Mr. Barrett Goes To Washington

No, he's not going as a former Boy Scout leader-turned Congressional representative...thank goodness. But yes, my wonderful husband Nathan is heading to Washington DC this week for the first time ever! He has never been to our nation's capital before, despite being a huge political junkie; a presidential election year is like a year-long Super Bowl for him. And yet, he's never had the opportunity to visit D.C. before. As you can imagine, he's very excited about it.

from tripadvisor.com

Before any of you start thinking Nathan is abandoning me to go off and have fun for a week...I want him to go, and I am very happy he gets this opportunity! The timing was right for him to go; some friends of ours from our Sahuarita LDS ward moved to the DC area just this summer, so Nathan will stay with them for a few days to save some money. Plus, he happens to be going during a national Free Museum Day promotion. That means, besides all the free Smithsonian museums, he'll be able to visit another, normally paid, museum for free! And finally, when Nathan started researching this trip several months ago, he found great round-trip fare tickets from Tucson to Washington. It was a confluence of events too good to pass up!

When I was in college, I spent a summer in Washington, D.C., doing an internship at the Library of Congress. It was one of the most fun few months of my life; I worked hard, then partied hard on the weekends, cruising every which way to visit all the sights on the east coast I'd never seen before. I also fell in love with D.C. itself; it's a beautiful city with a rich culture and history. I would definitely like to go back again someday, hopefully with the kids. However, we wanted to wait until they were a little older so they could fully appreciate the trip. In the meantime, though, this is an awesome chance for Nathan to go on a trip just for him; he will get to "soak in" the Washington D.C. experience without having to worry about anyone else. In fact, he is even meeting up with my brother Ray for a few days while in DC; Ray lives in Connecticut and it is hard for the family to visit him. I think those two will have a lot of fun palling around for the weekend!

It is true that I'm a little jealous of not getting to go along. However, I will have plenty of stuff to keep me busy while he's gone...piano lessons, school, Fiesta Sahuarita, a friend's baptism, and more. I also plan on taking the opportunity to catch up on some television shows Nathan's not interested in...I forsee some late nights of binge-watching in my immediate future! Finally (and most importantly), Nathan owes me now. Sometime in the near future (when the time is right), I will get a "me trip" of my own...it remains to be seen when and where that trip will happen, but I have plenty of time to start planning it!

So, look for some "guest posts" from Nathan in the coming weeks, as he shares photos and experiences from his trip. I realize this blog is technically "our" blog, but since I'm the one who usually does all the writing, it will be fun to have Nathan take over the reins for a while. But if the rest of the family has adventures without Daddy in the near future, you can expect blog posts on that as well! See you soon.