UGH! For the last 2+ hours, we have been standing outside, across the street from our hotel, The Embassy Suites, in D.C. I was actually in bed for an hour before that, I haven't been feeling well all day, and had put my jammies on and got into bed. But we heard a lot of sirens and looked out the window; we watched for a good 30 minutes outside our room, lots of cops, blocking off the street, a K-9 car, etc. - we were figuring a robbery or something. DH went downstairs to the front desk to pick up passes he sent to their printer for the Holocaust Museum tomorrow, and called me and said they were evacuating the hotel. So I started dressing (It's COLD here today - and raining!), was grabbing my jewelry and our meds, and there was an announcement that a suspicious package had been found in one of the elevators and everyone had to leave. Not just the hotel, but all the shops on all floors as well. UGH!

So we stood outside, luckily we found a spot out of the pouring rain, and after a while someone came over and told us that they'd waited as long as they could to evacuate us, and they had to wait for HazMat to show up, they had arrived and were suiting up, and that we could go down the block to this Italian restaurant and *have something to drink and some snacks* for free. We didn't go - we figured it would be incredibly crowded, and besides that, we are having dinner there Friday night with all of DH's friends, and had already had something to eat.

They just let us back in. I am so glad, not only because I'm sick, but DH's laptop was here and both of our DSLR cameras were in the room - I didn't take the time to pack those thing up or try to grab them after he called me from the lobby. He reminded me they were insured, but *I* was concerned because my pictures were in those cameras! LOL

So, if you hear anything on the news, we were there, and not too pleased about it. Apparently everything was fine, because nothing blew up! LOL

By Bobbie~moderatr on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 - 08:42 pm:

I hope the rest of the trip is less eventful... LOL

By Dramamamma on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 - 11:12 pm:

Oh goodness, I'm glad it was nothing and you were/are safe.

By Nicki on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 - 11:16 pm:

How awful for you, Karen! I'm glad everything turned out to be okay.

I'm sorry to hear you aren't feeling well. It's hard enough to be sick, but worse when you're away from home. I hope you are feeling better tonight.
Take care.

By Dawnk777 on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 - 11:29 pm:

I hope the rest of the week goes better. I'm sorry that happened and that you are feeling better soon.

By Dandjmom on Thursday, June 19, 2008 - 10:38 am:

I heard aBOut it that night on the 11 o'clock news. I know that it was a major interruption from your rest ( and hope you feel beter) but here in WDC it's become pretty common for this sort of thing almost on a weekly basics some months with our post 9-11 times. Someone will leave there bag behind, leave a package on the subway, etc. and this is the procedure now.

Well at least you missed all the wind and heavy rain that I was caught in around 4-4:30 pm that evening. I was at Union Station and the winds where so strong a lot of us thought it was a hurricane. which no confirmend reports so we know now that it wasn't, but the wind was so strong that it actually pushed a man that was sitting in his wheel chair across the sidewalk. someone ran out and grabbed him.

I'm glad it turned out to be nothing and I hope you have a nice time the rest of your trip. The past two mornings have felt like spring mornings and warming up in the evening but not too hot. ( all the humidity is gone).

By Debbie on Thursday, June 19, 2008 - 10:49 am:

Well, at least nothing blew up!!! LOL! I hope you start feeling better, and you have a great time for the rest of your trip.

By Karen~admin on Thursday, June 19, 2008 - 09:29 pm:

Yeah, DH did say that since 911, they take NO chances here with anything suspicious. It wasn't *that* big of an imposition, I was just very nauseated, and being outside in the cold rain wasn't much fun - even though I found a spot to sit right outside of Neiman's door that was covered, the wind was blowing the rain on me.

Today we spent 6 hours in the Holocaust Museum. I had to keep myself from crying about half a dozen times - it was so distressing, but it was one of my *must-see/do* things, and I'm very glad we went. We have been busy busy busy every day, and it's been kinda rough on me physically, but I've enjoyed every minute of it.

As for whatever I was *ill* with yesterday, must have been viral, because Jen called from home and was sick all day with the exact same thing. By this morning, after sleeping for 10 hours, I was over it. :-)

I'll be back home this weekend and will try to catch up on the board.

By Marcia on Thursday, June 19, 2008 - 10:19 pm:

I'm glad that you're feeling better, Karen, and that you're enjoying the sites. Sorry to hear about the scare in the rain!

By Reds9298 on Friday, June 20, 2008 - 09:13 am:

Glad you're feeling better. What a scare! Probably felt pretty weird. Enjoy the rest of your trip!

By Rayelle on Friday, June 20, 2008 - 10:20 am:

Oh how scary! I want to return to the holocaust museum as an adult. I went not too long after it opened when I was in high school.

By Yjja123 on Friday, June 20, 2008 - 10:57 am:

Glad to hear that you are feeling better!
Hope you have a better day today!

By Bea on Friday, June 20, 2008 - 04:17 pm:

Bummer Karen. I hope the rest of the trip is more fun. ENJOY!!!

By Angellew on Friday, June 20, 2008 - 09:51 pm:

So glad you are feeling better.

For many years, I worked for a non-profit human rights organization and we took an annual trip to the Holocaust Museum with a plane full of teenagers/high schoolers. It was an all-day event, with touring the museum for a few hours, and then taking them to a hotel for lunch and a dialogue with a survivor. I did that trip six times and I cried hysterically every time I went through the museum. And I was very taken by the effect on the kids we took. Very mature, heartfelt conversations on the plane ride home.

I will agree, it is definitely a must do in Washington