5-22-10 Great Falls and surronds Visit

A warm day and humid too. We can feel it coming! The summer of our discomfort. But we are still going to head out - today's target is the Great Falls on the Potomac, upstream from DC, just west of where the beltway makes its crossing into Maryland northwest of DC. This area has been a favorite recreation area for the DC folks since the 1800s. It was also the area where locks were built to allow boat traffic around the falls. A big hotel was here, a famous carousel. But now it is a visitor center, overlooks over the Falls, hiking paths and lots of picnic sites. We stayed for about 2 to 3 hours and saw our fill. It was getting hot and more humid and we decided to head for the next spot - Glen Echo.

Glen Echo is an area that was once a very big amusement park. It went bust a long time ago and is now an artist's colony. The buildings have been renovated to be studios and classes are held there. But there is still a large Carousel with a steam calliope and there are little kids all over the place. It is a nice place to visit.

On the way to Glen Echo we drove along the Maryland side of the C&O canal, and the lock system is still there. Not operative of course, but signs and the old locks can be seen. There is a bike path that runs along the canal for a great distance I have heard. Maybe someday we will do that - but the weather back here does take the stuffing out of this Western boy.

The day was topped off by a visit from Sal. He came up from Fredricksburg for dinner. It was good seeing him again.