Safe arrival in Washington

We made it. At times I didn't think we would, but we made it.

Our DrupalCon journey started off this morning at 2:45am when I got out of bed and got my last few things together for the trip. Jeff was at my place a half hour later to pick me, and subsequently Trevor, up for the drive to Calgary. It was raining pretty heavily in Lethbridge, and as Jeff correctly predicted, that meant snow in Calgary.

The weather deteriorated quickly as we neared Calgary. Heavy snow reduced visibility to the point where we suspected our flight would be significantly delayed. On Barlow Trail, nearing the airport, we saw a taxi cab that had moments earlier rolled in the median; the wheels were still spinning as the cab laid on its roof. Jeff did a great job of enduring the elements to get us safely to the airport.

Our flight in Calgary boarded on time; however, we were delayed on the tarmac waiting for the de-icing truck to make it's way to us. Apparently the de-icing crew was having an unexpectedly busy morning. We ultimately ended up leaving Calgary over an hour late.

We all managed to get a little bit of sleep on the flight, and arrived in Chicago at 1:05pm local time -- just in time to see our connecting flight to Washington take off. Luckily we were re-booked on another flight only an hour later.

We touched down at Washington-Reagan at about 5:00pm local time. After standing around like lost tourists for a while, we eventually figured out what transit passes to buy, and what train to board. We proceeded towards our hotel on the Metro rail, and ultimately got off the train too soon. A transit employee warned us that it would be a very cold walk outside; we assured her it would be no problem, since we are from Canada. We counted on about a four block walk from the station to our hotel, but learned that DC street math isn't like other cities.
Not only to the blocks seem unusually long here, but it seems that numbered streets alternate with streets named for U.S. states. This means that if you are going from 14th street to 17th street, count on it being at least 6 long blocks. We also found that there is a metro stop immediately below our hotel. We've already found this very handy.

We checked in to our hotel and quickly headed out for the Capitals game. We and 19 other DrupalCon attendees took in the game where the Caps disappointed the home crowd, allowing two short-handed goals and losing 5-2. Tomorrow Trevor and I will see about getting tickets for Thursday night's game.

After the game we decided on going for a walk to see the White House and stop at 7-Eleven. I snapped a few photos of the White House and the other buildings along the same block there and then stocked on Cherry Coke. How I miss Cherry Coke. We need a petition to bring this stuff back in Canada.

Wednesday morning we will check-in for DrupalCon and begin with the great sessions that await us. Watch for more tomorrow!