January 5, 2014
22:15

Yesterday I had the opportunity to hike 8 miles of DC’s streets with my good friends: Sean, Becca, Kevin and Mason. Sean wanted to set up an “Urban Adventure” as opposed to the usual outdoor adventures we have and god damn did he deliver. As soon as I walked into Franconia-Springfield Metro and saw him there with one of REI’s NatGeo waterproof DC maps I knew we were in for some trekking. 

We started off the journey by getting off at Foggy Bottom Metro and trekking to Georgetown. The mission - Patagonia! Imagine a toy store filled with just the toys you want, that’s what it felt like. The fleeces, jackets, tees and awkwardly Patagonia labelled rite-in-the-rains - I wanted them all. Sean and I stood there for a solid 3 minutes commenting on the stitch and seam job on one of their Nano Puff Jackets. Mason and Kevin didn’t seem to interested in the gear but get them in one of their $500 jackets and they WILL see what they are missing out on! Alas, I digress. It is a life goal of mine to one day do research sponsored by Patagonia…

Next we trekked to the water and made our way to the Kennedy Center. I must say I never knew we could go to the roof. I was literally mind-blown. From the top we could see the city, Theodore Roosevelt Island and Georgetown. The geometry of the roof made me photo-crazy. From there we trekked all the way to Union Station. The motto of the day was, “Metro? We don’t need the metro.”. The goal was the H st. Dangerously Delicious Pies. It’s pie was famous, it was food network'ed and Becca’s foodie friend recommended it - we were going. To get to Union Station we made our way through backroads. Through quaint neighborhoods and parks I’d never seen before. We spared no expense to make it as scenic and off the toursit-beaten path as possible. 

Dangerously Delicious Pies…What can I say? I never knew there was a restaurant totally focused on sweet and savory pies! The food was amazing, the prices a bit high and the selection out of this world. A huge plus was that they served a bunch of different beers, wines and liquors! It was small and quaint and tucked away in the awkward, gentrified part of H st. I had the chicken pot pie and the apple crumb - very traditionalist. 

The next part of the adventure was getting ourselves to Metro Station Metro and then to Rosslyn Metro. All by foot of course. We passed through more quaint neighborhoods and made a great find with this recovered Volkswagon van! I shamefully didn’t know it’s model. Once back at Union Station the sun was already starting to set. It cast the softest yellow light through the station’s columns. We were lucky enough to come across a wedding photo shoot. Cute couple, cute photog, cute girl holding the flowers - just cute everywhere. 

We finally, after much needed rest on the metro, made it to Rosslyn. The sun was setting fast but we just HAD to make it to this damn island. It was the closure the trip needed. We found a bike thanks to Sean. We then found the correct bike path thanks to Becca and made it to the island. The bridge leading to the island was covered in ice but ahead of it was an island I never knew existed in DC. The filthy water and the filthy streets just had me praying this one island was relatively untouched. Once on the island it was obvious that it was dominated by Beeches and Sycamores. The paths were rather clean and it was good old dirt under our feet (and gravel). Just a little up the hill was the memorial. It was like seeing end goal of a long arduous journey. We had walked a good 8 miles, were tired and quite cold. Just seeing the waving giant was satisfying. 

Urban adventure number 1 - complete. Definitely could never live in a city, even one as relatively calm as DC, but I do appreciate the history they have to offer. It was a great hurrah with my friends and I definitely look forward to adventuring more major cities.

Here’s to the city. 

Chris