We got up around 6:15 on Wednesday morning, ate breakfast, and said goodbye to Fr. Paul and some of our new friends. It was bittersweet - we'd had a wonderful week and were all reluctant to leave. Andrew was offering to sign up on the spot as a new seminarian just to be able to stay.
We were out on the street when Tony realized he wasn't wearing his wedding ring. He went back in to look for it, but no luck. We had to get moving so we wouldn't miss the train. I assured him that if his ring wasn't in the luggage somewhere, I'd buy him a new one. We were lucky we'd lost a ring and not a child. The kids and I said St. Anthony prayers all the way to the station. We made it to the Metro and loaded up with all our gear when Paul called Tony. They found his ring in the cushions of the couch. Our best guess is that he laid it on the counter with his wallet and some little magpie (Sophie?) picked it up and carried it off. At any rate, we are so glad St. Anthony helped us once again and we'll be watching the mail for a package from Paul. Crisis #1 solved.
I knew the Metro would be crowded because of rush hour, so I gave the boys instructions. Tony had the two suitcases and I had the stroller. I told the boys that this was one time they were allowed to be rude and push people. Their directions were to stay with me regardless of how many people got in their way. Bless his heart, Aidan said, "But we can say excuse me if we push someone". My biggest fear was losing a kid on the Metro. (Apparently this happened recently in DC). I needn't have worried, because we made it with all bodies and suitcases accounted for.
Our next adventure was checking our luggage. We didn't bother checking it on the way to DC. Of course, it was too heavy. So we had to redistribute until everything fit correctly. We had about an hour and a half, so we let the boys spend the last of their money and walked around Union Station a little bit.
Amtrak nicely provides a "red cap" service for passengers who need assistance boarding. We were loaded onto the train and bypassed all the lines. Amtrak definitely earned bonus points for that. Since our train left at 11:10, we bought lunch in Union Station and brought it with us. Much cheaper and much easier than trying to eat lunch on the train. Good decision, it turns out.
We left the station right on time and were on schedule for awhile. Here's where the griping comes in. We had planned to eat dinner on the train (we really didn't have a choice). So we made reservations and headed to the dining car. When we got there, we were informed that the credit card machine was down and that they could only accept cash. Of course, having just finished vacation, I was not carrying enough cash to feed five people on the train. I was down to about $20. I was fairly upset and asked what exactly I was supposed to do about my three children who would be on the train until after midnight. I even offered to write a personal check. The lady behind the counter had the audacity to shrug and say "Sorry". Now, I have a fairly even-keeled temper - except when it comes to rude service industry employees or people who have wronged my children. In this case, both had happened AND I hadn't eaten since lunch which was horrible for my hypoglycemia. Luckily, Tony knows all of this about me. It is sometimes the source of arguments when he thinks I've been too harsh and I don't think he's gotten angry enough. At any rate, I knew that I was not in a good place to get into it with the rude woman, so we returned to our seats. Tony, knowing that this was truly a crisis of sorts (our snack supply was diminished enough that it could not serve as dinner) went off to find the conductor. Turns out, the woman had not even tried to get the machine fixed by calling a technician. She had just given up. The conductors were quite nice and hadn't been aware of the situation. Many people on the train were grumbling, but we were the first to complain to those in charge - hooray for us. They were debating breaking out the emergency food supply, but miraculously when the woman called the technician they were able to get the machine working again. We finally got to eat dinner around seven (eight hours after lunch). About that time, it started storming, which slowed the train down considerably. After dinner, we headed back to our seats and settled in to get the kids to sleep. Around nine, the train stopped and the power went out briefly. The lights came back on, but the train didn't move. The conductor came through and told us that the storm had left a power line down on the tracks as well as causing a natural gas leak. All traffic was stopped indefinitely and crews were on their way, but we were looking at three to ten hours possibly. Arrgh... as if things could get any worse.
We sat for about two hours or so, and then miraculously started moving again. Unfortunately, during the lull a group of passengers had spent time in the cafe car drinking. As the train started moving, they stumbled back to their seats and proceeded to talk and laugh loudly using language less than appropriate and other odd behaviors until we arrived in Cincinnati. Aidan and Sophie slept through it, but Andrew was wide awake. I moved him to a different seat so he at least couldn't see some of the crude behaviors. We arrived in Cincy at 3:30 am - two and a half hours late - and I have never been so glad to get out of a situation in my whole life. I really wanted to tell our "friends" what I thought of their behaviors in front of my children, but I refrained knowing it wouldn't have made any difference. The only plus side it that I finished the fairly fat book I was reading, even if I couldn't sleep. We made it home about 5:15 Thursday morning.
Wow, what a disappointing end to an otherwise fabulous, amazing, wonderful week! We truly had a great trip and are so glad we made it home safely. Back to the real world on Monday!
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