What Not to do in a Heat Wave

We've been wanting to get out and see some of the sights since we came all this way, so we decided that we were not going to let the staggering humidity stop us from riding the Metro to the zoo on Saturday. Little did we know, however, that this particular Saturday had been designated for doing track repairs and maintenance, so we could expect up to 60 minute delays. We spent a lot of time waiting to get on the train only to sit and wait for it to go. It was HOT. When we got to our final destination we took the strollers up the longest, scariest escalator I've ever seen and walked a few more blocks along the very balmy street and took a break at a Starbucks before we walked across the street to the entrance of the zoo. We made it about 20 yards inside then stopped for some gelato. After seeing (and smelling) the elephants we got some frozen lemonade. They also had little misting sprinklers set up all over so everyone congregated around those. Everyone looked red and sweaty and miserable. Was it worth it? I think so. Jayson always has a good time when sprinklers and/or animals are involved. Aidan slept through most of it, waking up only when we encountered air conditioned areas, like Starbucks and later the delicious Italian restaurant that we ate at (or maybe it was the food that woke him up?). Jay and I felt like we were doing what we ought to do: gettting out and seeing the sights of our new town. They did have one cool exhibit:the primates have a big system of poles with ropes that attach and they can go out of their fences and just walk along their rope system way up in the sky, like tight rope walkers. We were very entertained and hoped to see what we thought would be very funny: perhaps one might need to pee while overhead? But no such luck...they were very polite and made it safely across. So we headed to the nearest sprinkler. After lunch we went to museums downtown and saw some African art and a new exhibit of the work of Jim Hensen. Jayson was scared of the puppets at first...he didn't want to look at them, even Bert and Ernie! Funny! Jay kept trying to peel Jayson's hands away from his face to make him look. That usually doesn't work, and this was not an exception. We shared the Metro back with a big group of Future Farmers of America, which was hilarious. High schoolers are almost always an excellent source of comic relief (unless they're your own, I think). It was a full day and we decided that anymore adventure seeking will just have to wait until it's a bit cooler. Besides, Jay leaves tomorrow for LA and when he gets back he'll most likely leave right away for Southern Virginia. We may go with him, because I don't know how else I'll be able to keep up with my marathon training. That, by the way, is going very well in spite of the heat. I just have to get up really early. Which reminds me that I really need to get to bed!