My adventure in Virginia

Well we got to Virginia at 8:30 last night and didn't get to our hotel until 10:00. Dulles Airport is the weirdest airport I've ever been to. The baggage claim is way on the other side of the arrival section. We had to hop on to this strange looking shuttle and travel to the other side of the airport. Obviously, if we had to travel a distance to the baggage area, our bags did too. The wait for our baggage was terrible. We had to wait close to an hour.

Virginia is very pretty and suprisingly warmer than California. The cherry blossoms are partially in bloom and there's a lot of them in the area. The kids and I headed out to the mall this morning. . .the Dulles Town Center. We got to the mall at 11:00 and it was EMPTY. I saw less than 50 shoppers. I thought the mall was closed but nope, it was open. I asked the clerk at one of the stores if the mall is always this empty and she said people in Virginia don't hang out at malls - it's not "cool" to do so. I thought that was funny.

In California, even on a weekday, the malls are packed with people. The mall in our town and the San Diego area is always crowded with people. . .it's like shopping is the favorite past-time for Californians. I absolutely LOVED the emptiness of the mall here in Virginia. Parking was a breeze and there were no lines at the check-out counter. The Dulles Town Center was very clean and HUGE - lots of stores to shop at and at times we were the only ones in the stores. I LOVED it!

We're heading to Washington D.C. on Thursday. It's actually about 35 minutes from where we're staying in Virginia but my husband don't want me to drive on my own to D.C with the kids. We accompanied him on his business trip this time around so he is working right now. Compared to California, traffic is much less busy and drivers are less "pushy". In California, when I drive 75 mph on the highway, people are tailing me which I find quite annoying. It makes me nervous when I'm forced to drive faster and I'm already above the speed limit.

I'm originally from Hawaii and the speed limit on the highway is 55 mph and drivers are very friendly and courteous. When I first moved to California, it stressed me out to drive on the freeeway and the busy highways because I always drove the speed limit and I felt harrassed to drive faster. After being in California for little over a year, I no longer care. . .I drive the speed limit and don't care if someone is tailing me. . .if they can't stand it, they can always drive in the other lane. Ha!

P.S. I'll take pictures tomorrow. . .I forgot to bring my camera with me today.

Until later. . .