My Oyster

Washington's Most Blissful Moment Every Week...

...has got to be the drum circle every Sunday evening in Malcolm X Park in Columbia Heights.

The music.  The movement.  The diversity.  But mostly, everyone just seems so content.   So happy.  It's the best way possible to wind down the weekend. 

It is pretty amazing the way all these different people - mostly strangers who probably never interact during the week - converge on the park every Sunday afternoon to share an experience with each other.

Here is a video (watch the hands)...

And here are some more snaps - with lots to see and soak in...

Sunday Outings on Two Wheels...

Jean bought a bike this week - a blue Trek. So now we can expand our Sunday morning outings here in DC to include cycling.

This morning for our first cycling adventure we wanted some nature - so of course the "natural" choice was Rock Creek Park.

We loaded the bikes onto the new bike rack, picked up some breakfast at the local Dunkin' Donuts, and headed down to the Creek.

We got there at 9am and still were lucky to get a parking spot. It is a beautiful weekend here in DC and I think everyone who didn't go to Rehobeth or Bethany was down in RCP.

I have spent many, many, many hours running and cycling and driving in Rock Creek Park, but always appreciate it enormously. It's just beautiful. And soooo convenient.

Here is where we parked for breakfast.

We biked for a couple hours - up into Maryland and back.  I already have some ideas for our next outing.

Urban Woodlands in Washington...

Cleansing the mind and body.

This morning Jean and I hopped over to the National Cathedral to explore the Olmsted Woods. 

These woods, over five-acres, are one of the few old growth forests still standing in the city of Washington.  They are the last vestiges of an extensive oak and beech forest on Mount St. Albans.

Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. (not the senior) was the National Cathedral's first landscape architect.  He saw the woodlands as an enhancement to spirituality and the pefect entrance to the Cathedral - allowing visitors to enter "cleansed in mind and in spirit".

We also spent some time enjoying flowers in the Bishop's Garden at the Cathedral. Talk about "raindrops on roses"... 

Azaleas in the Springtime...

Everywhere in Washington.  But nowhere more than the National Arboretum.

This morning it was drizzly and a little cold but that did not diminish the beauty of the thousands of azaleas on Mount Hamilton at the Arboretum.

Mount Hamilton is one of the hightest points in Washington DC - rising up to 240 feet above sea level!  Jean and I "climbed" it today.  There are several winding paths through the wooded "mount" - all lined with thousands of azalea bushes.

Here are some more pics of an amazing walk among the azaleas in the mist...