Last Saturday was our anniversary. Twelve years already! Really, I don't know where the time goes. But we had a long weekend (Monday was Memorial Day), and the weather was reasonable, so we decided to take advantage of it and get out. Destination: Theodore Roosevelt Island.
Teddy Roosevelt Island is in fact named after President Theodore Roosevelt. It's a small island in the middle of the Potomac River between Washington, D.C. (Georgetown area) and Arlington, Virginia. It's mostly swamp-land, as DC used to be. And it's largely been left in its natural state as an homage to the "conservation President." It's maintained by the National Park Service.
We decided to walk down through Rock Creek Park, avoiding the city streets and staying in the trees and nature (well, with a road through it, that is). That let us cut along the river, behind Watergate and the Kennedy Center. We walked across the Memorial Bridge, then back up to the footbridge to the island. Getting there, about six miles.
On the footbridge. Pets on leashes are allowed, but no bikes or other mechanized equipment. It's a pedestrian-only zone.
The center is a dedication space to President Roosevelt, including this statue of him, and several water features, along with several large tablets that take phrases from different speeches of his on several themes.
The day was quite warm, and rather humid, certainly not spring, and much more summer-like than either of us prefers. But the island was cool with the breeze and the trees, and we were, surprisingly, not many in total.
The swamp areas are full of small fish and turtles. And, lovely cattails and flowering plants, like these iris.
And there's a lovely path around the island, about 1.5 miles long. In parts, we had it to ourselves, and it was beautiful and quiet.
Until the planes, of course. The island is directly under the approach to National Airport. Ah well!
Afterward, we walked up the other way, over the Key Bridge, and into Georgetown, where we grabbed a lite bite, then caught the bus back home. We had big dinner plans for the evening, and needed to get ready. We usually go to the same place for our anniversary, and they were wonderful, as always. And I say this, even though the menu (it's prix fixe, and changes daily based on what is fresh, because they make everything in-house) truly favored Greg!
Sunday we went down to Fredericksburg, Virginia to visit friends and wander. We had the camera, but never did use it--sorry! But in two weeks I'm headed to Virginia Beach area to visit Kelly and Bree, so I'll be sure to take some photos there.
No comments:
Post a Comment