Washington, D.C. September 26-28, 2014

September 26-28, 2014 

Welcome to Washington, D.C.! 

Capital Yacht Club - our intended destination

Clay and statue on the mall

Boy did the Captain lead me on a long walk this morning pre-breakfast. Logging 1:35:39, we first turned left out of Gangplank Marina and promptly weaved our way through a mass (or mess, take your pick)

I knocked but no one came?

The White House

of construction; not only was Capital Yacht Club undergoing demolition, but the whole of the waterfront is undergoing major renovation with a 2017 completion date. We passed the Tidal Basin, the White House (no, we neither scaled nor vaulted the fence) and the Washington Monument, stopping to take pictures along the way. Unknowingly, we surely passed by (or bypassed) a whole lot of other historic/notable sights, but this being our first day ashore in DC, it's remarkable we did such a good job of finding our way. (P.S. Our Visitors Map helped!) It always amazes me to arrive by 'sea,' whether it be a remote location, a small village/community, or a large metropolitan area; to quote Forest Gump, "...you never know what you're gonna get!"

Fish market 2 blocks from the marina

John Paul Jones

Washington Monument

Washington Monument

We returned to the boat by way of a huge fresh seafood market and, of course, bought fresh catch for dinner! The day played out with breakfast at 11 a.m., a mix of projects aboard, a late lunch followed by some reading time on the fly bridge before dinner. As I watched the

Somebody is going somewhere

sunset, I listened to (and watched) the planes departing Reagan/National, the noise from departing planes having started just before 6 a.m. Intermingling with the roar of the planes was live music; for some unknown reasons (park? restaurant deck? gazebo activity center? other?), the shoreline of our location hosted three hours of live music each evening. I loved every minute of it. Jazz of sorts. Reportedly, last night's feature was oompah music. Give me music over a Nationals baseball game any day (well, maybe a little baseball, but a lotta music)!

Lincoln Monument

Just before dark, we stoked up a marina-provided grill nearby (rules disallow using our boat grill) for some fresh fish and romaine. Not often we have a fresh seafood market nearby! The trick was in the timing, with a thick piece of sea bass and a thin piece of grouper, and a grill surface big enough to accommodate the full meal deal. Wonderful!

Jefferson Memorial

Sally and Thomas Jefferson

Larry Peterson and Capt. Clay

Capt. Clay & Suzzie

Suzzie Peterson and Admiral Sally

FDR Memorial

Saturday morning hosted another long morning walk, this time passing the Tidal Basin, the World War II Memorial with the Lincoln Memorial in the distance across the Reflecting Pool, then returning again by way of the seafood market to purchase already-cooked fish items for lunch aboard with our friends Larry and Suzie Peterson. With a minimum of effort, I presented lunch fit for a king, serving peel and eat shrimp, Maryland crab soup, clam chowder, oysters on the half shell, sliced tomatoes and cottage cheese, and pasta salad! What a wonderful, meaningful afternoon we spent with our good friends! Following their departure, Clay and I borrowed the pale blue marina dock cart, and, with bike lock in hand, we walked the five or so blocks to the Safeway grocery store pulling the cart in our wake. What a sight we must have been. But, a major provisioning required wheels...of any sort. Wish I could say we garnered applause for our creative thinking when we returned to the marina, but at least we didn't get reprimanded for take the cart off premises! Our trek consumed two-plus hours of our early Saturday evening hours, but our scheduled departure Sunday morning mandated Saturday evening grocery shopping.

FDR Memorial

Elated that the frig contained major leftovers for dinner, I purged all leftover foodstuffs, replacing them with with newly-purchased items, and we ate fashionably (but necessarily) late, well after 9 p.m. Ugh!

Old Executive Office Building

Sunday morning's walking route took us around the entire perimeter of the Tidal Basin, which encompassed the Jefferson Memorial, the FDR Memorial, and the MLK Memorial. We stopped at each, reading many if not all of the inscriptions, commenting that our elected officials in DC should be required to do the same reading! It might realign their thinking. This morning we again logged well over an hour walking time and realized how remarkably well we now know downtown DC. Being relegated to walking as your primary (and sometimes only) mode of transportation does have advantages, especially for us females who might occasionally be directionally challenged. Oh, don't forget the map!

We bid Washington, D.C. adieu following a late breakfast and motored down the Potomac, ready for adventures that will come our way as we retrace our breadcrumbs on our way south.

More SaSea Sally adventures coming as September comes to a close, and we head south.

BOATER'S NOTE:  Washington DC is a boater's delight.  The marinas in the Washington Channel are centrally located for almost all sights in DC and the rates charged to dock were reasonable too.  A Metro stop is located just a few blocks from the marinas and there is a grocery store at the Metro stop.  The marinas had seemingly good security and you felt safe walking in the area as well.  While Washington DC is a full 100 miles off the Chesapeake and the Potomac has few interesting stops on the way (we anchored), I'd put Washington DC on my list of "don't miss", top five stops while on the Loop.