I just got back from downtown DC where I toured the Capital and had lunch with my son. No trip to a big, unfamiliar city would be complete without at least one episode of me getting completely lost. There was some mini-confusion when I emerged from Union Station and wasn’t sure which way the Capital building was. My daughter-in-law had nicely printed off a map of the relevant area, including Union Station, the Capital, and my son’s office. As I was gaping at it, mystified, I realized I’d have to snag a local for some help. After the woman I’d asked pointed at a large dome in the distance thrusting up through the trees and said, “That’s the Capital,” I knew even I’d have no trouble finding it.
It was after the tour when I exited the Capital building that I got myself totally turned around. I had no idea how to turn the map to coincide with the street names I was seeing. Even the recourse of asking a local was only partly successful. It wasn’t until I’d fulfilled my obligation to go off half-cocked in the wrong direction before finally, finally figuring out where I was that I was able to get on the right track. The funny part is, my son had asked me at 11:30 if I could wait until noon for lunch. Since I needed time to get lost before I got found, the extra half hour was appreciated.
After lunch, I walked over to the downtown Barnes and Noble to autograph shelf stock. There are two B&N in DC, one in the Union Station Metro, and the downtown one on 12th & E. With “get hopelessly lost” ticked off on my agenda, I had no trouble locating the 12th Street store. They’d ordered in three copies of Tankborn, but along the way to the store, I met a woman who was headed to B&N to buy books as a birthday gift to herself.
When she found out I was an author and that I was glad to autograph a book to her, she insisted on buying one of the three copies. Whee! Thank you, Tracy. And thanks to Ruth, the wonderful, helpful B&N sales associate.
Fun day for me. How has your week been going?