I am coming to the conclusion that our kids will live in a big city when they grow up! They both light up and become energized as we descend on each big city … New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and now Washington, DC. Maybe they take their lead from Tom and I. We do LOVE cities and maybe our moods and excitement are infectious.
Our first day in DC, however, was spent on our boat! The winds were blowing around 30 knots and we were anchored with a whole fleet of other boats. As all the surrounding boats put out more anchor rode to hold in the building winds, we found ourselves increasingly pinched. Being the last one in the anchorage, we moved and re-set our anchor at least three times throughout the day. We also put out a second anchor as backup.
We spent five nights anchored in the upper Potomac, a brisk 10 minute walk to the Washington DC Mall and all that that offered — the Smithsonian museums, Washington Monument, Capital Building, Lincoln Memorial, Library of Congress, White House and many more monuments and memorials which will have to be enjoyed on a future DC trip!
We did make it to the National Zoo, which was a very pleasant surprise. Nestled inside a quaint DC neighborhood, this zoo was very impressive for what they had, the amount of research done there and the habitats they maintained for their animals.
The highlight for me was the Library of Congress and the Capital Building. Both of these are such magnificent architectural structures in and of themselves. When the historic value, the exquisite art and statues and the knowledge of what these places mean to our nation are added on, it makes these two destinations rise to the top.
We couldn’t get our youngest out of the National Air and Space Museum and Zachary loved the zoo and enjoyed the overall historic significance and being able to see places he had heard so much about. Here is a picture of a ceiling inside the Library of Congress, followed by two great quotes found on its walls
….and here is the Capital Building, then a picture of the painting at the top of the rotunda…
This rotunda creates a space so tall that the Statue of Liberty, without her pedestal, could fit inside here, with the torch! I could have stared at this painting all day … a picture can not do it justice. On the day we toured the Capital building, we enjoyed the company of our friends from the boat, Aries. Deng, the mom from Thailand, 12 year old Angelina and 6 year old Calvin are pictured here with us on the Capital Building steps. One of the hardest things about this cruising life is saying goodbye to those you meet along the way. We hope to connect with this great family again. Not pictured are Dave, the father, and the oldest son, 16 year old Bon.
After the tour of the Capital, we went up the Washington Monument. This day was FRIDGIT! We were dancing just to keep warm. However, the view from atop the monument and the artwork inside was worth the cold wait. Here is a fuzzy picture taken from the monument’s high windows. It looks out over the Potomac and you can barely make out where our boat is anchored just beyond the second interstate bridge over the water… Thalia is the white dot!
As October is drawing to a close, we must make our way down the remaining portions of the Chesapeake Bay. We are scheduled to meet up with two dear friends who will join us for the ocean crossing from the Virginia coast to the US Virgin Islands. With terrific sailing conditions predicted, we departed Washington on Tuesday morning to make the 150 mile journey back down the Potomac, into the southern portion of the Chesapeake Bay and on to Norfolk, VA. We arrived at nightfall on Thursday evening, 26 October.
Friday was consumed by errands and school work. We even rented a car to get as many errands done as possible! What fun. After shuttling bags full of boat parts, mittens, long underwear, engine oil and other random items onto the boat, we shut up the companion way and turned on the HEAT! Yeah, we were at a dock and PLUGGED IN! The kids were giddy that we had electricity and, therefore, heat! So, we all jumped onto our berth and read our current family time reading book! Here is Zack on the foot of our bed and below that our youngest and I at the head. Aaahhh, one forgets how comforting a warm home is!
