weekend adventures: washington sailing marina

I love being on the water. River, lake, or ocean, it doesn't matter - the water calms me. Despite the fact that the Potomac River separates Virginia from our nation's capital, I never really think of D.C. as a water city. I think many Washingtonians just view the Potomac as something to cross (either by going under it via metro or over it via Key/Roosevelt/Arlington Memorial Bridges), rather than as a source of recreation.

I particularly love boats - power boats, sailboats, rowboats, kayaks - being out on the water is even better than just being near the water. But I'll settle for watching boats from shore (particularly if I have a cocktail in hand). I even love just strolling among docked boats. Larry and I love to check out the boat names (some funny ones I've seen: MASTER BAITER, BIG BALLS, THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID) and discussing what we'd name our boat (THE GRAVY BOAT).

The weather on Sunday was glorious, so we decided to check out the Washington Sailing Marina on Daingerfield Island in Alexandria. We wandered among the boats (one was named KE$HA) and checked out a sailing regatta. I clearly know nothing about sailboat races because the boats appeared to be going in circles to me.



(However, I did learn that sailors are quite good looking!)

But it was cool to be able to watch boats (and planes taking off and landing at National Airport) with the D.C. "skyline" in the background.

Don't forget your portable couch, er, bench seat from your mini-van:

Due to the building height restriction, D.C. is an extremely flat city - besides the Washington Monument and the U.S. Capitol, you might miss it if you didn't know what you were looking for. We don't have hundred story buildings here, we have ten story buildings. But I promise you, the monuments are here if you look hard enough:

A few more snaps of our afternoon:










A good reminder that I need to spend time by the water whenever possible. Now I just need some friends with a boat!