, they also said I'd get a seven day rental car and $300 bucks in gas. Even more skeptical? The pitch was in Columbia, MD, about a 45 minute drive from the city. Still, I know what those spiels are about. You go, listen to some guy sell his head off, and then you say no and take the parting gift.

So... who could I get to go with me?

Kat and I have been talking about traveling somewhere- Hawaii, Montana, Germany (I know, all very different, right?). So, I rope her into going with me. We'd split the gift and use the tickets for our trip.

It wound up being a really fun night. We left DC around 7 PM and arrived at the travel center in time for our pitch. We sat in a room with seven other couples and listened to this guy rattle off the practical reasons why we should join his club. Basically, it boiled down to only stupid people would refuse. Or in Kat's and my case... only the people who came for the gifts.

After sitting through his hour-long praises of Global Services Network, Kat and I were split from the other fine couples and each couple was paired with a salesperson who (again) explained why only an idiot would refuse the product. Lucky us, we got Mr. Salesguy who'd we'd been listening to already for an hour. I think this guy has his own tv show on PAX television. So, he goes on to talk to us for another hour, every once in a while pulling over one of his cronies to explain more about how awesome GSN is. Yeah, we got it. Can we have our airline tickets?

When Kat and I finally made the point that we weren't budging or buying, Homeslice finally folded and gave us our gifts. We actually get to choose two gifts from a list of prizes AND got the $300 gas card. Not bad. Plus, we have a fun story to rehash as we fly to wherever we decide to go.

Last weekend Mal and a few of her friends came to DC for one last "single" weekend. Three of them (including her) arrived on the evening of the fourth. Kat came over to join in the festivities. We made plans to go to the Mall and watch the fireworks from there. So, we grabbed a blanket and headed for the Washington Monument. Most people had been out there for hours, listening to the concert and visiting the vendors set up on the Mall. Not us! We walked up in time to throw the blanket down and watch the show. We had an amazing view and the night was great despite the drizzling rain that insisted on falling. It kind of felt good. I took some pictures and will put the link at the end of the post. After the fireworks, we packed up the blanket and grabbed some grub at a neighborhood burger place before heading back to the house. Once there, Kat left and the remaining four of us and Matt watched Amelie, a French film that I love. It makes me smile.

The next day was Mal's day. She could have had the fourth too, but it kind of already belongs to our nation.

We all slept in and then Mal went with her two friends to go shopping while I prepped for the bachelorette party. The party was set to begin at 1:30, at which time only one person had arrived and Mallory wasn't there! I didn't get frazzled and everyone eventually arrived shortly before 1:45. Just in time to pack the car with picnic supplies and hit the road. Our reservation at La Grange Winery was at 3 and the drive neared an hour, according to Mapquest.

We arrived at 2:55 and made our way up the stairs to a beautiful house set on the top of a hill. The vineyard was to our left as far as you could see. As we walked into the two hundred year old house, there were people everywhere. To the left folks were crammed into a little gift shop area and to the right they were three bodies deep and surrounding a counter where three servers stood behind and served and explained wine as fast as they could.

How the heck are we going to get a private tasting in this room? I can't even see one person to whom I could easily direct my question.

He heard my thoughts. "Are you part of the group here for the tasting?" Did I shout yes? I think it was close. He herded the ten of us out the back door of the house, through a beautifully vine and bush covered walkway, and out to a barrel room that sat behind the house. It was there we opened the doors and a woman stood in a huge, quiet room with a table displayed in front of her. On the table was about two dozen different wines and crackers. Yay! Our private tasting!! We sampled wines (though not all two dozen) and walked the grounds while Rob educated us on how he makes wine. It's a fascinating process and I learned quite a bit. After our hour-long tour and tasting, we parted from Rob, bought some bottles, and spread our picnic on the ground. We then proceeded to eat, drink and gab for about two hours. It was wonderful and the weather was beautiful!

After our winery experience, we loaded the cars and drove back to DC where we topped the party off with cake and ice cream before Mal opened her gifts.

The day was memorable and everyone seemed to enjoy herself. When the weekend wrapped, Mal's grin was worth all the effort. I think her last single weekend will go down as a good one.

Pictures: The 4th of July and Mal's Party