A Very Foggy Old Town Alexandria

It does happen every once in a while. A morning fog blanketed the area last week. I wanted to take a walk along the Tidal Basin for a last fall hurrah and brilliant leaves display, but we instead thought a ride in to Old Town Alexandria might be more interesting. Walking along the Potomac River waterfront is always worth while, and could be even more so in these conditions. And, if it’s later in the week we always like to stop at Vaso’s Kitchen to pick up a Greek pizza and have lunch near the airport at Gravelly Point - which we did. We parked in our usual free parking spot at Founders Park and started our walk by all of the ducks and geese and boats. The tall shop has returned to port and is an obvious item. It was eerily silent as we walked. Then it dawned on us that the planes were not able to take off and land at Reagan airport because the visibility was so awful. We oftentimes wondered how people living near the waterfront could stand the incessant sounds of the jets flying overhead. The silence really was deafening! The waterfowl were mulling about and there were a few fishermen here and there. The docks looked almost invisible. We meandered through the quaint neighborhood on the way back searching out Thanksgiving decorations. When we returned to the car the sun was finally trying to break through. It gave a mystical effect on the river and surrounding area. We always love visiting Old Town. It almost feels like home. 

A Fog Alert at the Tidal Basin

It was bright sunshine when we left home. Once we hit DC the fog descended around us. We were on our way to the Tidal Basin to see the cherry blossoms. The blossoms are just starting to emerge and the crowds are small now. Next week will be a different story. So we parked in a less familiar place to tourists and headed over. It was quite eerie! Since we have seen the cherry blossoms in all states and times of the day when we lived on Capitol Hill, it would be an interesting walk in the fog. I was glad the pedestrian walkway was sparse - I don’t care for crowds and the city has been quiet for the last two years. We started past the Jefferson memorial and walked towards The Roosevelt Memorial - one of our favorites. The tour buses started to roll in and the large groups began to clutter the walkways. We made our way to the MLK memorial, across the bridge, past the paddle boats and back to the Jefferson memorial. By the time we made it around the basin the sun was out. It was about a two mile jaunt back to the car. Spring is such a beautiful time of year here. The fog made it very interesting. 

Rainy and Foggy New Year’s Day in DC

We woke up to a very dense foggy and rainy day. Rather than take a walk - like we usually do - we took a drive in to town. There were several disabled cars and a roll over along the GW Parkway. The fog was everywhere. Once we drove on to Arlington Memorial Bridge the traffic thinned out to nothing and the streets were relatively empty. On the national mall there were a lot of available parking spaces. The tourist traffic was a lot less than it has been over the last two weeks. We continued to drive by all of the familiar landmarks. Everything looked a bit more mysterious. A few pedestrians and die hards were out and about. We drove by our old condo building on Capitol Hill. We do still miss the neighborhood but there are a lot of things we are happy to have left behind. It almost feels weird that we actually lived there for thirteen years. We do still love to visit. On the way home the fog was so thick we couldn’t even see across the Potomac and the bridges disappeared. It was an interesting ride to start out the new year. I’m looking forward to the sunshine. 

A Foggy and Rainy Capital City

As is our typical routine on Saturday, we go to McLean Family Restaurant for brunch followed by grocery shopping. Today we took a side trip to Yaz in Vienna to pick up some of my husband’s favorite treats - a couple of jars of pickled vegetables and sour cherry preserves. And yes, a couple of cookies. But before getting to either place we drove along the GW Parkway in the fog. It was almost impossible to see the Washington Monument along with the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Memorial, Roosevelt Island Bridge, and the Georgetown spires all along the Potomac River. The geese are still hanging around, almost looking to attack the innocent passerby. We had two record setting delightful days this week only to be faced now with several drizzly, unpleasant, foggy to come. I suppose it could be much worse this time of year. But I would take sunshine any time.