Day 2 - Friday

Had a great sleep, and woke up around 7:15am. Stayed in bed (luxury) and read a short story from the book Unbelievable, which is a collection of miracle stories from around the world. Available from your local ABC (as in, Adventist Book Centre!) Felt a bit strange, almost like I was feeling too good after all the travelling of yesterday.

Logged on to see if there was any messages from Gilbert Cangy. A friend at work had suggested I contact him, being a fellow Aussie, to see if anyone would show me around for a few days. He said this would be fine, but we hadn't actually made any arrangements. Nothing yet on email and not available by phone, so back to getting ready for breakfast and the day ahead.

Breakfast was good. I had researched the hotels to make sure they had healthy options, as doughnuts aren't my idea of breakfast. There was a good selection so I got off to a good start to the day. Packed up and took the shuttle to the Hertz depot at the airport. It was quite warm already at 10am.

Thus begins the scariest part of the journey - driving on the other side of the road. I requested a GPS, so had a choice of 3 cars. I picked the Toyota Camry as it was the most familiar. Found the car, and of course, went straight to the passenger side door - doh! Packed the car, said a prayer, and off I went.

As people had said, it wasn't too bad as long as there was traffic to follow. There was, so I was off to Westfield in Wheaton, being led by the hopefully trusty GPS. I don't have a GPS at home, so am not overly familiar with them. It kept making various beeps as well as talking, and I didn't know what the beeps were about. Only went around a freeway off-ramp then back around onto the same freeway again once... Must do the GPS tutorial...

Arrived safely at Westfield, where I was looking for a pair of ASICS (or AAY-sics as the assistant interpreted) runners at the Lady Footlocker that I understood to be there. Turns out the shop had closed and not many ASICS around at the stores in the centre, mostly Nike. Tried on some Nikes but feet still not quite back to regular size so didn't make a purchase. Got some summer bargain clothes for Ally from JC Penney and lunch at Subway.

Drove to new hotel at Silver Spring and hoped for an early check in. Valet parking, hmmm. What to do here? Attendant asks if I'd like help. Don't have much luggage, so say no. Would that have been a tipping occasion? Seems impolite to ask if it is.

Another nice room thanks to the discounts on Expedia. Had an afternoon rest on the bed while planning Sabbath and Sunday's itinerary. So much to see, so little time! Gilbert Cangy and his wife Rosemay called though, and invited me church, lunch at their house and then going downtown in the afternoon/evening. They asked if I'd like to go to an African-American church, which I had thought about but would be too chicken on my own. So I'm looking forward to some good singing! They will also do some tours with me on Sunday, so I'm thrilled to have some company and local knowledge.

Couldn't spend the rest of the afternoon lazing around, so off to explore downtown Silver Spring. Friendly girl at hotel desk gave me directions to the local Whole Foods market, so off I went. On the way, happened to pass a sports store that stocked ASICS, so got my runners and a t-shirt - so much cheaper than in Aus and not even on special!!! Then passed another shoe shop called Designer Shoe Warehouse or something - and out I came with a bargain pair of Sketchers for work.

Now at Whole Foods - this store is uh-mazing (so Kristen would say). All manner of beautifully presented fruit and vegies, fresh flowers, some amusingly-named fake meat, and soup/salad and hot food bars with a large variety of selections. So it was salad bar, pizza slice (American-sized) and a punnet of cheap raspberries for dessert. And maybe a small tub of Ben & Jerry's Choc Fudge Brownie ice cream... Ate outside at the town centre, which had in-ground water fountains that kids were playing in and pleasant music playing through speakers in the garden beds.

Back to the hotel to Skype with Scott and Ally for the first time - technology is wonderful! They were well and about to get ready to go to church and Sabbath School.

Checked out the hotel's fitness centre next, was still feeling good. It was well-equipped, with the equipment in good working order even! Enjoyed a quick session, then back to room to write the blogs. Sabbath is here and I've got some music on. I must admit, I'm enjoying this blogging business much more than I thought I would. I don't think it will become a habit though...

Done quite well for the day methinks, off to bed now.