Long Walks On Leafy Streets

8/19/2014 Near Skyline drive, Shenandoah Mountains, VA
Yesterday was one of the best days of the summer so far. I got to spend it with three of my nephews, namely Naveen, Pranav and Vinay. I have been wanting to spend time with them during the summer. I used to do that a lot more. But apart from watching a couple of World Cup games with them I haven’t really had the chance to do it. This is the last week before school starts for them and yesterday was the only day they were free so I decided to take the opportunity. The oldest one, Nitin, is preparing for applying to College and he is probably beyond the age of hanging out with his brothers and his uncle. It won’t be long before the next oldest, Naveen, also gets to be that way! Even the smallest two are growing up fast.
I took the metro to Gaithersburg, picked up Pranav and drove to Derwood to pick up the other two.
After parking the car at Shady Grove metro station we took the train to Cleveland Park. We walked along the Rock Creek to Pierce Mill. I told them about how the Rock Creek Park area had plantations and how it was converted to a national park in the late 1800’s. I showed the fish ladder constructed to help spawning herring fish swim upstream around the Pierce Mill dam. We then had lunch at the Epicurean restaurant in Van Ness. We enjoyed talking about sports. One of the TV’s was showing the little league World Series while the other was showing a report from Ferguson, MO. They wanted to know why these things were happening and I told them it was because some people were afraid of others who looked different. I also told them that they wouldn’t be afraid of anyone if they got to know that person. I explained how the Advaita philosophy taught in our homes teaches that we are all one.
After that we went for a hike along the Melvin Hazen tributary. They enjoyed crossing the stream at many places. Because it hadn’t rained much in the past week the creek was somewhat dry and easy to cross. We saw some tadpoles in the water. After that I let them play in the Picnic area near Pierce Mill while reading my math book. It was quite a perfect day and I relished sitting there and watching them run around in the grass to their hearts’ content.
On Friday evening last week I joined six other members of the nature lovers’ meetup on a walk to Fletcher’s cove along the Potomac and the C&O canal towpath. We saw a great blue heron, painted turtles, double crested cormorants and some deer. You can see pictures on the meetup website. This was in celebration of the seven-year anniversary of this meetup. I started it in May 2007 with the same walk, starting from Georgetown near the Key Bridge. Lori, my fellow organizer, joined us on Friday and I am grateful for her support and all the great work she does.
If yesterday was one of the best days of the summer then Saturday must also rank right up there. In the morning Nicole and I went to Arlington to buy a hybrid bike from a lady whom we contacted through Craigslist. The bike was in good shape, looked almost new and we got it for $50 less than if we had bought it new. Nicole liked it and so we decided to get it. We biked from there along the Mt. Vernon trail all the way to Alexandria. Because the weather was so pleasant lots of people were on the trail, biking, running, roller blading or just strolling. As mentioned in previous post Nicole and I both love being near the water and so it was pure joy to bike along the wide and quietly flowing Potomac. We took time to sit down by the banks and watch the river flow past us while the Kennedy Center, the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument shined in the summer sun on the other side.

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