rechelle's lifelyrics

Remember when I told you I took a detour to San Antonio, Texas on the way home from Tennessee after Mother’s Day? Well, my story about our Washington DC trip started while I was on my first solo travel excursion last May. After a very full day on the Premium City Tour with Alamo & River Walk Cruise followed by a wonderful dinner at Iron Cactus on the River Walk, I decided to take my book downstairs and have a glass of wine in the Embassy Suites restaurant. I was sitting at a small booth reading Ann Patchett’s book, “These Precious Days,” just relaxing by myself.

All of the sudden, a young woman dressed in a business suit sat down across from me and said, “You’ve been chosen.” Of course, I was startled, and baffled. After apologizing for alarming me, she explained that a very generous man had asked her to tell me he was prepared to gift a vacation to me. I realized she was wearing a uniform and badge for Hilton Grand Vacations about the time a man about my age approached the table. She introduced him as “Nick.” After our brief introduction, he handed her his credit card and walked over to the bar where he was talking with a couple of other guests.

“If you could go anywhere in the United States, where would you like to go?”

Well, ever since before we were married, Ray has talked about wanting to go to the Smithsonian Institution. From time to time, we would dream of being able to take our kids across the country to visit Washington DC as part of their homeschooling education, but we never had the funds to follow through on that dream. Now that I’m retired, and he has built up plenty of vacation time, we could actually consider making a trip to see some of the museums for a few days.

Miranda showed me the brochure that showcased Embassy Suites in Georgetown as one of the destinations. Nick paid almost $500 for our vacation package that included 3 nights on my Hilton rewards account for that location. The only caveat was that Ray and I would be required to schedule and attend a 2-hour Hilton Grand Vacations presentation during our stay.

Of course, I was incredulous. I made several phone calls the next few days to verify this was legitimate, and that there were no other strings attached.

Wow. We were going to get to do this thing after almost 40 years of talking about it.

We watched YouTube videos about the best museums to visit, and must-see’s in the area. I booked the flights, and wrote to our Congresswoman for tickets to the White House & Capitol Building. We invited Justin & Kara to meet us for a few days of our trip, because Justin has talked a lot about wanting to visit the Smithsonian’s Air & Space Museum. We were all getting excited to visit Washington DC.

But as you know, the government shutdown meant no Smithsonian museums. The Capitol Building tour was a no-go. Ballroom construction on the White House meant no access. I urged Justin and Kara to make the trip anyway, because I was sure there would still be plenty to do in spite of everything we couldn’t do.

We had a fabulous time! The first highlight was the evening Trivia Walking Monument Tour. I highly recommend that tour – day or evening – because it is a small group, and you really get to experience each amazing monument at the National Mall. Every day, we had amazing meals, and we didn’t have enough time to visit all of the publicly-owned sights of interest. In fact, Ray and I extended our trip 2 more nights after Justin and Kara went home so we could do a couple things we didn’t have time to do with them: ride the George Washington Memorial Parkway trail and visit Mount Vernon. There are so many things we wouldn’t have done if the federal buildings and museums were open. I am very grateful that Nick picked me, and that his gift helped us make that wonderful, memorable trip.