Washington, D.C. (Destination of Cool!!!)

We've been really looking forward to D.C. and if our first day here is any indication, it is a great destination. We motored up the Potomac River to get here after leaving Solomon's Island, Maryland.

It took us about a day and a half to get up to D.C.. The trip was really nice. We saw Bald Eagles and even watched one scoop a fish out of the Potomac. Our first day we made it as far as Breton Bay and then the next day (yesterday) we motored from there all the way to just south of Alexandria. That was 70.2 miles of motoring and our elapsed time was 11 hours 15 minutes. That counts anchor up and anchor down so we made pretty nice time.

We are now anchored in the Washington Channel right in front of the Capitol Yacht Club. What a GREAT location. We are about one mile from the White House and we can see the Washington Monument from our boat. Marine One, the President's Helicopter (or should I say helicopters; there are a couple of decoys) has been over our boat a number of times. Last night we even watched one that was completely blacked out flying without lights that had an escort helicopter. Must have been someone important in there.

Today we visited the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, World War II Memorial and Vietnam Memorial. Fantastic stuff to see, and we didn't finish the Natural History Museum so we'll have to go back. All the museums here are free which is a perfect price for us. We plan to museum our heads off while we're here.

We ended the day at the Capitol Yacht Club. The kids were welcome to join us for happy hour, and we had a great time playing darts and ring toss. We met our fellow cruisers who are sharing the anchorage, got tips on heading south, and generally had a great time. The Yacht Club has laundry facilities, a library with wi-fi net access, a bar and showers. Gosh... what more do you need!!

We'll be here for at least ten days and plan to show the kids everything possible. Then we're off for points further south. Stay tuned we hope to have A LOT more pics soon. Click here for our most recent web album.