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In the Company of Grandchildren
A Vacation Adventure in the U.S. Capital
By Carol Greenberg
I recently saw a cartoon captioned, "Grandma is someone who visits twice a year and brings presents." That bothered me a great deal. Was I that grandmother?
With three of my grandchildren living in Texas and three in Pennsylvania, I suppose I could be that person and it made me think of ways to change the situation. I became determined to spend quality time with them and decided to take the three older children – ages 6, 8, and 10 – on a special trip. No parents, just the grandkids and me.
After pouring over the travel section of the newspaper and consulting with my travel agent, I decided that Washington, D.C., would be the ideal place. Since the children were all of school age and were learning about their country it would be appropriate for them to see the Capitol Building, White House and Washington monuments.
Family and friends viewed my decision with comments such as, "Are you crazy?" "You will be exhausted." "You are amazing." "Lots of luck!" I knew better. The children were well behaved, and it would be an experience they would remember all of their lives. The truth is, I really wanted them to know their grandmother and see a side of me they'd never known before. After all, I did raise their fathers and they turned out (I think) just fine.
We left Philadelphia, Pa., early in the morning. I had plenty of goodies for the two-hour ride on the train and the kids had travel games and each other. The two from Texas would be spending time with their Philadelphia cousin, an added plus. A half-hour out of Philly, one of them had a stomachache and the other two had to use the bathroom. The bathrooms on the trains are not the most accommodating and also had a horrible smell. Three kids jumping up and down yelling, "They stink!" was not the highlight of my trip.