TBA
Stuck in DC
Aborted trip to the east coast, specifically New York. Goal was to attend the Fourleaf Air Show the Monday after 4th of July, but the heat bubble that had held off clouds/rain/thunder/lightning over New York and the surrounding area finally broke right on the 4th, and the rest of the weekend disintegrated in rain, thunder, and lightning.
Original plan was to celebrate Independence Day with friends, then fly out to New York via DC, figuring if the weather got bad, I'd be well-placed to wait out for a break in the weather at Dulles Airport. Turns out the weather never got better, and late on the 5th, Delta, having delayed my IAD-JFK flight by over 12 hours, I decided to give up and head back to LAX. Turns out that was a smart call, as the soonest flight I could grab was the morning of the 6th, and as I was boarding my American Airlines flight back to LAX that morning, I got an e-mail confirming the Fourlead Air Show was canceled.
Was a bit sad to give up the hotel stay in New York (understandably, too late to cancel so close in), let alone the cost of a last-minute flight back to LAX, but definitely beat a rainy and unpleasant day in New York. Also a nice discovery, Ben's Chili Bowl now has an outpost at Concourse A of Dulles Airport, and they're basically as good as the original, or at least close enough given you're stuck at an airport. Final note: even if you can technically walk to certain airport-adjacent hotels at Dulles, don't. The Washington Dulles Airport Marriott is the only on-premises hotel, and even that is a bit of a walk from the terminal. The rest of the airport-adjacent hotels are all best reached via airport shuttle, as not all the connecting roads have good sidewalks.