Washington DC

Looking back a couple of whiles, we enjoyed a week in Washington visiting Simon and Hannah. Our anchorage was right downtown with easy access to food and entertainment and transportation and supplies. It was absolutely the best way to visit the city.

The beauty in the foreground is Ellen, the beauty in the background is Cyclops.

Back in the day when I was a young, starry-eyed attorney I wanted to get sworn in as a member of Supreme Court bar (it’s a privilege open to lawyers who are members of lower federal courts). But ultimately I am not interested in being a member of a partisan and corrupt entity,

Speaking of corrupt, Ellen reached out to Senator Susan Collins to see if we could get a tour of the Senate. Collins let us down (in this instance I mean she let Ellen and me down, but feel free to extrapolate to all Mainers and citizens of good conscience) but Senator King came through like a champ. We got a personal tour of the Capitol from an intern in King’s office. It was fantastic.

The Wharf Marina downtown has a phenomenal rate for visiting boats: we anchored and just $5/day got us access to their secure dinghy dock, lounge, library, laundry machines, and showers. Quite a deal. Everyone there was friendly and helpful, and we can’t wait to visit again in the spring. It’s a long long way up the Potomac, but absolutely worth the trip.

This was the view from Cyclops at anchor in DC.

Simon and Hannah ran an 8k while we were there, and the route took them around the public golf course Trump is intent on ruining. So we got to see it (and run around it ourselves) before he cuts down all the trees, paints everything gold, and makes it a gated community for his rich white supremacist buddies.

Ellen and I walked and walked all over the city. Got to hang out at the bar where Simon works when he is not busy being a scholar. Got to have lunch and play on the simulators at the Formula One cafe – something everyone should try because it was tremendous fun despite the fact that driving an F1 car is really really hard to do well. And we got so comfortable with the Metro that Ellen and I managed to coordinate a transfer from the subway to a bus! Just like city people.

Nope, we are not in Rio de Janeiro and this is not Jesus. It’s a memorial to the passengers who let the women and children get seats in the lifeboats on the Titanic.

Some of the harbor tour boats look like the future. By the way, where are all the flying cars we were promised?

The Potomac is a big river with commercial traffic, but it is so shallow in places (often less than 20’ deep) that it’s more barges than deep-draft vessels.

It’s also the filthiest body of water on which we have ever boated. Every time we raised the anchor there was some kind of nasty stuck to it. We raised so many trash bags filled with who-knows-what that Ellen was getting Dexter flashbacks.

Sage advice in a DC bathroom.

And acrobatic dogs on the streets.

Look at this pair of retirees with their sensible shoes!

We got to enjoy the company of Zoë and her BF Matt, and got to meet Zoë’s BFF The Nut Man. He’s a guy who sells delicious nuts and granola at the farmer’s market near their apartment.

Simon and Hannah joined us on board for some prosecco. (Yes, it’s Waterford crystal, because that is how we do aboard Cyclops.)