On the way there, though, I remembered that Connor's favorite part of our trip to Chicago was the water taxi. I had heard that there was a water taxi now running between Old Town Alexandria and the new National Harbor. So, I Googled it from the car, called the water taxi company to confirm, and we were on our way.
We parked in the parking garage across the street from the Torpedo Factory and had a vehicular incident. Long story short---the roof was lower than the car and the signage indicating so was lacking. So, we're down one air dam and a roof rack (which we had to subsquently pry off the car so that we could drive it home). At the end of the night we filed a claim with the garage and we'll see what comes of that....
Despite that horror, we headed to the water taxi ticket booth on the dock behind the Torpedo Factory and got our tickets. As we wandered around killing time I said to Bob that I was curious where my friend Cindi's husband, Lyle, worked. He captains a party boat that sails from that dock. No sooner did I say it then I looked up and there was Lyle 20 feet away. Crazy! Had a nice chat with him and Connor had a good time jumping back and forth between the dock and his boat. I guess I should have been a bit more nervous about that but he seemed confident and not concerned so I just let him.
The water taxi was very large and very professionally run. Not a rinky-dink operation at all. We got some seats in the bow and enjoyed the 30 minute ride over to the Gaylord underneath the new Wilson Bridge.
We had return tickets for an hour later so we didn't have time to explore the harbor area itself. Sailing by we got a good view of it and it was nice to see "The Awakening" in its new home. I love that sculpture and had walked past it many many times at its old home in Hains Point. This place does it more justice.
The Gaylord is impressive. I've been to three of their properties and this is the least "schmaltzy" (the Gaylord Opryland wins that prize--especially at Christmas time when the fiber optic lights are enough to give you a seizure). At the Gaylord National they have a "patriotic/Virginia" theme going on which is funny since they're in Maryland. The pool deck furniture is red and blue and one of the big shops in the atrium is the Colonial Williamsburg store. There are two actual colonial style buildings in the atrium itself. The highlight for Connor was the fountain show at which he got totally soaked. Sat in the atrium and had a drink. In typical Gaylord service style, Connor's Shirley Temple came replete with something like EIGHT maraschino cherries. He was happy and hyper.
We headed back to Old Town and grabbed dinner at an italian place where we were able to snag seats out on the street. It was a beautiful night.
1 comment:
What an awesome idea for a family outing. I never thought about taking a water taxi on the Potomac, our boys would love it. Thanks for the idea, and glad you guys had a great night!
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