Arriving in DC

Here I am. I've made it, after what seemed like a never-ending day of travel. Yesterday we left home at 9am. We picked up my in-laws and then the 5 of us drove to Seattle. We drove in our 5 seater car. Our daughter in her booster seat. All our luggage for 18 days of travel in the trunk. I should have gotten a picture of it. It's a good thing that I've played Tetris so much. Man, can I pack a car! After a few potty breaks, we finally found our hotel near SeaTac airport.
Up this morning at the disgusting hour of 5:30AM! Why do planes even leave before noon?? Managed to get us all ready in time to get some breakfast at the 'free continental' breakfast bar. Bad mistake. I was welcomed with nasty coffee in a styrofoam cup with coffee mate instead of creamer. And for my splendid breakfast a blueberry muffin the size of child's fist. Believe me, the first thing I did once past security was grab a large coffee and a blueberry lemon scone.
Speaking of security. I've done this before. I know the drill. Don't wear a belt, don't wear bobby pins in the hair. Take the laptop and PSP out of the cases. All liquids in a sealed bag. What I didn't know was this. In the States, they make you take off your shoes and walk through the screening area unshod! Eeewwww. As my footwear was going through the x-ray machine ('cause I can pack a bomb in a pair of sandals) I was squeamishly walking in bare feet. So gross. Thankfully I keep some wet wipes in my bag for travel and daughter and I quickly washed our feet before replacing our shoes.
The flight from SeaTac to Minneapolis was fairly gentle. Near the end, the pilot said that they were expecting 'some' turbulence. We'll my last experience with 'some' turbulence was not pleasant. I ended up using 2 of the 'courtesy' bags. And when one spilled out onto the floor as we were leaving, the flight attendant passed me a pair of gloves paper towel and a garbage bag. So needless to say, I now take these warnings fairly seriously. I rapidly ingested a gravol, I'd already had ginger capsules, but I don't always trust the natural remedies to be as effective as the 'good stuff'. With no issues we landed. Then all five of us moved rather quickly to the other end of the airport to catch our connecting flight. Once on our way to DC the gravol began to take effect and I had myself a nice drug-induced coma (I mean nap). I woke up in time to see The Pentagon as we flew into Regan International. It is a big as it looks on TV. We could see the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial. I would have taken pictures, but I was unprepared due to my little sleepy time. And the air was thick with smog and clouds. It's overcast today, but muggy, not like at home. This morning in Seattle I was shivering while waiting for our taxi to the airport. This evening, I'm wishing for more AC. The humidity is unbelievable. I'll have to find out what the locals wear for foundation, there's no way I'm walking around for a couple weeks sans makeup!
Tomorrow we are going to meet Grandma and some aunts and uncles. These are people I've never met before and hubby hasn't seen for 30 years. I'm really hoping that there are cousins to meet, someone our own age. Anyone under the age of 60 will do! This promises to be interesting. We are hoping to go to the Smithsonian early in the week. I'll do my best to keep you all informed.