Back from Vacation

Hello, all. I'm back from the seat of our revered government. Thank god, the beloved Mr. Bush was off campaigning so I had the town to myself. Yes, as you can tell, I love our president with all my heart and if his plane went down in a flaming ball of fire, I would feel sorry for all the staffers who travel with him who died so tragically. So, now that everyone is aware of my political views, back to my trip. I had a great time. My brother lives in Virginia and I stayed with he and his wife right outside of DC. I went into town and apparently they weren't expecting me because what I really wanted to see...was underconstruction. Yes, for years I've wanted to see the Vietnam Memorial. I've seen pictures and always thought it very poingnant. Let me tell you, not nearly as effective when more than half of it is covered by wood to protect the names as they install new lighting. I also wanted to see the first ladies exhibit. I was a history major in another life and I thoguht that would be fascinating. Closed because of water damage. Was everyone conspiring against me? Is this because I think that our president has the intelligence of a gnat and is lying to us all??? Yes, I think so. So, we left downtown DC for the burbs. I did have much better luck at the outlet mall near where my brother lives. They have an Eddie Bauer outlet and I got 3 new sweaters for the winter. I can't wait until the weather gets cooler. I didn't get much knitting accomplished. Only the work on my sock while I was waiting to board the plane and some work on the baby hat at my brother's house and again waiting to board the plane in DC. Two things happened at the airport in DC. First and foremost, I met a knitter. Hurrah!! I just love other knitters. She admired my baby hat and proceeded to empty her bag of all of the stuff she had knitted while visiting her daughter for 2 weeks. It was quite the mutual admiration society. Secondly, some gate agent, who was obviously new because he asked a ton of stupid questions that I could have answered and I don't work at the airport and he had no clue, came up and asked "Can you take those things on the plane?" He was talking about the size 2 bamboo needles I was knitting on. Like I could do any damage with them... I looked at him like he was crazy and said, why yes you can. The TSA says that knitting needles are allowable. He said "OH." and walked away. The onetime I could have used my print-out of the TSA stuff and I had decided that I didn't need it because no one had ever had an issue...