Thoughts about traveling to Washington, D.C. on a warm weekend in May:

–Southwest Airlines is quite efficient at getting you to your destination on time, but then it’s usually a 20-minute wait for your bag.

–Metro still has the same flashing lights on the ground to announce incoming trains as it did 40 years ago.

–Fun to find out D.C. museums on the whole — from the National Gallery of Art to the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History — are free. And interesting to learn that James Smithson, whose munificence created the Smithsonian buildings, never visited the United States but left his fortune to the country.

–The Tabard Inn is still as cozy and charming as always. I lived there 40 years ago for two weeks while working for a Congressman, and I’ve always had a special fondness for it.