The Finn Family: Braves vs. Nationals, June 2

On June 2, Nathan and I headed up to Washington DC with our good friends Kevin and Bekah to see the Braves play the Washington Nationals. We've wanted to see the Braves play in DC since we moved here, but this is the first time we have made the trip. Sad confession: Nathan and I have not actually visited DC (before this trip). I know, it's sad--we only live 4.5 hours away! We should do that....

Back to our trip! We picked up Kevin and Bekah and settled in for a nice car ride without any children (love my kids, but it was much quieter!). We ate lunch at a 'throw back' Arby's--it had so much variety, and wonderful character as evidenced by their sign. Outside of DC we hit traffic, and what should have taken 4.5 hours took over 7!! I still have no idea if the traffic was for the baseball game or something else. We had a lot of fun picking out Washington DC landmarks from our car, like the Capitol Building, or the Pentagon, which is where the traffic was the heaviest. Parking is expensive close to the park, so we parked several blocks away. By the time we parked and walked to the park, it was about an hour after the game had started at 4 p.m. Unfortunately, that was not the end of our troubles! We had purchased our tickets online and printed them out at home. As we entered the ballpark, Kevin went through the ticket line, then myself, then Bekah, and Nathan was at the end. Bekah's printed ticket did not have a bar code on it, so she was stopped. It was bizarre--everyone else had a bar code, and her ticket was not messed up in any way (so it wasn't like you couldn't read the bar code--it just wasn't there). After calling someone over to look at the ticket, they sent Bekah to the box office to reprint a new ticket. Nathan had not passed through the line yet, so he waited with Bekah while Kevin and I waited in the park itself. Every moment we were waiting was time not watching the game, and since Stephen Strasburg was pitching, the game was FLYING by! I used the time to take pictures of the park (Kev did too) and thankfully Bekah was issued a new ticket and we got our seats. By this time, it was almost 5:30 and we were at the bottom of the 5th inning. The rest of the game flew by, the Braves lost to the Nationals, and we were only there for about an hour of the baseball game. No, my husband was not terribly happy. I told him he could take a trip to ATL to see the Braves play this year if he wants! We ate dinner in the ballpark after the game, just because we could and we wanted to hang around for a little while. After we left the park, we drove around DC for a few minutes before heading back home that same day. It was an exhausting, disappointing day on many levels. However, we had a wonderful time with our friends, with HOURS of great, thought-provoking conversation. Enjoy the photos.