Mr. Kane Goes To Washington

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned here that we’re going to Washington D.C. as part of our summer vacation, but now you know. We’re going to Colonial Williamsburg first and spending three days there, then driving back up to Washington for the remainder of the week. It’s something that Bridget and I have talked about for years, and now that Charlotte is old enough for bigger adventures, it seemed like this year would be a good time to do it.

We decided to go just as soon as school let out for the summer, so we set our departure date for Saturday, the 13th, since school was scheduled to get out the day before. Of course, as soon as Bridget made hotel reservations, we got a big snowstorm at the beginning of March that necessitated a school closing. That knocked the last day of school around to the following Monday, but we decided not to change our travel plans; Charlotte can manage to miss the last day of school, which is only a half-day anyway and not exactly critical to her education. It’s at least an eight-hour drive from here to Wiliamsburg, which will be the longest roadtrip the three of us have ever done together, so we are even considering the possibility of leaving Friday evening to get about as far as Southern Connecticut to break things up a little.

Charlotte is still a big colonial history fan, and she is pumped to go to Williamsburg. Bridget made her this dress for Christmas, and she can’t wait to bring it with her and wear it on site. Charlotte had another growth spurt this spring, so I don’t know if the dress still fits, but knowing her she’ll find a way to make it fit somehow. My prediction is that she’ll really enjoy Williamsburg but may not like Washington as much. It’ll depend a lot on the weather (I’m hoping our early trip will cut us a break on the notorious heat and humidity of summertime Washington) and on what things we can come up with outside of visiting every stop on the Mall. We were able to score a Capitol tour pretty easily, but we won’t know whether we got on the list for a White House tour until the last minute. She will have just seen the “Night At The Museum” sequel, which takes place at the Smithsonian, so I hope that movie will have her excited to see it in person. Depending on how things go, the boat ride to Mount Vernon might be in the offing as a break from the monument-and-museum march.

Over the last several weeks, as I have been acting in my official capacity as Charlotte’s Chauffeur, I’ve been listening to other parents at dance rehearsals, softball practices, and the like all talking about trips to Disney World. When Charlotte was a baby, Bridget and I talked about the eventual pilgrimage to the House of Mouse and agreed that we would consider it when she was about eight. Well guess what. That day has arrived. Charlotte will be eight years old two weeks from Thursday.

It was Bridget who said she wanted to take a trip as a summer vacation, and it was Bridget who came up with the idea of going to Washington. Which is fine with me. I am completely on board for a trip to DC. I gave a little internal sigh of relief, though, that she didn’t suggest that we follow through on our agreement to go to Disney World. Frankly, even though Charlotte is indeed old enough for a big trip, I don’t think we’d all survive a week in Orlando. Neither Bridget nor I particularly like amusement parks, and we can just about manage to spend an afternoon at the modest digs of nearby Canobie Lake Park. A whole week, trapped in a place that is ALL amusement parks ALL the time, would be torturous.

Lucky for me…us, Charlotte isn’t seriously fixated on going to Disney World. She might mention it once in a while, but it isn’t a constant drone from her, so I know it’s not something that occupies her thinking. Taking her to places like New York and Montreal and spending our weekend activity times in Boston regularly have acclimated her to the idea that it’s fun to go to the city and see and do interesting things, so that’s her idea of a fun trip (my evil scheme is working perfectly!). It helps that she is still terrified of people in giant character costumes and knows that Disney World is crawling with guys dressed up in Mickey suits. Also, Bridget and I had not anticipated that eight-year-olds are at an awkward spot for amusement parks — too big for the little kiddie rides, too small for the thrill rides — so she might find the whole thing frustrating.

I suppose we’re not quite out of the woods yet on having to go to Disney, but I’m feeling positive that it won’t have to be a must-do for us. Meanwhile, I am starting to get excited about the forthcoming trip to DC. As usual, I’ll be dragging along a fair kit of electronics to document the entire experience, so you’ll get all the gritty details. Stay tuned.