Sunny California and an Unexpected Road Trip

I'm spending the week in sunny California, in the suburbs of Sacramento, CA, being an observer and babysitter for a bunch of engineers and program management types.  Today was the first day of meetings and OMG can we say boring?  Lord I'm glad I don't do this kind of work (financial management) for a living.  The only good thing I can say about the meeting is the food is good, especially the afternoon cookies. While we are on the subject of California can I talk about the weather?  It's sunny and quite pleasant.  The locals are complaining on how hot it is. True it is in the low 90s, but I laugh at their misery.  Why you ask?  Their 90s is nothing.  The dry heat feels more like the 80s.  Back in Virginia, the 90s comes with matching humidity. You literally sweat standing still.  I think Californians are a bit spoiled.

Over the weekend I got to go on an unplanned road trip.  Ann and I were in the middle of cooking dinner when a call came in from Daughter#2.  She and some friends were out riding the C&O Canal from Cumberland, MD to Georgetown.  They were making a weekend of it and carrying their own camping gear on their bikes.  Unfortunately a strong line of thunderstorms whipped through the area on Saturday night soaking them and flooding the campgrounds. They were wet and cold and miserable so they called to see if I would come pick them up.  It's what Dads do so Ann and I put dinner aside and headed out for the hour and a half trip.  They were in Sharpsburg, MD. Sharpsburg is the site of one of the most famous battles of the civil war.  If you scratching your heads trying to remember the Battle of Sharpsburg, you probably know it under a different name - Antietam. It's the single bloodiest day of war in American history.  Over 23,000 casualties in a single day. I've always wanted to visit the battlefield and I've read several books about the battle and now here I was.  We crossed Antietam Creek on the way into Sharpsburg and I could see the lighted entrance to the Park.  Hopefully I'll get back to see it during the day and not in the dead of night.  Daughter#2 and her friend were hold up at a country store right off the canal.  The couple that owns the store/museum took them in and gave them some hot tea.  The place was hard as heck to find in the rainy night and we drove by it twice before they flagged us down.  They were thrilled to see us and to be picked up.  My eyes are not any where close to being 100% so I let daughter#2 drive home after a stop at the local Sharpsburg Burger King for something to eat.  Daughter#2 and her friend made us breakfast the next morning as a way to say Thanks and was much appreciated.  The kids might grow up and move out, but they still need you every now and again.