Going to the DMV

Our Wagons Ho! road trip in May allowed us to make some significant progress towards our amended goal of earning the Gold Master Traveler Award from the National Park Travelers Club in 2024.

 

    Units: 36 (minimum 50)

    Stamps: 87 (minimum 100)

    Regions: 4 (minimum 6)

And now that we have visited 190 National Park Service units (184 for R, technically), the 200-unit Silver Lifetime Achievement Award is also within reach. So, this trip to the DMV (DC-MD-VA) will put us over the top for both! 🙌

We took an early flight from LAX this morning, landing at Dulles around 4:00PM EDT. I've flown to IAD twice before for scientific conferences, but this was R's first time riding the people-mover shuttle thingy from Concourse D to the main terminal. Today was also the first time I realized that they bore the names of various states, which is apropos for the airport of the nation's capital. Googling "Dulles people mover" led me to two interesting articles (here and here) about the "mobile lounges" which have been in use at IAD for more than *60* years - learn something new every day! 🤯

After picking up our rental car from Hertz, we drove straight to the Holiday Inn Express in Fairfax, VA. I booked this hotel for a couple of reasons:

1. It's cheaper to stay outside of DC.
2. It's close to the things we plan to see/do over the next two days.
3. I have their credit card, so I'm loyal to their brand. Points towards free nights!

We checked out Google and Yelp to find someplace to eat dinner nearby and decided to try Okonomi Asian Grill about 1.5 miles east on Fairfax Blvd. The concept is similar to Subway/Chipotle where you can customize your order, but the comparison stops there. The protein is cooked right after ordering, and the food is much, much, much better tasting. Yum - great find!

Korean Chicken bowl (spicy, so definitely mine) and Lemongrass Bowl with Korean beef (R)

Going to bed early tonight, even for Eastern time, because we are exhausted! Tomorrow we stamp!