Ashburn, VA (USA)

[one of my squadron mates from Jacksonville and Meridian recently connected with me on Linkedin - our wives used to do a lot of things together while we were away on cruise, so they started talking again too - soon, we had set up a get together at Matt and Vicky's house in Ashburn - it had been awhile since the whole family went somewhere together... - we took the Beltway, I-66, VA-28 and US-50 and Louden County Parkway and made our way to the "dark side" of Dulles Airport - it took roughly an hour to make it to their house (1330L) - when we arrived, we met their two Rodesian Ridgebacks and three of their four kids - our kids were close in age, so they weren't terribly bored while the adults reminiced - we enjoyed finger foods and beer/sodas for several hours - it actually started sleeting (with some accumulation - mostly slush) - Matt and I went to the nearby town center (very nice) to pick up some supplies and it was downright cold! - back at their house, Vicky and Matt cooked up a great meal (brats, potato caserole and a great caesar salad) - the kids sat together in the other room and seemed to have great conversations - we ended up leaving close to 1800L after a nice visit - we drove home via the Greenway/Dulles Toll Road - I hadn't used it before from this far out - with a $7 plus toll each way, I would be pretty mad to have to use this road - slush and actual snow accumulation met us near Tysons Corner but we made it home OK (much faster than the way up) - what a nice visit!]