March 2000

Spring comes early in Maryland

Biking the C&O Canal:

Ah, what a wonderful day for a bike ride.  The 184.5 mile long C&O Canal was built between 1828 and 1850. It operated sporadically between floods until 1924. In 1954, US Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas organized an eight day hike up the towpath in an effort to save it from being converted to a parkway. His efforts succeeded, and in 1971 the canal became a National Historic Park.  Boy are we glad he did,

We've done about 15 miles of it so far.  It is nearly flat with a gravely surface.  Hard enough to make looking around possible, soft enough to feel like you're in the woods.  Our latest trip was from Point of Rocks to Brunswick.  We took most of the afternoon to travel the 6 miles up, then 6 miles back.  About a third of the way into the trip the sky got very dark and a good'ole thunder and lightning storm blew in.  Keen eye Jerry saw a railroad tunnel besides the path and we were able to escape the torrential rain.  Half an hour later it was over, the sun came out, and we continued our journey.

Official C&O Canal Site

Cherry Blossoms in DC:

The famous trees, a gift from Japan in 1912, signal the coming of Spring with an explosion of life and color surrounding the Jefferson Memorial on the Tidal Basin in a sea of pink and white.  We jumped on the metro and spent the afternoon walking among the blossoms and visiting the monuments.  What a beautiful spring day!!