Vroom Vroom

One of my favorites things to do in DC is the car show! I’m fortunate that I get to see the sneak peek before the show opens to the public so I get to geek out on all the fun cars. If you’ve never been, you get to see the latest models & jump into some of them! Talk about vroom vroom!

There were a couple of Star Wars themed automobiles & you could take a photo with a rather large stormtrooper, which I decided against.

My first car was when I was 16 years old and my mom surprised me with a 1989 Chevy Cavalier. I had that car for over 7 years, driving it while I was in high school and then after I graduated from college, I took it with me to New Orleans. I drove it back to Maryland, onto DC & to campaign life in Pennsylvania. My current residence has a parking space with it and I parked my trusty Cavalier in it. I was on my way to a project when I left my back yard to get to my parking space and I didn’t see my car, only broken glass. Imagine me standing in a parking lot, looking up and down at the broken glass, questioning my mental faculties. Needless to say, my car was stolen. I called the police and immediately after I hung up the phone, I get a call from a police officer saying that he found my car! He told me that I could meet him at the DC Farmers Market to pick it up. I took his police ID# & verified that he was a police officer, called the Mister and we met up at the Farmers Market. There we discovered that my car was most likely used for a joy ride and then the culprits parked the car in the Market parking lot & stole the adjacent car where they parked my car. How did we find out all of this? The parking lot had a surveillance camera and the police officer showed me the tape!  My poor car was no more.

After the Cavalier, we got a Passat, which we enjoyed a great deal until the maintenance costs were getting too high even for a paid off vehicle. From there, we’ve driven BMWs – we had the 3 series several times, once as a sports edition, which meant the car was a little zippier and little lower to ground. After the last 3 series, the Mister wanted to have a more comfortable ride so we got a 5 series, which is like driving your couch. It’s 10″ longer than the 3 model and that makes a gigantic difference when you’re looking for a parking space on the Hill. We have zone parking so our residence zone extends to the other side of the Hill, where I have a lot of meetings so that means free residence parking for me (only if I can find a space big enough to accommodate the car!).

Whenever we go to the car show, we always stop to see the newest model of our car and contemplate whether we want a change. This year, we’re thinking about getting a second car – EEK! Since we already have a car that’s terrific for road trips, we thought getting a smaller car to drive around in the city would be more functional. Even with a smaller car, we still think about Aurnia and making sure that she can 1) jump into the back seat and 2) have enough room to lay down. I have always been a fan of the Suburban (too many hours watching/reading Martha Stewart – she drives one!). Alas, it’s such a big vehicle and Aurnia wouldn’t be able to hop into it. Plus, what would I do with a Suburban, living in DC? I am known to be practical, sometimes! So we’re thinking about this Fiat and it’s less than $25k!

The Mister has started thinking about retirement and what kind of car he would like to drive. He wouldn’t mind the Fiat Spider. Did you read the Sweet Valley High books? If so, you’ll know that’s the car that’s mentioned in the books. I can see myself driving this car, too!

Who wouldn’t want to ride around in this car? All I can think about is Magnum P.I. LOL

This is the last weekend of the car show at the Convention Center. There are some really fun test rides that you can do this year. Both Land Rover/Range Rover and Jaguar have courses. You sign over your life on the liability form and strap in. Just watching the cars was amazing because they do some pretty cool things like ride over gigantic bumps and drive on 3 wheels. Totally FREEEEE!!!

What were your favorites?