The day started fairly early to try to get Riva out a bit before the brutal heat set in again; another day with projected heat indexes of 110 degrees, We took her to a dog park that was about a 15 minute bike ride away. The dog park wasn’t very big and no one was there when we got there. One other dog, a lab mix puppy about 8 months old, came while we were there but Riva wasn't much in the mood to play today. I can only guess the heat is getting to her also 🔥🥵. After getting Riva back to the boat and the AC we headed for the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. Wow!!! The museum is huge, full of information, artifacts, and so many cool “things”😂. We started with the beginning of life on earth, followed by several mass extinctions, with descriptions of fossils, life size fossil re-creations, and details of where life forms were found. Then we entered the section on ocean life. A whole section on light pollution, stars, and asteroids. There was a display with details of the hope diamond…. it’s huge and beautiful! Then a whole area of gemstones from quartz to topaz, and precious minerals like gold. At some point we started to experience a combination of information overload coupled with foot and leg exhaustion so we decided to head back to the boat for a siesta and an opportunity to rest our weary minds and bodies for a bit.
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| From birds, rocks, elephants, dinosaurs, and everything in between our natural history is amazing! |
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| We were going down Pennsylvania Ave yesterday while touring monuments so we pedaled by to get a good view of the White House |
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| We also made a quick stop through the botanic gardens The real plan was to duck in for some AC for a cool down Didn’t think that one through and found the greens to be humid and nearly as hot as outside |
Body rested, at least a little, Erik made a trip down to the end of the wharf to make a visit to the fish market. The heat appeared to be keeping many people away so the market was rather dead. This may have been a bonus for Erik because the vendors seemed to have the willingness to wheel and deal to get more of their product off of the ice and into his hands. He was planning to purchase a batch of live blue crabs in order to use the ingredients procured a few days ago for steaming them, but, as it turned out the cooked crab prices were the same as the live ones and the cooked vendor was offering the best deal. For his price of a dozen crabs ($28) he actually threw in an extra half dozen or so. While Renee partook in some leftovers Erik sat at the table tediously extracting and enjoying his crabs. They were delicious but it is a lot of work to get to the yumminess. About half way through the 18 crabs the time approached that we wanted to depart to head to a 6:30pm AA meeting that we found on our app which was about a 10 minute bike ride from the waterfront. The meeting was a Big Book literature meeting and was well attended with a good variety of folks; definitely what appeared to be a younger group than seems usual. In a small twist of irony the personal story we read from the rear of the text was ‘Jim’s Story’ about a physicians experience, strength, and hope of his alcoholic debacles and subsequent sobering up in Washington DC. Although neither of us had ever stabbed our spouse with a pen knife multiple times at the corner of 8th and L in a drunken blackout, as usual in listening with open minds we both found relatable things and the shares from the group members were intriguing and uplifting. One young gentleman there was maybe in his mid thirties and was at his second meeting ever with just 48 hours sobriety. After the meeting while hanging out and chatting with him outside to share more and encourage him we asked if he has a Big Book and ended up giving him ours and explaining to him the book and suggesting what to read. We wish him success and pray for a wonderful new life for him!
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| Trying to get as much meat out as possible and avoid the shells |
Back at the boat for the evening we relaxed, showered, did a little blogging, watched a little TV, talking on the phone with family (making plans with several who are going to be joining us aboard next week), and took Riva on another walk down the wharf and out to the end of a pier near the marina. The area we are in was surprisingly hopping even at 10:30pm with people bustling around. Many folks still dining and taking part in libations, kids still playing in the nearby water splash fountain, and folks hanging out on swings that the pier has scattered on it. Our fellow man seemed to have more energy than us as we headed back to the boat to retire to our cabin. As we quickly fell off to sleep we talked briefly of what our plans for tomorrow would be. There is SO much to do nd explore in DC. We’ll see what tomorrow brings….one day at a time!
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| Sunset on the Potomac View from Happy Destiny Washington Monument in the background |
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| View at night from the ‘recreation pier’ adjacent our marina looking toward where we are docked |
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