Will Walk For Food

As I'm sure you've seen by now, food is a powerful motivator for me, and today was no exception! After Lynn and I had our last mid-walk meal together in April, we made plans for another brunch, and this was the day for that. Today was another gorgeous day, and when I hit the trail at a little after 9:30, bound once again for the Custis Trail, the temperature was only in the low 70s. On my way to the trail, I walked by some lovely Roses of Sharon.

The trail was empty when I arrived, and I enjoyed being able to walk without bicyclists whizzing by. The metal wall to the right of this picture divides the trail from Route 66.

Following the Custis Trail to its final mile marker, I then walked across the Key Bridge into Georgetown. There were already a few boats on the river, and I was sure there would be many more out later in the day given the beautiful weather.

I crossed to the north side of M Street, and from there, I had a great view of the Ukrainian Embassy.

Originally, this building, which dates to 1788 and is known as the Forrest Marbury House, was the home of Uriah Forrest, who was the mayor of Georgetown. In March 1791, during the time Forrest lived in this house, it was the site of a meeting between President George Washington and local landowners to discuss the federal government's purchase offer for the land needed to build the new capital city. The meeting was successful, and shortly afterward, the land acquisition deal was sealed. In 1800, William Marbury, famous for his battles with President James Madison over political appointments in the 1803 Supreme Court case which bears their names, moved into this house. The house remained in Marbury's family for much of the nineteenth century, and then changed hands several times in more recent years, serving as the Crazy Horse Rock and Roll Nightclub in the 1980s. (I think I may have walked by here with my Girl Scout Troop on our ill-fated ice cream hunt in 1985 that I mentioned in last week's blog entry.) The Crazy Horse was owned by the same business partners who owned the more famous Cellar Door, located right across the street. Finally, in the early 1990s, this building was remodelled and restored, and the newly-indepdendent Ukraine purchased it on the last day of December 1992 to house its embassy.

From M Street, I walked north along 33rd Street and then turned right onto P Street, passing many pretty flowers along the way.

I walked around the south side of Dupont Circle and stopped to take this picture, because how often is it only 79 degrees (with low humidity) at 11:00 in the morning at end of June? Almost never, that's how often. What a great weather day!

I met Lynn shortly after 11:00 at Birch & Barley, and we had a great meal. We've now known each other for almost 24 years, and we always have plenty to talk about.

We started our meal by sharing a plate of three doughnuts. (Actually, what was supposed to be three doughnuts was actually two doughnuts and one doughnut hole.) We agreed that the toffee-bacon doughnut was the best; the lemon-poppy glazed doughnut and the bittersweet chocolate doughnut hole left a lot to be desired, even though the descriptions of all three sounded delicious.

For my main course, I ordered French toast with strawberries, candied almonds, mascarpone, and bacon. I took this picture before I started eating.

If I had taken a picture when I was done eating, it would have looked almost the same. After about three bites, I was done. The bread was just too thick and filling to eat and really wasn't very tasty. I felt bad about leaving so much on my plate but didn't want to take it with me, because I was walking home. Lynn, good friend that she is, actually took some of my food and hid it under what remained on her plate so that it looked as if I'd eaten more than I actually did!

After Lynn and I parted ways, I retraced my steps down P Street, where I passed by an old fire call box that has been turned into artwork. My assumption is that with the advent of the mobile phone, these call boxes are no longer needed to report fires, and I've seen several of them in the District that have been transformed this way.

Continuing west on P Street, I soon arrived at a garden I had first noticed on my walk to brunch. Steve and Phil's Garden, located in a small triangle of land between P Street and Massachusetts Avenue along Dupont Circle, was created about ten years ago and has been maintained ever since by the two men who first planted it. On this early summer day, the flowers were gorgeous.

Leaving the garden behind for the time being, I walked through the center of Dupont Circle, passing by the fountain, placed at this location in 1921. It was designed by Daniel Chester French and Henry Bacon, the co-creators of the Lincoln Memorial.

I crossed over Rock Creek on the P Street Bridge and spent some time admiring more beautiful flowers before turning south on 34th Street and going back across the Key Bridge into Virginia.

Once again heading west along the Custis Trail, I enjoyed the shady parts of the trail and the blue skies above me.

With just a mile left in my walk, I stopped by the green pond to take a picture of the blue heron, who had replaced the turtles I'd seen yesterday.

About fifteen minutes later, I arrived at home, having walked a total of 13.5 miles today. I'm heading out of town next weekend, and I'm not sure how much walking I'll have the chance to do, but from then on, expect to see lots of long walks from me in July as the 3-Day draws nearer.