Picture perfect weather, trip to DC

Last Wednesday was an absolutely glorious day.  In fact, picture perfect!

On Wednesday evening we had our Houserville/Mt. Nittany combined worship service.  Their praise team leader led this time which meant I could sing harmony with him.  I enjoyed that. One song he led was David Crowder's Come As You Are.  Here's the YouTube video if you'd like to listen to it.

On Thursday morning was the last women's Bible study at Calvary for this spring.  I have so enjoyed it - the worship, the teaching by Sherilyn, and getting to know the other women.  I took this picture during worship.  You can't see it very well, but the one in the middle had her little baby swaddled to herself as she led worship.  He slept through it all!

On Thursday afternoon I cleaned Lori's airbnb room and shopped for some things needed for the room.  In the evening we had choir practice.   Somewhere in there I found time to post this HILARIOUS comic which I so thoroughly could identify with and apparently so could many of my FB friends!  I said, "I don't always cook out of a box, but when I do....."

After choir practice I was so excited to see that Anthony had posted the video of Austin at his school's talent show that evening.  Here's what he said about it:  "So proud of this guy.  His obsession made for a very unique performance at the school talent show.  While other kids did normal singing, dancing, and instrument routines, Austin calmly solved a 2x2 Rubik's cube in under a minute.  For reference, I have tried many times to solve this and have never gotten further than two sides - by accident."

On Friday morning Dick did not go to work.  Instead we packed our bags and drove over to Anthony and Lori's so Anthony could take us to the bus station in town.  I was happy that Lori and the boys were still home and I got a chance to hug Hunter.  

Typical of me and my need to be early for things like bus rides and plane trips, we got to the bus station before they even opened at 9 am!  So we sat outside and waited in the pleasant sunshine.

When they did open at 9 we were told that the bus would be late and that the bus we would be transferring to in Harrisburg would wait for us.  Wow, no pressure!  After our bus arrived we were told that the intended driver had overslept!!  So the driver we had was a substitute.

The bus in Harrisburg did wait for us.  We were not the only ones from State College transferring to the DC bus.  I enjoyed the scenery along the way.  We made stops in York, PA and Baltimore, MD.

Jeremy and Mike were waiting for us at Union Station when we arrived at 3:00, and we walked to their house just two blocks away.  All of us were hungry, so their neighbors across the street, Joe and Lauren, joined us, and we walked to Union Market many blocks away.  It was a beautiful walk.  Walking everywhere is one of the things I have so loved about visiting in DC.

When we sat down in Union Market,  another neighborhood couple walked by, having no idea that we were there, and sat down with us too.  They are the ones at the very front of this picture (I only got part of his face.)  They own the Indian restaurant that is three doors down from Jeremy and Mike's house, and the marvelous fragrance of their food seasons the entire neighborhood!  Jeremy and Mike helped them a lot the first weeks that they opened, and they have been great friends, always treating us like royalty whenever we come to visit.  We had a wonderful, impromptu time together.

This was just to be appetizers, so Dick and I shared a scrumptious crab cake and cole slaw.

Then we walked to a new restaurant to get dinner, but discovered after we made ourselves comfortable in their lovely lounge, that the entire place was reserved for a private event that evening.

So we got an Uber ride to a Mexican place and enjoyed their outdoor eating area.  The weather was totally perfect.  We had such a fun time.

From there we walked for dessert to a place that specializes in pies.  So many choices!  I chose a lemon pie.

We took the street car (trolley) back to their neighborhood.

We all were really sleepy and went to bed by 10 pm that night, knowing we had a huge day ahead.

The house was already quite empty because they had shipped two pods of their belongings to Portland and had sold some things.  And of course it was messy as is always the case when moving.

We had rented a Penske truck from their nearby Home Depot, so we went to Denny's for breakfast and then picked up the truck.  The first order of business was loading everything into the truck that they would be taking to the dump.  Then Dick and Mike left with that load.  I got busy packing up the rest of the things that were in the kitchen cupboards and drawers.

When the guys got back with the truck they first of all loaded the things that we would be taking home - two beds and various other things.  Then they loaded everything else - it would be going to a studio apartment at the home of one of their friends.  We were so glad that their neighbor Joe was there to help carry heavy things down the stairs.  Also their friend Tom from Richmond drove up for the weekend and helped too.

We got their queen size guest room bed to replace our full size guest room bed. 

We also got their much newer king size Tempurpedic mattress to replace our older one.  

This bookshelf, which would go to the studio apartment, was a PAIN to get down the stairs!!  Jeremy said they absolutely had gotten it up the stairs fully assembled, so we knew it could be done, but how??  Look at Jeremy underneath it!!

They just needed some Dick Stauffer ingenuity and they figured it out!

I took this picture out their back door.  This neighborhood has been like a family to them and they all are grieving the loss of Jeremy and Mike.  There would be two farewell parties for them over the weekend. 

After everything was loaded up we went to their friend Audra's house to unload the things going into her studio apartment in the basement.  Everyone was so hot and tired by that time. 

We managed to get the things unloaded and into somewhat of a semblance of order. 

I enjoyed putting the things away in the kitchen.  This little place will be their home away from home. 

And then we went back to the house so Dick could shower, we got our bags, said our goodbyes, and were on our way by 2:30 in the afternoon!  Goodbyes were not too hard, knowing that we will be visiting them in Portland in June.  Jeremy told someone that he softened the blow of telling us they would be moving by immediately telling us that he's flying us out to see them in June.  Very smart boy!  

As we followed our google maps directions we were pleasantly surprised when we turned a corner and were facing the beautiful capital.  What an awe inspiring sight.  I will miss visits to DC.  

We were following directions to a Verizon store to drop off their Verizon equipment, since it was in the general direction we would be going.  I'm so glad we did it for them, because I got to see the Washington National Cathedral for the first time ever!

We took our time going home, stopping twice, once for a late lunch and then for ice cream cones. 

I have more pictures and stories from Sunday and Monday, but this post is too long already, so I'll try to do another post before the weekend.  The weekend!!!  My PA sisters are coming!!  Woohoo!

And by the way, Jeremy and Mike are now in Portland.  They and the dogs flew there last evening. They already had a house rented and the furniture had already been delivered.  One little incident - Watson figured out how to escape from his carrier which was under the seat.  He jumped up onto the lap of the man in the seat in front of Jeremy, completely surprising him, hahaha!!