A Few More of DC . . . .

We enjoyed spending three nights in Washington last week, to visit two colleges with Mary and also to help move Peter in his new house.  The moving-in part didn't involve that much work on our part other than unloading the car and doing a bit of shopping, so outside of the college visits we spent the rest of our free time doing some fun things in the city together.

Peter's new digs.  He's renting this two-story, three-bedroom house with four friends.  I think in giving directions, it will be convenient to be able to say "it's the one with the pink door."

Peter introduced Mary and Brad to one of his favorite places to eat in DC:  Z Burger in Tenleytown.  (I had already eaten there on a visit in January.)  As predicted, Z Burger did not disappoint!  They have a huge variety of shakes, and Mary has already planned her shake order for her next visit to town. 

Can you tell that we did a lot of eating in DC?  Here we are having some tasty cupcakes at Hello Cupcake in Dupont Circle.    

 

We visited a bookstore/restaurant in the U Street neighborhood called Busboys and Poets.  In a rare feat, it was a place in DC that Peter had never visited before.

And finally,  I have to tell you about the best surprise of our trip.  One morning Brad and I took a walk down Wisconsin Avenue in Georgetown.  We took a turn to the east and found this beautiful museum in an old mansion called Dumbarton Oaks.  Behind it we found an entrance to a tiny National Park called Dumbarton Oaks Park.  It's part of  Rock Creek National Park, which runs all through DC.  Dumbarton Oaks Park had the creek running through it and lots of tiny waterfalls, beautiful bridges (some like in the photo above - which I borrowed from the internet - and some which were just a wide plank over the water), lots of vegetation, and it's the kind of place that if you didn't know where you were, you wouldn't believe it.  It's down in little a valley and the city is almost totally blocked from view.  We didn't see one person and for awhile I wasn't sure how we were going to get out of the place.  The path we took came back to Wisconsin Avenue - a total of maybe just 15 minutes' walk.  If you're in DC, I highly recommend it.  But don't go alone (it's so remote you wouldn't want to be alone) and wear sneakers or hiking shoes.  (Peter, we later learned, has been there lots of times already.)