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Basecamp Location: Patapsco Valley State Park Ellicot City, MD |
We did it! Today, Monday September 3rd, 2019 (Labor Day) we drove our own truck clear through the District of Columbia, Washington DC.
There are a couple of National Memorials across The Potomac River over in Virginia that the Trolley and The Metro just doesn't get near enough to walk to, namely the Lyndon Baines Johnson Memorial Grove and Theodore Roosevelt Island Memorial. They are both set on different islands on the Virginia side of the Potomac River. LBJ's Memorial is a very simple setting with a large rose colored granite monolith from his home state of Texas. It was placed here by request of his widow, Lady Bird Johnson. LBJ would often visit this exact spot while in office to escape the hustle and bustle of DC. His simple and elegant memorial does not bear his name in large letters as do most of the other memorials, only inscribed in the polished slab stones along the ground, surrounding the memorial, do you find his name preceded by one of his famous quotes.
The Theodore Roosevelt Island Memorial is just that, a whole island. You have to park your car and walk across a pedestrian bridge to see the memorial site near the entrance to the island. There are miles of hiking/biking/jogging paths on the island that allow you to see the rest of what the island has to offer. Theodore Roosevelt was a great conservationist and is responsible for most of our early National Parks. He is the fourth face on Mount Rushmore, along with the easily recognizable Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln.
Almost right across the street from Teddy Roosevelt's Memorial is the US Marine Corps (Iwo Jima) Memorial that we saw on our moonlight tour two days earlier. We decided to go back and see it in the brightness of day. It was another 90+ degree day here near Washington DC and outdoor exploring was coming to a early end for us, it was only 11:00AM. We did a little research right there in the parking lot and saw we were near the George Washington Memorial Parkway.
The parkway runs along the shoreline of The Potomac River and at the southern end is Mount Vernon, George Washington's home. We were only about 14 miles away from Mount Vernon and it's supposed to be a beautiful drive so off we went. Upon arriving at Mount Vernon we were greeted by five tour buses filled will tourists, that along with a $20 entrance fee to see the grounds, we took a pass at going for a visit. Nearing noon now we decided to head towards home, get some lunch and do the laundry. We stopped by the two closest laundromats to the campground and they were both packed with people, so that will have to wait until tomorrow when everyone goes back to work! So, what's for lunch?
STATS FOR TODAY - 3,048 steps or .95 miles
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