PENTAGON CITY

When the Kitty and The Oracle flew back from Sarasota to Nantucket this week, we took U S Airways. After turning in our rent-a-car at Hertz in the Tampa Airport (could not have been more convenient) we went through security and shortly thereafter we boarded our flight. Other than a torrential rain but no lightning, take-off was uneventful (turbulence). We arrived in DC (Reagan) and went to the gate for the next leg of our flight to Nantucket (also U S Airways.) Unfortunately, the flight was cancelled and we were given the option of going to Boston which was almost as far from Nantucket as DC is, or through LaGuardia with no guarantee that at 9 pm that night we would ever be able to leave for Nantucket...or we could take a flight out of DC at 8:15 am.

We elected to re-ticket for the morning flight and stay overnight in the nearby Ritz-Carleton Pentagon City. It was a very nice hotel that was attached to a huge shopping mall (the Kitty was Soooooo disappointed she had to spend time in Nordstrom's). This is a picture of the inside of that 4 story mall. Later that night we ate dinner in the Ritz Bar with dozens of uniformed men and women dressed in camouflage BDUs. It was Friday night and I guess even Pentagon people need a meat-market to go to. The food was good.

We went to bed early because we wanted to be up to catch the 8:15 to Nantucket. At about 1:30 am, my cell phone rang and I learned that our flight would not leave until 11:15 but we should be at the airport in time for the 8:15 just in case it did leave on time. Big help that was, but efficient nevertheless. Once at the airport we went to the U S Airways Club where we had a nice breakfast of muffins, oatmeal, and good coffee. The woman at the checkin counter at the club asked us where we were headed and spontaneously offered to get us on an earlier flight. She re-ticketed us right there for the 9:40 and we arrived in Nantucket before we would have even left if we were on the 11:15. THANK YOU U S AIRWAYS for your help, your club, and the nice woman who went above and beyond to make the best of a bad situation that was weather related and out of the control of the airline. Oh, and by the way, when you are in DC at REAGAN airport, don't forget to visit Brooks Brothers on the concourse. Lots of sale items.