enough and going through security quickly enough that we were able to eat a sit-down breakfast at French Meadow--scrambled egg in a croissant, with hash browns and guacamole. It didn't seem quite up to the standards of the main restaurant in Minneapolis.
When we got to our gate, the flight was already boarding, forty minutes before scheduled takeoff. The plane ended up leaving the gate at 8:35 a.m., fifteen minutes ahead of schedule. This year Frontier Airlines has made some changes, going down the road toward real budget-airline status--charging for everything, including carry-on bags and water. Also, they now (since I don't know when) fly directly from MSP to Washington Dulles, and very cheaply, even adding in the baggage fees. So, when we were looking for somewhere to go on our October getaway, our nation's capital beckoned. I've never been there. Mary Joy was there once many years ago.
We got into Dulles about half an hour early (11:50 instead of 12:20) and were picked up by a relative who lives nearby. We visited with him and his family until a little after 5 p.m., when he dropped us off at the new Wiehle-Reston East Metrorail station. There we went to a machine, and using my Visa card bought two Smartrip cards for ten dollars apiece ($2 for the card and $8 worth of ride credit) and added ten more dollars of credit to each card. I had learned how to do this on some YouTube videos, though in the end I goofed up the timing and a Metro station employee helped me finish.
About ten minutes later we caught a Silver Line train. After the train went underground, it became clear that the lights weren't working in the cars, so we were all riding in the dark. At the next station we stopped for several minutes. The driver explained that they were trying to reset the circuit breaker. Then there was light. We changed to the Red Line at Metro Center, took it two stops to Dupont Circle, and went up a long escalator, emerging into the twilight. 
From there it was a little over ten minutes walk to our hotel, the Hotel Rouge. We liked this hotel very much, although some TripAdvisor reviewers complained about its over-the-top décor (very wild and red, with eight identical statues of Aphrodite out front and zebra-pattern corridor carpets). Our room (801) was large, comfortable and quiet. The location, eight blocks due north of the White House on 16th Street, in the Embassy Row area, is nice and convenient, though not right on top of a metro station.After checking in, having been well fed by our relatives, we decided to get something light and
inexpensive at the nearby P Street Whole Foods--the largest we've seen, with a well-stocked Hot Bar and Salad Bar. We selected our food and ate it at the mezzanine seating area, then got more supplies for breakfast and snacks and a bottle of distilled water for my CPAP anti-apnea machine. Then we went back to the hotel.
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