What is there to do at East Potomac Park?

 

With the impeding closure of East Potomac Park in the middle of this month, one might wonder what we are loosing (at least temporarily) and what activities people do there.

 What is there to do at East Potomac Park?

People engage in all sorts of activities in East Potomac Park including: golf, miniature golf, biking, running, walking, rollerblading, walking their dogs, picnicking, fishing, plane spotting, bird watching, playing on the playground, writing, cleaning their car windows, tennis, playing soccer, and cherry blossom viewing.

I was there on Friday and actually saw people doing all but the last three. I'm sure there were people playing tennis, but I didn't go by the tennis courts (I'm also not sure if the tennis center will be affected by the upcoming closure).  Cleaning car windows is a bit surprising, but the past couple of times I've been there, multiple people have been doing it. I'm not sure what the attraction to it is.  Here's the illustrated list. All photos except the cherry blossom one were taken on October 30. 

 Golf at East Potomac Park is what has been in the news recently.  There currently are two 18-hole courses and one 9-hole one.  The president has propposed replacing them with a single 18-hole course.

Miniature Golf

The mini golf course at East Potomac Park. Hole 12 has the White House and the U.S. Capitol building.  I saw a couple kids playing the course.

Bikers gonna bike

Biking is a very popular activity there and there regularly are large groups of people biking on Ohio Drive.  There are also lots of individuals taking a leisurely ride around the park.

Running on Ohio Drive

Runners are a common sight. Lots of them are solo, others are in pairs. When I've been there I haven't seen large groups of runners, but I'm sure at times there are.

Walking under the trees

I see fewer people walking than running or biking, but there out there, enjoying the weather and the views.

Rollerblading

I saw a couple of people out on rollerblades. No one on roller skates or skateboards, but I'm sure people use those here too.
 

Dog walking

People love their dogs, and this is a great place to take them for a long walk. This person was walking two dogs on the walkway along the seawall.  You can see National Airport on the other side of the Potomac River.

Biking and picnicking

These two bikers decided to have their lunch on a picnic table right at the tip of Hains Point. 

Fishing in the river

Fishing is a popular activity here. I always see several groups of people doing it. It looks very relaxing, usually they cast their line then sit back and wait for a bite.

Planespotting

Being directly across the Potomac River from National Airport, this is a great place to watch planes take off and land.
 

Southwest airlines plane taking off from National Airport

I've gone there a few times to take pictures of planes. It's a very active airport and you never have to wait long.  American Airlines has the most flights from National Airport, but Southwest also has a good number of flights.

Looking for birds

Birdwatching wasn't an activity I expected to be done here, but apparently it is.  When I was there Friday there was a group of people there with binoculars and cameras because someone had seen a Nelson's Sparrow, which is rarely seen in this area.

Playground

There are a couple of nice playgrounds at the southern end of Ohio drive with a parking lot right near them.

Writing

This is a pretty nice park, and, at least on weekdays, it isn't too crowded. You can find a quiet spot to sit down and get some writing done.

 

Cherry blossoms and the Washington Monument

Ohio Drive, the road that runs around the perimeter of East Potomac Park is lined with cherry trees.  In the spring they all flower and it isn't quite as crowded as the tidal basin. Since it isn't spring, here's a photo I took a number of years ago

 

Collapsing seawall

Not everything is perfect at East Potomac Park.  Around the edge of the park is a seawall and there is a walkway right next to it.  The park is sinking. It was built with fill dirt and over time it has settled and compressed, as well as compressing the mud that was already there.  The water level has also risen, the two make a bad combination and parts of the park flood every high tide.  This is right at the tip of Hains Point, the southernmost spot of the park. Here the walkway has collapsed and the area fenced off. When I took this photo it was after high tide and the tide was still going out.

Trailing off into the water

I'm not sure exactly what is going on here, but I think originally the walkway went down lower here.  I don't think this stretch is ever not flooded.

Are there other activities you have done (or seen done) at East Potomac Park?  If so, mention them in the comments.
 

 

Great Falls of the Potomac River (POTD)

It was a beautiful fall day today so I decided to walk out to the Olmsted Island Overlook and see Great Falls of the Potomac River. The trees have some nice dark yellows and reds in them.
 

Desert Shield and Desert Storm Memorial dedication

Today was the dedication ceremony of the Desert Shield and Desert Storm Memorial on the corner of Constitution Ave and 23rd St NW in Washington, DC.  I went to see it and took some photos.

There were a few thousand people there, more than I expected.  Most of them were in a field across the street from the memorial watching it on a huge video screen.  As you might expect, lots of veterans were in attendance.

Here's a shot of the crowd with the Lincoln Memorial in the background.  You know most of those people are going to want to walk through the memorial too.

It's not a party unless the bagpipes show up.  After the ceremony they played for people waiting in line.

I got in line for the memorial before the ceremony ended so was able to get in fairly quickly.  All these people were in front of me though.  When I left the line looked just as long as when I started.

The first thing we walked by when entering was this bas-relief sculpture. It depicted aircraft, soldiers, tanks, and more from the conflict.

The memorial is a plaza with a fountain in the center surrounded by curved walls.

 

Albino gray squirrel

 

Don't let the lack of gray fur fool you, this is an albino eastern gray squirrel,  Sciurus carolinensis, our friendly local tree rat.  Seen digging for nuts yesterday on Pennsylvania Avenue outside the FTC building in Washington, DC.

Strathmore Square at Grosvenor construction

Strathmore Square is the development next to the Grosvenor-Strathmore metro station. It's been in progress for years. I blogged about the construction of the first two buildings in 2023.  This is the third building, called Building 5 A and B in the initial plan but now named The Reserve at Strathmore Square. It is a senior living experience.  They clearly aren't doing them in order.  The full plan calls for an eventual 6 buildings.

This building is directly adjacent to the metro station parking garage and the Kiss and Ride.  It looks like they are starting the second floor now.

Part of the development includes this 1.2 acre park.  The new building is behind it, the existing buildings to the right, and the Grosvenor-Strathmore station on the left.
 

Bethesda metro station has re-opened

 

The two-month long shutdown of the Red line between Friendship Heights and North Bethesda is now complete.  Today trains resumed running through the formerly closed stations.  One of the big accomplishments was building a mezzanine at the southern end of the Bethesda metro station. This will connect to the Purple Line station.

The new entrance is not complete, but metro claims the rest of the work can be done without impacting trains.  Here is the southern end of the Bethesda metro station platform.  The center part of it is blocked off for mezzanine construction.
 

The mezzanine is there, but there is still work to be done. The supports are in and covered with fire retardant insulation.

 Standing under the new mezzanine looking towards the current entrance.

Friends of Cabin John Park picnic and ducky race

I was out for a walk on Cabin John Trail and saw a sign advertising the Friends of Cabin Joh Creek picnic and ducky race. It was on Sunday the 30th, and, since I can't resist a good race, I went.

They had hotdogs, hamburgers, pizza and sides at the picnic, and I signed up to have a rubber duck in the duck race.  To my surprise, there were several elected officials there, Sara Love, Maryland State Senator for the 16th district was there as well as Sarah Wolek and  Marc Korman both members of the Maryland House of Delegates for district 16,
 

 Here's a group photo of some of the people involved. In the pink shirt is Sara Love, the woman in the white shirt is Sarah Wolek, and the man with the net is Marc Korman.  The other woman is a candidate for a political office, though I didn't get her name.  The other people in the picture are part of Friends of Cabin John Creek.

The race was held in Cabin John Creek, so everyone made their way down the hill and cheered our ducks on.  It was a fast-paced race at the beginning with ducks shooting through the rapids, or, getting stuck on rocks. Later, it got to a calm portion and all the ducks slowed down.  My duck didn't win, I don't even know where it placed.  The top three finishers got a bottle of maple syrup as did the last duck to finish (duck number 7).

After ducks crossed the finish line, delegate Marc Korman scooped them up with his net, making sure none escaped or were injured.

Duck races are every bit as silly as you expect them to be, making it well worth my time to go there.
 

Democracy Center residential development

Democracy center is a cluster of three office buildings at the corner of Rockledge Drive and Westlake Terrace/Fernwood Road. It backs up to the I-270 Spur.  You probably didn't know this, but part of this property had a publicly accessible but privately owned park with basketball courts and walking trails.

In the above photo, one of the existing Democracy Center commercial buildings is on the left and beyond it the under-construction residential building. Rockledge Drive is in the foreground. 

That park-like part of the property is being developed into a seven-story residential complex with up to 386 housing units. There will also be a 1.3 acre privately-owned public open space between it and Rockledge Dr, as well a narrowed Rockledge Dr with tree pits installed in the existing right-of-way to provide for bike lanes on each side of the road. You can find out more at Montgomery Planning.

This is the current view from Rockledge Drive. The 1.3 acre open space will be where all the construction equipment and supplies currently are.

 

Side View

Here's how it looks from the side. This is from between the existing Democracy Center buildings.  The main entrance to the building will be in this area.

View from the I-270 Spur

This is what you see if you are driving north on the I-270 Spur just after Democracy Blvd.

 I took the bottom photo on Thursday, the rest of them I took on Friday.

 

 

Last night's Lunar Eclipse

 

Last night there was a Lunar Eclipse.  It wasn't total, but it here in the DMV it was pretty close.  Maximum in Bethesda was at 12:12 and I took these pictures about 10 minutes later, because, as Neil Sedaka's song says Waking Up is Hard to Do. 

It was quite rainy yesterday evening so I figured it would be overcast all night.  When maximum eclipse occurred there were thin high clouds so you could easily see the moon. However, there was also some light scattering by the clouds so the whole picture glows a little.  These two pictures were taking about a second apart, so the differences are mostly due to a slightly different exposure, but, about a minute after I took them, heavier clouds started covering the moon.
 

Foundry Branch Trestle Bridge

 

The Foundry Branch Trestle is how the Washington and Great Falls Electric Railway Company crossed Foundry Branch stream on it's way from Georgetown to Glen Echo.  It was built in 1896 and streetcars used the trestle until 1960. Since then it has stood alone in the woods, easily visible from Canal Road near Georgetown University.

The trees have grown up around  the Pratt truss bridge and vines work their way in from both sides, but you can still see most of it.

 

End of the trestle

WMATA (Metrobus/Metrorail) now owns the trestle and a determined it was unsafe. In 2016 the area was fenced off so you couldn't go under the trestle. Prior to that, the Glover-Archbold Trail ran under it.  Since then, WMATA has been trying to get permission to demolish it.

 Even though you can't walk right up to it (unless you crawl through a hole in the fence, which I did not do and don't recomend you do), you can get some pretty good views of it.  You can walk up a hill and see it from the top, if you are careful to avoid the plentiful poison ivy. Here's a view looking over one of the fences at the eastern end of the bridge.

Like a tree needs a bicycle

This is actually my favorite part. At the top of the east end of the trestle someone put a bike in the fork of a tree.  Over the years, the tree has swallowed the bike and only the seat and back of the frame can be seen, the rest is embedded in the tree.

Just last week, approval was given to demolish the Foundry Branch Trestle Bridge, the concrete trestle footers will remain, but the rest of it will be destroyed.

 

Tunnel under the canal

There are a few ways to get to the bridge which is right where Foxhall Road joins Canal Road. You can hike south on the Glover-Archbold trail, you could park in the neighborhoods nearby and walk down Foxhall Rd, or, what I think is the best way: you can access it from the C and O canal or Capital Crescent Trail.  There is a pedestrian underpass that goes under the canal and Canal Road, taking you right there.