Yes, you read right...our van got towed away.
Now, let me start by saying that we did Public Parking yesterday with great success. Found a garage, paid a guy, etc. We had also parked on the street last night using a parking meter...went off without a hitch. Today, we wanted to do Public Parking again, but because it was rainy and cold and we were already damp from the zoo, AND because there seemed to be ample parking available in front of the museum, we decided to park on the street again.
Julie had warned us that we couldn't feed the meter, so we had already planned to either leave after 2 hours (if the streets were busy), or possibly move the van, load another meter, and stay if we could/still wanted to. We were determined to get it right, so Richy even set the timer on his cell phone to go off and give us 10 minutes to get back to the van if we were leaving, or evaluate the parking situation, move the van, etc. if we wanted to stay.
After 2 hours, and only about half the museum under our belt, we opted to stay.
I stayed in the museum with the kids while he ran out, moved the van, dropped quarters in a new meter, and we were happy to spend another hour or so browsing the rest of the museum.
All is well and good. Right?
Not so.
After seeing everything we wanted to see...and with plenty of time to spare, we wrap up everything, gather everyone up, make a bathroom run, and head for the van.
As we get out the door and down on the sidewalk, Richy notices that there is traffic...lots of traffic, and it's right up next to the sidewalk...sort of where we left our van. As we get closer to the end of the block where he parked, the traffic clears a bit, but there was no van. No van.
OH, NO! In a moment of pure desperation, we somehow (just for a moment) convince ourselves that the van is still there...behind a itty bitty tiny skinny tree...but it wasn't. Our van was gone. Upon closer inspection, we notice the huge tall signs fine print on the meters telling us all the parking meter hours, rules, etc., including the fact that there was NO PARKING during rush hour.
Our van had been towed.
Side note...to add to the shock and panic adventure, we had decided in a moment of apparent stupidity total clarity, that we were parked so close to the museum entrance that there was no reason for the kids to wear coats. As all of you mothers know, when your kids wear their coats inside - somewhere you're going to be for hours, they don't keep them on. Who ends up carrying them? Mommy does...so I thought I'd avoid that hassle by just leaving them in the van and making our way into and out of the museum quickly. Richy agreed...it was a good plan...at the time, anyway.
Back to reality...our van is gone. GONE. It's raining. It's cold. The kids are whiny and tired. We have NO coats. Oh, and did I mention that the museum was closed. Yep, we stayed until they locked the door behind us. Smart, right? We have decided at this point that we are brilliant.
Suddenly every decision this afternoon appeared to be a bad one. Leave the coats in the van. Bad idea. Park on the street. Bad idea. Stay an extra hour in the museum. BAD IDEA.
So, first up, I call Aunt Julie for advice while Richy calls the number on the parking meter. She begins looking online for information about what we do next...Richy listens to a recording of...how to pay, where to pay, how much to pay...they wanted to make sure we knew all of that.
But how to get our van back? Nope. Where they took our van? Nope. What to do with 5 whiny tired wet cold hungry kids while you wait. Nope, they don't tell you how to do any of that on the recording.
So, I'd say 10-20 minutes pass. He's on the phone...I'm on the phone...we seem to be getting nowhere. At some point, Julie asks...are you sure they towed it away? Admittedly (forgive me Julie)...in that split second before she finished her question, my first thought was...what? of course they towed it away? it's not here? do you think it was stolen? what do you mean? For that brief moment, I totally freaked out even worse and really thought we might be in BIG trouble. What the heck were we going to do if our van was stolen?? I was screaming inside.
Sorry, my thoughts get away from me sometimes and I was under a lot of stress. BUT, she finished the question by saying that sometimes they don't tow them away...they just move them. At this point I remember that in all the initial freak-out excitement, Joshua pointed out a van across the street...he said it looked like our van. At the time, I acknowledged him, like a good Mommy, but told him that no, surely that wasn't our van. We were in a city with millions of other people...surely there were other vans that looked like ours...why would they tow it to the other side of the street? That didn't make sense. "No honey...it's not our van."
As it turns out...that's exactly what they did. I relayed the information from Julie to Richy and he decided to check on it. I stayed huddled with the kids against the building while he crossed the four lanes of traffic to verify that in fact, it was our van...parked a little further down, on a street that angled diagonally into the one we were on. Whew...what a relief.
As soon as I saw Richy open the door and hop in the van, I gather up the kids, and we ran down and cross the traffic ourselves. Finally...we were safe in our van.
Granted, we didn't totally 'get away with it'. They left us a lovely $100 ticket on the windshield...with again, all those instructions on how to pay and stuff...but at least our van was safe, our kids were warm, and we had a wonderful day. As always, we try to remember that it could've been worse, and hey...it's another memory of DC that we'll always have!
Oh, and since we're always 'home' schooling...after we got moving toward Julie's, my first question to the kids was..."What did we learn today?" Almost in unison they stated that you do NOT park on the street during rush hour or they WILL tow your van away! I guarantee it's a lesson Richy and I will not forget for a very, very long time!
