Rallying for Sanity (including my own)

a wee bit of Rally traffic on I-95

The past few days have been jam packed with sleepovers, cupcakes, and sunshine (enough for multiple blog posts, so stay tuned).  Dan, Judah and I left on Friday afternoon for a visit with some lovely relatives in Bethesda/Washington DC.  The plan was to celebrate Shabbat with them on Friday night (dinner was delish!), participate in the Rally to Restore Sanity on Saturday and then relax together on Sunday morning, returning home/my parents' house on Sunday evening.  Surprisingly everything mostly went according to plan (barring some major I-95 traffic on the way there and back).

I was really looking forward to this weekend for a number of reasons.  First and foremost, we hadn't seen our sweet relatives since Passover (yikes!), and also because I'd been saving the Rally as a date I was hoping to have energy enough to pack a suitcase for.  We'd reserved this weekend for a visit a while ago, but were unsure of the location until this week (no kitchen=no visitors), when I thought I felt up to traveling a few hours from home.

The Rally was unbelievable.  First, we walked to the nearest Metro station (along with a few hundred thousand other people coming from the DC burbs), where the ladies (and Judah) waited while the men stood in line to buy us MetroCards.

darn, we shudda bought our metrocards yesterday

The amount of people that piled into the Metro (Judah's first time on any subway - quite an initiation) was a sight to behold.  Luckily, a younger girl saw me carrying (read: clinging to) Judah and gave her seat up to us.  Everyone else was squished like sardines, and while I could sense a cool breeze of the a/c once in a while, it was getting H-O-T.  I was tempted to take off my sweatier-by-the-second hat, but decided against it, better not to give my up close and personal neighbors an up close and personal view of my head.

We finally made it off of the Metro and out of the station (not as easy as you'd think, what with broken escalators and a half a million people and all), only to be stunned by the number of people in the streets surrounding the National Mall.  I was totally energized by the fresh air (okay, maybe because it wasn't recycled air) and the energy up on the street.  Organized groups of people dressed in the same shirts (I Heart Reasonable People), and signs that broadcast funny, clever, political, pithy, noteworthy (and not) slogans were everywhere we looked. 

After a potty stop at my sister-in-law's conveniently located office building, we made it down to the mall and finally found a picnic spot (2 hours after we'd left the house that morning).  We could neither see nor hear anything happening on the main stage, but it was enough just to be a part of the whole event.  We took off our shoes, relaxed on a pink bedsheet/picnic blanket and enjoyed our PB&J sandwiches. 

our view of the capitol bldg.

The official rally ended, but we were in no rush to leave.  The sun was shining, we had a comfy spot in the grass and we knew the Metro would be pretty crowded on the way out of the city, too.  But, once it was clear that Judah (now past his usual naptime) should have been at home, in bed, (and after Dan took him on a slightly scary potty-seeking adventure) we packed everything up and called it a day.

We stopped at the office again for clean potties, cold drinks and (more PB) snacks before "hopping" the Metro back to Bethesda.  When the train pulled into the Gallery station, everyone cheered (it had been more than 10 minutes since the last one drove through PLUS this one was completely empty)!  We all scrambled for seats (and got them), and we held on tightly as more sardines packed into the car for the next eight stops.

Judah's first Metro ride

Exhausted, we arrived back at the comfy apartment, changed into sweats and started to plan for dinner.  All in all, it was a day to remember in DC - and even if the rest of the national media paid no attention to the Rally (and it's overwhelming mobs of sane people), it made the cover of the Washington Post.

Forget the fact that Judah had a total meltdown around 7 pm that night (a bit too much activity for one napless day), focus on the great company and yummy takeout. 

Sunday morning, we were up bright and early.  We took Judah to a cute little park in the neighborhood and then walked over to the famed Georgetown Cupcakes to choose some treats to take home.

a few cupcakes never made it home

Hugs were shared, car was packed and we belted in, ready for the drive back home.  Judah took a nice nap, we enjoyed some gourmet sandwiches (made on Philadelphia bread!) and made it back in time for dinner at my parents' house a.k.a. our temporary home base.  Thanks to A and R for a wonderful weekend!  Good luck to my parents for the days ahead.


Everyone better get out and vote!! 

xxoo

ps. I will add more pics from the rally later tonight.  Check back for excellent signage.