Stomping grounds

Washington DC to Glen Echo, Maryland Saturday October 30, 2021

Been away for 40 years, but DC is still my hometown. Today was short on milage, but chock full of visiting friends, family, and old haunts. From that first Mr. Smith Goes to Washington view of the Capitol as I left Union Station last night, my mind was awash in nostalgia and reminiscing.

My hotel, the “Yotel,” was ultra trendy with muted, colorful lighting and a front desk called Mission Control, but when you flattened the motorized bed/recliner you had minimal room to walk by. Like the Hilton Tru in Cheyenne, it was all about cramming in more rooms.

Had breakfast with Harvey Washington (see my post of 5/17/21) and we talked of our high school days and our medical careers, he’s still working long hours. We could have gone on for hours, made plans to get together more in the future.

Then off to Lafayette Square, passing the White House

for coffee with My Uncle David and Lynne. Again, not enough time, but it was lovely to see them.

Passed my med school, remembered how we used to refer to the odd building as “the box the Lincoln Memorial came in.”

To restart the highpoints, I needed to touch sea level again, what better place than at Tidelock on the C&O Canal, also known as the water gate, the gate between the canal and the tidal Potomac. The infamous Watergate office complex rises just behind.

I posted on 7/31/21 that my highpoint obsession began on Spruce Knob in 1973, but I wonder if it was locked in long before. The highpoint of DC, Point Reno, was between my junior and senior high schools. Not officially marked back then, I’d walked within yards of it daily for years. Today was a chance to scale it from sea to summit, reminiscing along the way.

I passed the Shoreham, where Mom and Day spent their one-night honeymoon before Dad had to report to Frankfurt, Germany. Mom followed a few months later, and two years after that, she had me.

Nearby were the two group houses I lived in in med school, both near the zoo

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On up Connecticut Avenue to my childhood neighborhood, just two blocks away from Comet Pizza, site of the infamous Pizzagate Incident in 2017

Thence to my three grade schools, site of my Wonder Years

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I guess Georgian architecture was a thing back in the 1930s, all three schools were WPA projects.

Between Deal and Wilson was Point Reno, now marked with a sign and a benchmark.

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Just a short hop to the house I grew up in, now all tricked out for Halloween

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The last 4 miles of this trip down memory lane took me to an old med school classmate, Mark Head. He was staying with his friend Anna in the leafy Maryland suburb of Glen Echo, and they treated me to a lovely dinner with another friend Josephine, and a soft bed. So great to reconnect and catch up.

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Distance 14 miles, 4,468 total. Time 6 hours with stops. Elevation gain 835 feet