Earthquake

I was in Washington D.C. when the earthquake rumbled through the East Coast on Tuesday.  I have been in the D.C. area since Wednesday when I flew in from Hawaii.  I'm in town, staying at a hotel in Maryland while I complete my IVF cycle.  Monday I hung out mostly in my hotel room, sewing and working and watching endless amounts of TLC, so Tuesday I was ready to get out and see something.  I went to my DR's appointment, took a nap, watched a little more TLC, and finally made it out of my hotel room around 1:00.  I navigated my way through the subway system and onto the Mall to see the National History Museum.  It was a beautiful day, warm but not too humid, the museum was not very crowded and I was excited to get lost in the history and culture of my fair country. 

I got a map, and started in on the first exhibit when the earthquake struck.  I don't recall ever experiencing an earthquake before, and for some reason I naively thought it was part of the exhibit - sort of like the earthquake houses they have at some children's museums, or maybe it's just OMSI.  Either way, it was very surreal.  I looked to my fellow museum goers and they looked equally confused and unsure of what to do next.  Could I continue through the museum, would we be evacuated and then let back in?  We started conversing about the next steps when the alarm lights and horns sounded making it very obvious that we were wanted outside NOW.  So outside to the Mall we went, everyone pulling out their cell phones to check news and call friends. 

I sat on a lovely bench soaking in the sun for a while, but when it became clear they weren't letting us back in that day, I braved the metro, which was mercifully still operating, and went home to my hotel room.  The subway was only running at 15 mph making it a LONG trip home, but I met some very nice women on the way.  So while my foray to the National History Museum was a total bust, my desire for adventure wasn't.  I went and saw and experienced, met very nice people, and forgot about IVF for a few hours - totally successful day.