Washington dc – Splattered Brains

Washington, DC, During The Time of The National Cherry Blossom Festival

We went into Washington, DC, last weekend to visit the International Spy Museum, and then the area of the cherry trees which were supposed to be close to their peak bloom.

We found out that we were going into town only the day before it happened! It was a birthday treat from the young ones. They were going to manage the whole trip for us. So, for a change, I did not have to get stressed out worrying about how I was going to manage the city streets and traffic. Washington, DC, is especially difficult to navigate around if you are from out of town. It was good that I was away from the wheel for this trip. The directions for, and the approach to, the underground parking garage that we used for the day were so unique and specific that I would not have found it on my own!

The city streets were crowded in spite of the windy and unexpectedly cold conditions. It was a madhouse around in the area of the Tidal Basin, where the cherry blossoms were in full bloom. The museum was also crowded. We also walked to The Wharf, the newly developed destination spot along the Potomac river. There were people everywhere. The restaurants were all full. COVID be damned!

This was our first visit to the spy museum. It is a fascinating place. There was way too much information for us to be able to absorb it all during the few hours that we were there. One of the things to note is that there are obvious political leanings and biases in the exhibits, especially when dealing with matters that are closer to our present time in history. And the term “spying” is used in a very broad sense.

The museum has been at this particular location since 2019. The building is new and has a fascinating design.The exhibition rooms are on the upper floors.

After our visit to the museum, we went down to The Wharf to try to get an early dinner. We had missed lunch while in the museum and we were hungry. The wharf was very busy in spite of the weather and its location next to the river. The sky was threatening and the gusts of wind from over the river made the feeling of discomfort from the cold more intense.
There were plenty of eateries around but we encountered waiting times of over an hour (even two hours in one case!) for seating at the ones that were open that early in the evening. We spent a lot time walking around, searching for a place to eat at, before ending up standing in line at a place that was not going to open until a little later. Thankfully, the wait there was not too long.

After lunch we walked over to the Tidal Basin for the experience of the cherry blossoms. There were people and cars everywhere. A team of traffic police personnel tried to maintain some measure of order at some road intersections, trying to prevent gridlock, and managing the crowds waiting to cross the streets.(The building in the background in the picture above is the National Museum of African American History and Culture.)

This is a picture the Jefferson Memorial across the water of the tidal basin.The crowds were incredibly heavy in the area of the Tidal Basin that we were at. I was wondering how anybody could actually enjoy the sight of the trees in this kind of an atmosphere.We decided to walk towards the Washington Monument instead of staying in the area of the Tidal Basin, hoping that we would get more space to ourselves to enjoy the cherry trees and to also take some pictures.
In general, the foot traffic from the presence of so many people in the area of the trees cannot be good for the health of the trees themselves. We could also see people who had torn off blossoms and branches from the trees.

This was our last stop in the city. We did not want to hang out too long on the street because of the weather and the crowds. We walked back to where we had parked our car, via Independence Avenue and L’Enfant SW street, passing under the offices of the United States Department of Energy at the intersection of these two roads.

On our way, we walked past the food trucks lined up in the area of The Mall on 14th Street.

The garbage bins in the area of the food trucks were overflowing, an unfortunate side-effect of the success of the National Cherry Blossom festival.

We made our way back to the location of the Spy Museum where we had parked the car. Pretty soon we were on Interstate-395 heading across the river and on our way home. The kids made it easy for us!

Jones Point Park, VA

It is the darnedest thing! I have had this particular blog in the back of my mind for quite a few days. I keep thinking about it every day, but I cannot get myself into the proper state of mind to write it. There are so many distractions. I am just going to have to force myself to eject the words out of the brain in free form when I have a little bit of free time, and then read it all back later to see if it makes sense.

It had to do with my bike ride last Wednesday. It was another one of those rides that required some extra motivation on my part to get it going. I am finding it hard to maintain a regular schedule. I am too good at finding excuses. It had rained the previous day. The trail was going to be messy. Perhaps I should stay home. That was my excuse this time.

But I found a way. I decided that I would ride on the paved trails in Virginia so that I could avoid the mud and potholes of the C&O canal. In order to do this, I would park the car on Canal Road at the Chain bridge, on the outskirts of Washington, DC, and then head south on my bike on the towpath into Georgetown. I would then cross the Potomac river into Virginia on the Key Bridge. I was then going to ride south on the Mt. Vernon Trail. I did not know how far I would ride on this trail, but I knew that if I rode to the end, it would end up being a somewhat tougher ride than usual.

Things went according to plan as I rode into Virginia somewhat early in the morning. As I crossed the Key Bridge, I could see and feel the rush hour traffic headed into Washington, DC. This was was the scene on the Roslyn side of the bridge. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA I got on to the Mt. Vernon trail at this point and started pedaling away beside the river, passing Roosevelt Island early in this section. There was a very short stop for pictures at Gravelly Point Park. There was already a steady stream of planes headed into National Airport. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA The airport was busy. Both runways were in use.

The Mt. Vernon trail passes under the Woodrow Wilson bridge just beyond the town of Alexandria. This bridge carries Interstate 495, the Capital Beltway, over the Potomac river. The approach ramps of the bridge pass over Jones Point Park. The Mt. Vernon trail snakes its way between the massive piers of the bridge at this point. There is a lot of open space under the bridge and people of all ages hang out there – fishing by the river, playing basketball, biking around, etc… It seems to be a meeting place for groups of mothers with babies.

Most often I bike right through Jones Point Park without stopping. But this time, an unexpected thought crossed my mind just as I was headed out of the park. At that point of the ride I was thinking to myself that I really did not care about the distance I covered that day. So why not take some time to get off the trail and explore some of the smaller, less well-defined, paths that I had seen in the past while riding through the park. It was a sudden decision. It also turned out to be a great decision!

Riding along a smaller trail, I ended up at a spot where I began to see boundary markers beside the trail, with signs on these markers for the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia. These markers were lined up in straight lines, with the black line on their tops indicating the actual boundary line between two jurisdictions. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA There was also a lighthouse beside the river, and a few wayside exhibits around it.

It turned out that I was at the tip of the area of land that originally defined the southern limit of Washington, DC! These newer boundary markers were meant to mark the historical boundaries of the District of Columbia. The history is very interesting, and you can read more about it here. Essentially, the District of Columbia was originally conceived of as a diamond shaped area of land with sides of 10 miles each, with a total area of 100 square miles. The land for DC was going to be obtained from both Virginia and Maryland. In the end, the land that Virginia was going to give up in this regard was taken back. (This covered about 31 square miles.) This was called a “retrocession”.

Another interesting fact is that when the original area for DC was being mapped out, boundary markers were set into the ground at one mile intervals along the sides. Most of these boundary markers still exist, including the one at the southern tip, the place I was at!

Unfortunately, I did not think about the significance and existence of the original boundary markers while I was in the park. It was only later that I read that the original southern boundary marker for Washington, DC, was actually embedded in the seawall in front of the lighthouse. It is something that I will stop to investigate further the next time I am in the area. It is located on the right side of this picture of the lighthouse, under a cover of plastic. It is next to the wayside exhibit and in front of the steps, below the level of the ground. OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA I took pictures of a couple of the wayside exhibits that provided some historical information. (You can click on the pictures to open them up in bigger size.)I continued my bike ride past Jones Point Park. At this point, I was within reachable distance of Mt. Vernon and the end of the Mt. Vernon Trail. The temptation of complete the trail was too much to overcome. So, I biked to the end. It was not the optimal decision.

The ride began to take its toll on the way back. Basically, I was retracing my path. The ride was beginning to feel somewhat more mechanical at this point as I endeavored to keep a steady pace. It became more about the challenge of the ride. I was even beginning to pick up speed as a matter of course. My mindset for the ride had shifted. This is typically what happens to me when I bike long distances. It is more relaxed in the beginning, and then, bit by bit, it becomes more intense.

I began to tire without even being too aware of it. I was also running out of water. I stopped at Fletchers Cove, about a mile short of Chain Bridge, the place where I had parked the car. My thigh muscles cramped up immediately when I got off the bike. I had pushed myself too hard.

I was able to buy a bottle of Gatorade at the concession stand at Fletchers Cove. More than half the bottle went down the throat immediately. After a few minutes, I was able to get back on the bike and continue riding to the car. I had no further issues. Because of the long stop at Fletchers Cove, I had also managed to alter my mindset, and I was able to ride at a more relaxed pace.

In the end, I had ridden over 44 miles. I have ridden longer distances than this in the past, but under different circumstances. I was probably also in better shape when I did longer distances!

That is my story for the day, and I am sticking to it!

Of Photographs and Stories

I felt that I had to bike today because I had not gotten out for my regular exercise in over a week. The temperatures had been in the “dangerous” range, and it was dropping to more comfortable levels today. I left home very early, and was surprised by the large number of cars in the parking lot at Pennyfield Lock at that time on a weekday. The sun was still rising as I set out. I saw a large number of bicyclists at the lock house for Pennyfield Lock as I approached the towpath. It was obvious that they had spent the night there as a part of the Canal Quarters program. I then turned on to the towpath headed for Washington, DC.

The level of water in the river is low right now. It has not rained for a few days. Work at different sections of the canal where there were detours – the waste weirs near Great Falls, and mileposts 7 and 9, are being rebuilt – was already underway for the day. I even had to navigate my way around a truck bringing in material to a construction site. I can see that the work at the different sites is coming along. I believe there is a long term plan to re-water the entire stretch of canal starting at Violette’s lock. The current work could be a part of that long term effort. Wonder if I will survive long enough to see the end result!

Pretty soon after I got on the trail I realized that I had not taken my camera. I had been thinking primarily about the exercise aspect of the ride and had forgotten. But it did not bother me. However, a few miles into the ride, my thoughts drifted towards the thinking process behind taking pictures. (It was that kind of a morning!) To me, it is not necessarily just about taking a picture that looks good, but it is more about capturing a story. Sometimes, a single picture can tell a story. But, these days, I also like to add pictures to a story that is being told with words to give it more character. This is something that did not do in the past. In spite of the fact that I did not have my camera with me, I did get to a point during this ride when I felt the need to stop and take a picture with my smartphone to somehow capture how it felt at that time during the ride. That would be the story. The first time I had this feeling I did not stop because I was focused on the exercise aspect of the ride. But a few hundred feet later, I came to another point where I could not resist the temptation to take a picture. Here it is.When I reached Fletcher’s Cove, I got on to the Capital Crescent Trail headed in the direction of Washington, DC. The ride on this trail is smoother than on the towpath since it is paved. As I approached DC, I began to feel a rhythm of the wheel that was unusual. There was a bouncy feeling, and very little noise associated with it. When I got to the end of the ride at the far end of the Georgetown Waterfront, I decided to check out the tire and realized that there was a bump in one small section. Oh, oh! It looked like the tire was about to blow out, and I was about 20 miles from home. I had been barreling down the towpath over pieces of gravel on my way out (remember, this particular ride was about the exercise, and not necessarily sightseeing – each ride has a different feel to it!). I had to either find a local bike shop to replace the tire, or bike more carefully on my way back. I decided to risk it and bike back, but only after releasing some air from the tire to reduce the pressure. I did manage to make it back to Pennyfield lock in good shape and in good time.

I found a few pawpaw fruit on the ground during this ride. Perhaps it is time to return to the section of the trail that had an abundance of these fruits last year.

The rhythm of life goes on.

Cherries in the Snow: The Legend of Mary Pinchot Meyer (2/17/2008)

I was reminded of this old email that I had sent to family and friends because of some recent news that I blogged about. I will explain at the end.
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Ok, I am being overly dramatic! It is not a legend. It is merely a curious story. The particular name in the title has the remote possibility of attracting the attention of suspicious people who like to keep track of activities on the Internet – even though the story is quite old at this point. Anyway, back to the story.

If you were running along the C&O canal near Washington, DC, (just north of mile 1 on the towpath), you might come across a small white cross leaning against a tree trunk beside the trail. On the cross is a card. The card indicates that this is a memorial to Mary Pinchot Meyer.The cross appeared on the trail some time last year and is at the location where she was killed while walking along the towpath in 1964. She was 43 years old when she died, and the cross appeared on the towpath 43 years after her death. Nobody has yet admitted to putting the cross there. Who was Mary Pinchot Meyer? She was John F. Kennedy’s mistress at the time of his death. If you look it up the Internet, you will find a few conspiracy theories surrounding her death. She apparently used to keep a diary that included an account of her affair with JFK. Various people were interested in this diary after her death and went looking for it. Her ex-husband, Cord Meyer, was a higher-up in the CIA and was involved in the search for the murderer. The person who was brought to trial for killing her was acquitted. Just another story on the towpath…

By the way, if you are interested in a really good (but completely humorless) movie about the kind of people who came together to form the CIA during that time, I would recommend The Good Shepherd directed by Robert De Niro.

I finally worked up the courage to do the Potomac tour on foot in the area of Washington DC this morning. Basically I ran on both sides of the river at Washington, DC. Working my way south on the towpath from Fletcher’s Cove,

Early morning on the Canal near Georgetown

I crossed over into Rosslyn on the Virginia side of the river at the Key Bridge (named after Francis Scott Key),

A view of Roosevelt Island from the Key Bridge

Crossing the George Washington Memorial Parkway to the Mt. Vernon Trail in Virginia

and then followed the Mount Vernon trail south, past Roosevelt Island and the various bridges that span the Potomac.I followed the trail as it paralleled the George Washington Parkway all the way to Gravelly Point Park at the end of the longest runway for Washington National Airport. I spent some time at Gravelly taking pictures and watching the planes landing and taking off.On the way back, I crossed over the river at the 14th Street Bridge into Washington DC.I got off the bridge close to the Jefferson Memorial, and then worked my way back up north along the river, past the Lincoln Memorial, the Kennedy Center and the Watergate buildings, to the beginning of the towpath. I then followed the canal back to Fletcher’s Cove.Next time I come to this area I will try to explore the trails on Roosevelt Island, and also try to find the trail along the edge of the river north of Key bridge on the Virginia side.
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Today’s Postscript: Coming back to Mary Pinchot Meyer, mentioned in the first section of the above email, the cops tried to pin her murder on a black person, Ray Crump, who happened to be in the general area. Dovey Johnson Roundtree, the subject of my previous blog, was the one who was able to get Ray Crump acquitted of the crime. It was quite an achievement for a black woman lawyer in those days!

Since I wrote the original email, I have been to this area, and traveled this path, several times on a bicycle. I have taken the 18 mile long Mt. Vernon trail all the way to Mt. Vernon. I have however not been to Roosevelt island yet! I have also walked the trail on the Virginia side of the Potomac up to the Chain bridge under very trying conditions. That was the subject of another email blast, an email that I might rediscover some other day.

By the way, I have not seen a memorial to Mary Pinchot Meyer in subsequent years at that location, but this could possibly be because I have not been on that section of the towpath at the right time of the year.

Railfanning

This word describes the actions of railfans, the people who are interested in trains and follow them as a hobby.

I was on my way back home from the park on the C&O Canal at Point of Rocks when I decided to take a diversion through the parking lot of the Point of Rocks railroad station just for the heck of it. The interesting thing about this commuter station is that a railroad line from the east, from Baltimore (ex-B&O Old Main Line from Baltimore, one of the oldest lines in the country), meets up with another line from the southeast, from Washington, DC (ex-B&O Metropolitan Branch from Washington DC), just beyond the platform for the station. After the lines converge, a single line (double-tracked) continues onward to the west towards and beyond Burnswick, MD. There is plenty of freight traffic to be seen at the station. Trains going in opposite directions sometimes have to wait before entering the station because of tracks crossing each other.

I saw two people on the platform. One of them had a camera in hand and the other had a backpack and a radio unit that would squawk every once in a while. I suspected that they were railfans waiting for trains to come by. After sitting for a while in the car in a parking spot waiting for a train or two to come by, I worked up the courage to go down to the platform with my camera and try to pick up a conversation with them.

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The two guys did not know each other but had already struck up a friendly conversation. The one with the radio was monitoring the railroad communications to find out when a train would come by. He seemed to understand the language of the railroad radio, including the identification of trains, recognition of locomotive sets used with the trains, and the language of track usage.

The guy with the radio told me that they were single tracking between Brunswick and Point of Rocks at that point. This meant that trains going in opposite directions would have to share the single track between Point of Rocks and Brunswick. Basically a train had to clear the entire stretch before another could be sent in the other direction. He told me that there were two CSX trains that were waiting to come out of Brunswick, one heading towards DC, and other towards Baltimore.

The first train we saw was one on the DC line, headed west, waiting outside the station for its signal to change. The lights indicated that that it was waiting for a train coming in its direction from Point of Rocks.

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The first train that came by the station at about 11:30 am was an auto-train headed to DC.

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About fifteen minutes later this was followed by a coal train headed towards Baltimore.

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At this point the guy with the radio informed me that they had now also opened up the second track towards Brunswick. Trains would now be able to go in both directions at the same time in the stretch between Point of Rocks and Brunswick. Our westbound train from the Washington DC line began moving and approaching the station about 10 minutes later.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA The train was moving at a good clip by the time the last freight car passed by.

By this time I felt that I needed to get going and back on my way home. I decided to head back to my car while the other guys continued to wait for the trains. All of a sudden I heard one of them say something about the Capitol Limited and I rushed back to the platform to see the Amtrak train approaching.

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By this time, there was a westbound freight train from Baltimore approaching, waiting just outside of the station, before the intersection with Route 28, for the track to clear, and there was another westbound train heading towards Point of Rocks from the DC side. At this point I left the station.

I saw the train from Baltimore at the railroad intersection as I was headed home on Route 28. I parked the car and waited for a while for the train to get its signal to proceed.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA I could hear the train from the DC line going past the Point of Rocks station behind me as I was waiting. I waited for a little while longer for the Baltimore train to move but nothing seemed to be happening. I finally gave up and headed home. I guess I am not a real railfan!

After Lonely Death, Veteran got a Hero’s Goodbye

The following story appeared in the Washington Post today. I felt like sharing it.

When local government fails the common man

Here is what the local government in Washington DC did to one of its residents who was in trouble. Instead of trying to help, they took advantage of the situation and made money off his woes. Apparently stuff like this happens regularly. They are preying on the powerless.

http://wpo.st/9x2q0

The Tent Angel

“We just gotta outlast the storm by one day,and I just want to be there to help someone through their storm”.
Arnold Harvey, Garbageman, Montgomery County, MD.

Here is somebody who is actually actively doing good work with the less fortunate in our part of the world. Read the story of the tent angel.

I did a little more research on Arnold and found out that I had just touched the tip of the iceberg regarding the background of this remarkable person. He is an amazing chap who with his wife Theresa has already been doing other notable charitable works in our part of the world for many years. He is called “The trash truck driver” by the homeless, and he has done a lot to help them in their immediate needs. He manages to run a charitable organization while working as a garbageman, and he is making a difference the best way that he can.

Read the article that appeared about him in the Huffington Post here. His life story is also quite interesting.

Here are a couple of videos.

https://youtu.be/EXUYujwCRGI

https://www.facebook.com/godsconnectiontransition/videos/vb.584956878230174/858936434165549/?type=2&theater

What would you rather be doing at 5:00am on a Saturday morning?