I barely got back from DC to Boca last night. I was flying out of BWI, so I took the Metro with what I thought was plenty of time up to Greenbelt station from Crystal City, with the expectation of getting a bus for the last leg to the airport. Unfortunately, when I got there, I discovered that there was a huge traffic jam on the Balt-Wash parkway, and the buses weren't running. I shared a cab with someone else, and he took a lot of back roads to get past the mess, having to drive through a lot of (lovely, under other circumstances) Maryland countryside, through Laurel, and up to Fort Meade, before we could finally get back on the highway to the airport. I got there about a half hour before flight time, barely made it through security and on to the plane.

Meanwhile, back in Florida, there was a major hurricane approaching. Though Dennis was still over western Cuba, the outer bands were affecting the lower east coast. We flew down over the ocean, and I could see a lot of thunderheads and lightning off to the west. It was an onshore wind, so we had to head into the weather over the swamp, and do a turn to land to the east. There was lightning all around the plane, but the ride was surprisingly unbumpy, and we landed in Fort Lauderdale without incident. Looking at the doppler this morning, if I'd missed my flight (which I very nearly did), it's not obvious that I'd have been able to get in this morning either, with heavy rains and winds here. I'm sure it's much worse over on the west coast of the state, though.

On my way home from work, I also noticed that "there was a huge traffic jam on the Balt-Wash parkway". It was actually worse than that. A stretch of the north-bound lane of the B-W Parkway near Fort Meade was closed due to a 16 foot sink hole that had developed as a result of the heavy rains that had hit the area earlier in the day.

I'm glad that you made it to your destination alive, well, and more or less on time.

Amtrak runs a train from Union Station to BWI. Last time I took it, about 3 years ago, it cost about $20 one way. I think it takes about 45 minutes.

Use the train from DC's Union Station to BWI. It may take longer than you expect (waits on both ends), and it does not run regularly on weekends. But it is usually very reliable.