07-Nov-2023 Washington DC

What a super fun and active day today was - over 20 miles on the bike and 20,000+ steps! It's about 8.5 miles from T&K's place along a dedicated bike path to the Washington monument smack in the middle of the national mall. The ride takes you by Reagan airport and planes literally fly about 100 feet above your head just seconds before touching down at the end of the runway. I really enjoyed seeing many of the monuments: Jefferson, MLK, FDR, Lincoln, Vietnam and the Korean Wars. DC is beautiful in the fall – I've typically been there in the spring time during cherry blossom season but the weather was warm and there didn't seem to be many people around. I enjoyed having time to read about all the different monuments and engage with some park rangers about some of the history and unique features of each memorial. In the late afternoon I only had time to go to the Smithsonian art museum and spent about an hour seeing the more modern half (Jackson Pollock, Picasso, etc) before having to pedal back to clean up before going out with another work friend. Alex and her husband John met me at a Mexican restaurant in old town Alexandria - we had such a nice evening! So fun to meet up with work friends that you only ever see in two dimensions on a screen when u work remotely together.