Great Falls National Park

Hi Blog!

It's hard to believe that "Birthday Weekend" has come and gone. We had such a great time with Matt, Weina and William in Arlington, VA. The weekend was full of all kinds of fun activities, great food and, of course, birthday cupcakes!

On Sunday, October 23, 2016, we all visited Great Falls National Park for a hike along the Potomac River.  We were just in time to enjoy some fall color. Here is the obligatory trailhead photo.

Before beginning our hike, we made a stop at the Great Falls Overlook. The falls tumble 76 feet over a series of major cascades. The Great Falls are rated Class 5-6 Whitewater according to the International Scale of River Difficulty. The Falls have always been a popular destination for expert whitewater kayakers in the DC area. While we did see some kayakers on the water, no one came through the Great Falls while we were watching.

Ok, everyone say "cheese-burgers!"

Our Great Falls National Park selfie!

The photo below shows YeYe (David) and NaiNai (Kathy) with their grandson. Here, Sir William proudly holds his favorite hiking stick. He keeps it in the car and takes it on all his hikes.

One last look at the falls before we head off into the woods.

Our trail took us along the path of the old Patowmack Canal. The canal was partially funded by George Washington.  It was a one-mile bypass canal that began operating in 1785 to give small barges the opportunity to skirt around the Great Falls and to distribute manufactured goods upstream and raw materials downstream.

Here William is exploring one of the canal locks.

When we got to the next lock, William and Weina went high, while the rest of us passed through the canal lock.

As we went by, we all sang Low Bridge, Everybody Down.

After exploring the locks, we returned to the Visitor's Center along the River Trail. A group of middle school kids were celebrating a friend's birthday by learning to rock climb! We asked William if he wanted to do that next year for his birthday and Dad said, "NO WAY!"

William never misses an opportunity to style and profile for the camera!  This always entertains Mom.

A hollowed out tree stump is just too tempting a photo op!

After all that hiking, we built up a powerful hunger. Matt and Weina had discover a Pakistani restaurant in their travels called Charcoal Chicken and they wanted to introduce it to us. We are always up for a new eating adventure.

We wanted to try a traditional Pakistani dish called karahi.  The dish is named after the flat bottom wok called karahi. Stews prepared in a karahi use a tomato and green-chili base. Two of our favorite foods! We decided to share a dumba karahi made with lamb. It was delicious!

We would have happily spent the rest of the afternoon in a food coma, but Sir William had other ideas. There were trains to build, races to race and books to read.