Washington DC ~ Segway Tour and Cherry Blossoms

MUSAP enjoyed seeing the cherry blossoms

After spending the night in Chantilly, Virginia I was ready to head into Washington, DC. Rather than deal with city parking I decided I would take the Metro. That was a good idea except there were no parking spaces at Vienna Metro Station. My iPhone was a big help in finding next possible station - Dunn Loring  Merrifield. It was less than 3 miles away and there were parking spaces in the garage.  Using the Metro is easy way to get around DC - lots of signs, helpful attendants, and from what I saw clean trains and stations.

MUSAP was excited to ride a Segway

I tried something new in DC - riding a segway. My City Segway Tour was awesome. They keep the groups small - they divided the riders that were there into 4 groups. There were 6 riders in my group - including a lady from Natick. Kyle was our guide. We started with a short ‘how to ride’ video, then headed outside for introduction and quick training session. It was pretty easy to figure out and moving forward and backwards is controlled by shifting your weight.. It took me a little while to get used to steering by just pushing the handlebars left or right. We rode in the bike lanes whenever possible, which are often down the middle of the road.

Segways travel in the bike lanes

I went on the 3 hour National Mall Tour - great way to see the sites and learn some of the history. I will look for future opportunities to tour by Segway.

at the White House

We saw the White House, the Capitol, Went down the National Mall to the Washington Monument, on to the Lincoln Memorial where we had time to hop off and walk around, and many other sites.

there's the Capitol Building

CLICK HERE to check my National Mall Segway Tour photos on Flickr

along the Potomac Rive

There are lots of tourists in DC in April. Many are there to see the famous cherry blossoms ~ which happened to be peaking when I was there. There were many school groups too.

cherry trees around the Tidal Basin

CLICK HERE to check my Cherry Blossom photos on Flickr

cherry blossoms

After the Segway Tour ended at 5 pm I walked down 23rd St back to the end of the National Mall to take more photos, especially the cherry blossoms by the Potomac and the Tidal Basin.

Vietnam Memorial Wall

Stopped in the gift shop by the Washington Monument and was able to stamp my National Parks Passport.

WW II Memorial

After walking for a couple of hours I happily followed the signs to the Smithsonian Metro station to ride back to Virginia. Even with being on the Segway for 3 hours I still had over 15,000 steps on my Fitbit.

Martin Luther King, Jr Memorial

CLICK HERE to check my Washington, DC photos on Flickr

Washington Monument at the end of the day

visited 04/08/14

Delaware ~ Winterthur

Winterthur

MUSAP loves flowers!

Ah, spring! I think I finally found the next season. Awoke to blue skies and sunshine. The air was cool but it didn’t feel wintery when I got on the road. Quick side note - in New Jersey they don’t have self serve gas stations ~I bought gas for $3.29 and someone else did the pumping. I had an easy enough drive through New Jersey. I was happy I had gotten a book on CD’s from the library to help pass the time. I’ll have to remember that for future road trips.

quaint 175 room home

My Delaware photo stop was Winterthur in Wilmington. Winterthur was the estate of Henry Francis duPont. It covers about 1000 acres of land with many buildings, paths, and gardens. The former main house is a museum rich in Americana.

seen in the garden

The museum offer house tours - there were lots of people and long lines waiting for the tour so I decided to skip it. I did visit the second floor galleries to see the ‘Costumes of Downton Abbey’ exhibit. I have never watched the PBS show, but the lady at the admissions counter encouraged me to take a look. It was interesting to see the comparisons of the lives of the rich in England and in the United States. I was happy that they allowed photography in the gallery.

Downton Abbey costumes

CLICK HERE to check my photos of the ‘Costumes of Downton Abbey’  on Flickr

daffodils = spring

I enjoyed exploring the gardens and seeing all the signs of spring. There are signs helping to identify what’s in bloom and their web page has a month by month guide.

helpful signs

The Quarry Garden was a little off the main paths. It was another recommendation from the nice lady at the admissions counter. As a result it was quiet and peaceful. Lots of rocks, thus the name Quarry Garden, and also a brook.

in the Quarry Garden

Enchanted Woods is a children’s space with lots of interesting features. There a quaint little cottage and magical fairy places to explore.

in the Enchanted Woods

March Hill has flowers that bloom in March and announce the arrival of spring. It was wonderful to see so many flowering shades of blue ~ blue glory-of-the-snow and squillis.

March Hill

CLICK HERE to check my photos of some of the flowers at Winterthur on Flickr

life is but a dream...

Naturally there was a gift shop to explore and a small Garden Cafe. I enjoyed lunch in the sunshine on the patio. There was lots of walking up hill and down dale. After a long cold winter it was delightful to be spending time outdoors.

spring hillside

CLICK HERE to check my photos of the grounds at Winterthur on Flickr

MUSAP peeking a a fairy cottage window in the Enchanted Garden

visited 04/06/14

New Jersey ~ Cheesequake State Park

MUSAP found a sign of spring

Road trip! This is my first extended driving MUSAP adventure and I will do photo stops in 5 states, plus Washington, DC. Also have plans to meet my cousin in Maryland, see friends in Virginia, and see a UNH grad performing in stage in Pennsylvania.

road trip

First stop ~ Cheesequake State Park in Matawan, New Jersey. The name has intrigued me for several years. Here’s a fun web page with information about the origin of the name Cheesequake and Other Curious Places. I had seen signs for the park when driving on the Garden State Parkway on the way to Atlantic City, but had never had time to stop. I was happy to discover that there is no entry fee before Memorial Day.

love the name!

Cheesequake State Park is about 386 acres with many trails, play areas, picnic spots, and camping areas. I was surprised to see so many different kinds of habitats - there are marshes, open fields, forest areas, and wetlands. There is a lake that is open for swimming in the summer. It’s a gem situated in an urban area. Part of the park road goes under the Garden State Parkway.

blue skies and spring breezes

It’s a very nice park for walking and photography. I didn’t visit the park office, probably would have learned more about the area than I did exploring on my own. I had printed out a park map ahead of time so I used that as a guide. I stopped at the White Trail first. The map looked like it would be a nice looping walk, however the recent rains had water flowing across the trail so I quickly decided to explore other parts of this park.

wet trail

My next stop was a parking area near the Spring Hill Picnic Area. I decided to try the trail out to Arrowsmith Viewing Area. I noticed an osprey platform, but didn’t see any birds in the nest. I passed a man on the trail and he pointed out an osprey sitting in a nearby tree. I took a few photos, then went back to my car to get my longer lens and tripod. The osprey took off by the time I got set up, but I looked over at the nest platform and there were 2 ospreys posing for me over there.

osprey on their platform

I walked the rest of the trail and was happy to see small signs of spring now that it was April. The twigs on some trees were showing small buds, the moss on the ground was moist and green.

sign of spring

I decided to follow the signs to the lake next. It is down by some wetlands and I really didn’t see much of it from the parking lot. I did find another trail to try - this one led to a boardwalk over saltwater wetlands that then went into a forest. In the forest I saw small sand mounds that looked like ant hills, but it seemed like bees were going in and out of them. If I got close the insect either retreated back down the hole or flew away. They didn’t seem aggressive, but I wasn’t going to get too close.

insect burrows

It was nice to see bright blue sky and feel the warmth of the sun. Wish it hadn’t been quite so windy!

pine

Not impressed with Best Western in East Brunswick. front desk clerk was friendly but didn’t provide much other than key cards and room number. had to call for wifi password, wifi speed was excellent.  My room had older feel, especially the bathroom. There was traffic noise despite being set back from the main road. Worst were the dirty clock buttons and dirty tv channel card. At least the IHOP next door offered 20% for BW guests ~ nothing fancy but convenient.

yuck!

CLICK HERE to see more photos of Cheesequake State Park on Flickr

MUSAP

visited 04/05/14