It's Bethesda Big Train baseball season

Did you know that Bethesda, MD has its own local baseball team?  Bethesda Big Train part of the summer collegiate baseball program.  The season is on now and runs through the end of July.  They play at the Shirley Povich field right next to Cabin John Ice Rink.

I went to see them play the Silver Spring-Takoma Thunderbolts tonight and it was a fun, casual affair with the fans full of families.  you can look at the schedule and see if you can go to any of the games.

The trolley bridge at Glen Echo Park

 

If you have ever gone to Glen Echo park you have probably noticed the old trolley bridge over Minnehaha creek.  It is the big metal bridge you see on your left as you cross the foot bridge.  This bridge has been abandoned for decades.  The bridge has been rehabilitated and a short section MacArthur Avenue Trail has now been re-routed over it

 The new trail over the bridge doesn't cover the full width of the bridge so you can see the original steel beams.

 Here is a look at the bridge from the Glen Echo Park side.

 This is the same bridge, from the same spot in early May, 2014.

 Here is how it looks below the bridge.  You can see the concrete and steel have gotten a fresh coat of paint.

 This is how the underside of the bridge looked in May of 2013.

Looking up at the bridge from Minnehaha Creek.

Last year at this time the bridge was totally overgrown.  It looks like construction started last July.

Update 2015-04-05:  In the comments, Brett Young pointed out that he has a set of pictures taken throughout the construction process.

Go visit the Cherry Blossoms at night

 

The Cherry Blossoms are in peak bloom around the Tidal Basin in Washington, DC this weekend.  They are beautiful and it is well worth going to see them.  However,  when you have peak bloom on a weekend, it gets incredibly crowded. 

  

You can avoid the crowds by going at night.  You won't get the overwhelming majesty of the pink-white blossoms everywhere, but you will get to see the blossoms in a way that most people don't, and they are still quite beautiful.

 

 The light cherry blossoms really stand out against the dark sky, and they seem to fade away in the distance.

Although it is less crowded, that doesn't mean no one is there.  A reasonable stream of people are walking aroun.

The old Hamburger Hamlet at Georgetown Square

  

The Hamburger Hamlet restaurant at Georgetown Square on the corner of Old Georgetown Road and Democracy Boulevard in Bethesda has been vacant for a while.  Recently there has been a flurry of activity there, preparing for the new tenant, Not Your Average Joe's, which will be opening this summer.  The atrium area in the front, which was the bar is totally gone, so clearly, the new restaurant will look a a lot different.

This will be the second Maryland location for the restaurant chain.

The tower tree

Some people, when faced with a tree to take out of their yard, just chop it down.  Others, cut it off 8 or so feet above ground and carve it into a medieval tower.  I was walking through the neighborhoods along Sangamore Road in Bethesda today and saw this tree on Westpath court.

Kensington Labor Day Parade

This morning was the annual Labor Day Parade in Kensington, MD, I went and took a few pictures.

The start of the parade

An old car with the grand Marshal

Ike Legget

The Finest! performance foundation

JennyCakes Bakery float

Magruder High School band

Abe

Teddy

An old chevy truck

Cub scout pack 478

Stancill's Guitar Studio band

Miss White Oak

Jim Moyer Circus Club stiltwalker

Jim Moyer Circus Club unicyclists

Duck Bouncer

One of the pieces of playground equipment at Elm Street Park in Bethesda.  A bouncer in the shape of a duck.

Blanche Lake, Utah

Sometimes I go places.  This was one of those times.  I was in Salt Lake City last week and on Sunday I went on a hike to Blanche Lake in Big Cottonwood Canyon.  The trail 3 miles each way, up hill on the way to the lake and downhill all the way back, This isn't an up-and-down trail, or one that is so steep it is nothing but switchbacks, it just steadily grinds upward, gaining almost 2,600 feet of elevation.

The lake itself isn't very large.  At one time there was a stone dam at the end, but it is no longer operational.  After I got up there it started raining, the rain and the sun battled it out, it would rain for a few minutes, then the sun would come out and dry things off, then the rain would push forward once again.  Since it was warm out, the rain was not much of an annoyance.

If you look the opposite direction, you can see the canyon you just hiked up.  There is glacier-scoured rocks, low bushes, and a variety of trees.

Railroad siding at Connecticut Avenue

 I like looking around for traces of the old Georgetown Branch railroad line, so I was thrilled to find another abandoned siding.  This one is on the Georgetown Branch Trail, between Bethesda and Connecticut Avenue,  In fact, it is within sight of Connecticut Ave.  In the picture above you can see the fence that marks the edge of Columbia Country Club.  There is a little path next to it and you can walk in a bit and see the rail road tracks

Abandoned railroad siding near Columbia Country Club

 The siding continues to the trees almost to Connecticut Avenue.  Here is a nother bit of it.  In the background you can see a bench and the Georgetown Branch trail.  If you zoom in you can see one of the rails is covered with a bit of chain link fence.

 The siding goes right up to the parking lot of Parkway drycleaning.  I wonder how many people have parked here never knowing what is right next to them.

End of the line

The railroad siding unceremoniously ends with the rail sticking up a bit from the ground.

Next time you are going down that part of the trail, it is worth taking a minute to check out this relic of slightly earlier times.

Railroad siding near River Road

I have walked along the Capital Crescent Trail near River Road many times but I have never noticed the bit of railroad siding that remains in one spot.

See it? It is easy to miss, on the left about 5 feet above the trail and overgrown with vines.

Here's another closer look. This is the end of the siding, I believe this particular bit is to keep railroad cars from rolling off the end. Given how overgrown the rest is I wonder if someone pulled some vines away to make it more visible.

 I walked up the embankment to get a closer look and the rails are still there, going off to the right through the trees.  I removed some vines from a bit of the rail so I could get a better picture.  The cross ties are rotted and spongy, I thought the were going to break when I stepped on them.

The siding connected to the main line right around where the bridge that goes over River Road is.  There is a gravel road next to the trail and you can see a single rail embedded in the road.  Behind that is an open area that slopes up.  This was recently re-graded, the siding is a bit to the left and several feet lower than the current grade.

I walked back among the trees looking for more signs of the siding.  It is all still there, just overgrown with ivy and very hard to see.