Leanne was due to return from Ohio today, so Marg and I left home in Leanne's car around 11.30am to pick her (and her boss Yvette), up at Ronald Reagan National Airport about two hours later.
I would normally have programmed Leanne's GPS to guide us to RR National, but that would no doubt have taken us via the interstates, which is what I would prefer to avoid, if possible. Brian suggested another route involving minor roads, but nonetheless a direct route and that combined with a map recon and some important notes, proved a war winner. We arrived in about 40 minutes, so we had plenty of time, which again was part of the plan. It was an easy drive, though some of the cloverleaves and overpass combination together with a confusing array of road signs and sundry information, could easily be too much for a novice driver. So trusting to luck and the notes, it turned out to be less stressful than trying to cross Albany Highway on a bike !
RR National is an easy place to drive through and find parking - it's very well signposted. There weren't too many travellers in the airport and as we had a surfeit of time, we indulged with a coffee and donuts at Dunkin' Donuts, while waiting for our two passengers. We set ourselves up at the arrival gate at the appointed time and after asking directions from the many underemployed TSA staff (Transportation Security Administration). There are 45,000 staff in the TSA (I think I saw most of them hanging around RR National today) and it operates with an annual budget of $8.1 billion.
Anyway as I said, we organised ourselves to be at the arrivals gate at the appointed time, after reassuring ourselves by asking questions of the very disinterested TSA Staff, that we were in the right area.
Surprise, surprise, after the time had come and gone, we received a text from Leanne saying "Where are you?". It seemed that the unthinkable had occurred - the plane was early !
However once everyone had recovered from the shock, we married up and returned home safely. Leanne had actually taken part in something akin to Gordon Ramsay's Hells Kitchen, but this was called "Restaurant Impossible", hosted by Robert Irvine.
See this from Wikepedia:
Restaurant: Impossible is an American television program broadcast by the Food Network. The first episode premiered on January 19, 2011, at 10pm EST. Each episode, Chef Robert Irvine is given the "mission" of making the impossible possible by renovating a failing restaurant. He must be finished after two days, and can only spend $10,000. With the assistance of HGTV designers Taniya Nayak, Vanessa De Leon, Krista Watterworth, and Cheryl Torrenueva, along with general contractor Tom Bury, Chef Irvine redesigns the menu, renovates the restaurant, improves the service, and then reopens the revived restaurant.
On this occasion Yvette and Leanne were the two who renovated the restaurant. If their general demeanour was a yardstick (they were both exhausted), I've no doubt they did a sterling job.
Went out for tea to the Outback Steakhouse.
