Having a monumental day

June 10, 2022

Washington DC bike and dance day

Today was forecast to be one more decent day before some rain moves in over the weekend. I wanted to do some kind of ride and ended up going out on my own while Don opted to stay in camp to start packing up since we leave on Monday.

The day started out in the 50's, cooler than the past few days, so I took my time getting ready. By late morning I headed out on the trail happy to get in one last ride.

I wasn't planning on doing a long one today because we're taking the Metro to a dinner cruise on the Potomac. So I set my goal as only getting as far as Lake Artemesia (the lake where I saw the loon), then turning around. I also wanted to explore a few side trails we'd been seeing along the way just to spice things up.

The first spur I took was just past the wetlands on the Paint Branch Trail. It had a long boardwalk over the water with several information signs about the plants and animals you might see. The trail was nice but only went about a 1/2 mile where it ended in a neighborhood. Nothing to see here, so I reversed my steps and went back to the main trail where I continued further south.

It was a pretty day and starting to warm up. Lots of people were out walking or cycling. It's nice to see these trails be used by so many.

When I reached the lake, I turned off onto the trail that circles the lake but soon spotted another side trail. Hmmm - I wondered where that went? Time to explore!

This spur was just a short connection that again ended in a neighborhood. Nope, not going there. So I turned around and as I was headed back to the lake, I noticed another trail that took off to my right. It had green painted lines down the middle.

Hey - could that be the Indian Creek Trail? The scene of my last adventure? When we passed another hook-up to this trail the other day, I'd noticed that it was also painted green. It followed a creek and looked pleasant, so I hung a right to check it out.

Less people were using this trail but it was just as nice as the other ones, except for one section that was rough where roots had pushed up the asphalt. Then it was "bump, bump, bump" right on my tailbone! Ouch!

After a couple of miles, I reached a street where the trail ended and I found a sign post indicating that this was indeed the Indian Creek Trail. There was also an East Coast Greenway marker. Good to have that confirmed but I opted not to go any further.

Turning around I continued the other direction and took the trail until it rehooked up with the Paint Branch Trail which I rode a short distance back to the lake. By now, I needed not only a restroom but a shady bench where I could eat my lunch. I knew that there was a trail that circled the lake and firgured there HAD to be some kind of bathroom somewhere!

A bench appeared first, so I parked the bike and sat down to eat my protein bat and banana. I didn't see any waterfowl on the lake which seems odd. Surely there would be ducks and egrets or herons? Even the common mallards were absent.

Lunch didn't take long and I headed off to find the bathroom which was on the opposite side of the lake. It was a nice flush one that had a large enough entrance so I could bring my bike inside. It's always good to keep an eye on your wheels when in a big city like this one.

Back on the bike, I continued to the Paint Branch Trail to head back to the campground. This time I didn't take any side routes as it was nearly 1 pm. By the time I got home, I found Don busy on his chores. I hadn't done a lot of miles, but was happy that I had gotten some exercise. We likely will be doing lots of walking tonight just getting to the cruise.

By 3:30, we headed off on our next adventure - taking the Metro train down the to waterfront where we had reservations for a dinner cruise on the Potomac River. We had made these plans nearly 2 weeks ago and were happy that it was going to be a rain-free night.

There was a station close to our campground, so we first drove there to park. Don had already purchased our ride cards (senior discount!) at the office which got us onto the correct train which was parked on the tracks. We hopped on and it soon took off.

The Metro was first above ground, then it dropped down below the surface and became a subway. This was a first for us.

There were many stops, and more and more people got on - even a guy with his bike. We wondered if they allowed tandems as there appeared to be room at the ends of the cars. Before we knew it, we'd made it to our stop where we got off and walked a couple of blocks to the cruise pier.

My only complaint was that there weren't any restrooms at the stations! Luckily an outdoor market was going on at the waterfront where I found a porta potty.

We made our way to the cruise ticket office and sat down to wait for the boarding call. When we'd made our reservations, we'd seen that the dress code was for "elegant casual-dress". What the heck was that??!! We ended up just dressing like we were going to a dance and were fine. They just wanted to discourage shorts and jeans (which we still saw being worn).

At 6, we all got onto the boat and found our assigned tables. We'd paid extra for a private one by the window.

But we still had to wait ANOTHER hour for everyone else to arrive. By now I was starving! A DJ was playing nice danceable music and there was a tiled dance area next to us so we decided to fill our time by dancing. We were by ourselves but no matter, we had fun entertaining the other diners and staff!

By 7, the late arrivals were on board and we took off. A short while later, they opened the buffet line so we could finally eat. Neither of us were thrilled with the food which was hot and plentiful, but not great. I had a hard time finding something that wasn't oversauced or oily so ended up with mostly some lackluster baked fish and green beans.

It was a nice night, although overcast which was too bad. I spent a lot of time out on deck taking pictures but wouldn't be getting any pretty sunset ones. We also did more dancing through the evening - enough that we wore out my feet! I sure hadn't planned on doing a bike ride along with dancing. I sure hoped my legs and feet weren't too stressed.

The boat took us up the Potomac where we could see several monuments and the National Cathedral in the distance. It was an interesting ride but a little crazy out on the deck as there was a large group of kids out celebrating prom. They were all dolled up in their fancy dresses and suits. But we laughed at the girls in their incredibly high heeled shoes. By the end of the cruise, many had shed the shoes and gone to bare feet!

By 10, the boat had returned to the dock and we made our way over to the Metro station for the return home. While the train down had been fairly quiet, we were dismayed to find this one "standing room only" as a baseball game had just let out. I was glad that we had our masks on which was required for all mass transit here in DC as we felt like sardines!

We squeezed on and after a few stops, finally got seats for the rest of the ride. It was after 11 by the time we made it back to the campground. The evening had been fun but we were pooped by now. My feet were quite sore and my legs ached. Time for some ice for the feet and the massage gun for the legs! At least tomorrow is an off-day.

The pictures here are only from my bike ride.

I stopped to look at a map that was on the trail today and found out some useful information about the painted lines. Too bad we hadn't read this on our first ride as it would have been good to know!

I took one side spur today that went into a neighborhood but I didn't spot any herons in the wetlands.

Lake Artemesia is a good sized lake. Access to this structure was via a bridge that had a NO BIKES sign posted. Too bad as it looked like the little island had several paths to explore.

I don't know what the blue flowering plant was?

This was on the bench I found to eat my lunch. Perfect! The saying is by Mark Twain.

Today's ride: 15 miles (24 km)
Total: 496 miles (798 km)

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	0
Comment on this entry	Comment	0