Saturday, July 2,  9am - We packed up the room and caught a cab for Penn Station.  The place is positively heaving, so we are lucky that our train, the Amtrak Northeast Regional #99, is on time.  We settled into our business class seats and head south for the 3+ hour ride to Washington DC’s Union Station.

We took the DC Metro to Navy Yard on the Red and Green lines, and checked into our hotel.  We had a refreshing swim in the pool or “spool” (spa + pool, coined during BBT 2010 in Chicago) and then walked over to Justin’s Cafe for a great pizza dinner.  We had a great view of the TVs and got to see the Red Sox beat Houston too.  After dinner we walked a couple of blocks to enable a view of the post-game fireworks display which followed the Nats vs. Pirates game.

Sunday, July 3,  7am - Up early to cram in a couple of DC sights before we head to the 1:35pm game, we had a quick breakfast downstairs and walked over to the Metro for a four-stop green line ride to Gallery Place.  Based on recommendations from the West Coast Moores, our first stop was the Spy Museum on F Street.  Next, we walked over to the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History and took a quick, 90-minute spin through as many galleries as we could.  Next, we flagged a taxi, had a quick stop at CVS to stock up on water, spray bottles and sunscreen (100 SPF!) and then back to the Courtyard to “game up.”

1:30pm - Gawd, it’s HOT.  Our seats are in the first row, right down the 1st base foul line in screaming foul ball territory.  Nice location, but directly in the baking sun.  It’s so hot, the boys retreat to shadier seats for part of the game.  The game was a dud; the Pirates jumped out to an 8-0 lead in top of the 2nd and chased the Nats starting pitcher from the game with just four outs.  Pathetic. 

6pm - While chatting with Kate as she boarded her flight for London, we were treated to a spectacular thunderstorm right out our 14th floor window.  Next, we had a had dinner downstairs, took a swim and the boys raided the “market” for stuff to eat during our pay-per-view movie “Life as we know it.”

Monday, July 4,  9am - We packed up and headed to the Navy Yard Metro Station for the 28 minute journey to Ronald Reagan Airport.  Once at the US Airways terminal, we boarded the short flight to Philadelphia.  Luckily (or unlucky if one hates the Bombardier CJ135), our connection in PHL was contained to the “regional jet” Terminal F, so we could kick back in the US Airways lounge for 30 minutes until the connection to Cleveland boarded.