This morning, I was up at 0615 but was still tired. Fortunately, I managed to get back to sleep until around 0800 (and felt much better, as a result). After that, I got ready for my day before heading downstairs. In the living room, I played with Gipper. Meanwhile, everyone else was moving very slowly. Since the previous evening, there had been a lot of "planning" for a brunch that seemed like it would never come. To her credit, Kelly did ask a lot of people if they wanted to meet up with me - sadly, most people were busy. With the free time, I worked on eBird and blog entries - later, I started watching episodes of "Murder She Wrote". Along the way, John made me a "low carb" breakfast sandwich. That was good because no one else was ready to depart until 1130. By that point, the plan was to head to Del Rey (Alexandria) and meet Stephanie. We departed from Kelly and John's at 1215. By then, it was already over 70s degrees and sunny. We drove (via the HOV lanes on I-495) to Old Town and eventually found a place to park near Rustico, a pizza and sandwich shop that we've often visited over the years. Stephanie was already there when we arrived (1230) and, once we got seated, I ordered an "Old Virginia" (Old Fashioned) and something called a "Pizzaiolo" (open faced sandwich with spicy Italian sausage, marinara sauce and two sunny side up eggs). The food was good but also very spicy. During this time, I also tried some of Stephanie's pepperoni pizza (also good). As usual, our little group had a great conversation, with lots of news to share since our last gathering. Meanwhile, it started getting very hot (low 80s!). Another funny thing that happened was that John kept very entertained by the cars running red lights in the streets right next to our outdoor table. At 1415, we wrapped up our visit and, after saying goodbye to Stephanie (about 15 minutes later), we drove back to Vienna. It felt so very warm and I was still tired from my late bedtime - for this reason, I decided to take a nap when we arrived back to Kelly and John's. This turned out to be a good idea because I was probably in my bed for about two hours (1530 to 1730). When I woke up again, I got ready to go for a walk. Before departing Kelly and John's, though, I packed my cross country skis in the car top carrier. What a disappointing season on the trails this year - I almost never had any good snow opportunities and only logged 9.2 miles... With the late hour (and remaining heat), I had to think about where I might want to walk. Frankly, I wasn't in the mood to fight traffic in the DC Metro area... In the end, I left my car parked and just walked around in neighborhoods near Kelly and John's (started at 1820). As I expanded out from their place, I realized I was actually within about 10 minutes (walking) from the Dunn Loring / Merrifield Metro Station. There were a lot of interesting activities going on in nearby parks and at local eating/drinking establishments - the restaurants/stores near the Metro station all looked very good. Surprisingly, I logged about 3.2 miles in the 80 degree temps. When I reached Kelly and John's home again (1935), I joined them in a delicious (homemade) dinner of rice and Thai seasoned chicken (with green beans). While eating at their dining room table, we had some more good conversation. I told them about my upcoming plans and they told me about a trip they were planning. We finished eating at 2030 and then sat down in their living room to watch a little TV (we saw a "Bible Movie" about Sarah and Hagar). At 2145, even after my nap, it still felt like time for bed. Bidding my friends "good evening", I went back to the guest room and did some reading. I also caught up on emails (updated the Thanksgiving folks) and texts (lots of "thank you" messages from recent get togethers... Bedtime was at 2300. This could have been one of the laziest days I've had during my Nomad Life but it was definitely needed!
