My last afternoon adventure during my conference in Maryland and I had two choices. (1) Take a cab to a really cool, but closed NPS site or (2) Walk across a cool bridge to see a little known relic from the early days of the country. Guess which I chose. Guess whether it was a good decision.
Spoiler: I did the bridge. It was not a good plan.
Not that Jones Point Park wasn't lovely. It was. If I lived in a city and it was right next door, I'd be stoked. However, the historical value wasn't huge (old markers and an old lighthouse, mostly) and the route to get there was less than ideal.
For some reason, it didn't dawn on me that walking next to an interstate freeway would be loud. Or that the east coast storm that was threatening wasn't an idle threat. Cars zipped by numbering in the thousands while I trudged along. The best part was the stylish control booth for the drawbridge.
It really started dumping when I got into the park itself. Big, heavy raindrops of the type we see a couple of times a year in the PNW. Not quite the misty, cooling rain I was somehow expecting. I saw the lighthouse and the markers delineating the original boundary of the District of Columbia and made a beeline for the hotel.
By the time I got back, the clouds had mostly cleared and a nice little sunset was happening. Timing is everything and I didn't have it.
Was it better than going to Fort Washington? Probably. But only because it leaves something to explore next time I'm in the D.C. area.
