William Leading the Way at Great Falls!

On Monday, August 3, 2020, Matt and William invited us to join them on an outing to Great Falls Park, a national park unit on Virginia side of the Potomac River north of Arlington.  The last time we visited was in November 2016, before Matt, Weina and William left for Myanmar (you can read all about that visit here).  It was much colder on the earlier visit and we were all bundled in our coats -- but this time we had shorts and t-shirts and plenty of water.

The day was sunny, and the water was running high from recent rains, making the falls look dramatic:

This park is popular with locals and tourists, so we were always running into other hikers.  That made it prudent to wear our facemasks, and you can see that the boys were styling and profiling in their facewear:

Kathy joined the rest of us for a selfy with the falls before we set out on our hike:

This was both a scenic hike and a nature walk.  It wasn't long before we stumbled on a tent caterpillar cocoon, and Kathy explained to William how all these little caterpillars eat their way to adulthood:

William still had an arm cast from a spill he took in Myanmar, but that didn't stop him from climbing and exploring.  Here, Matt and William were examining something on the ground before William hopped from a stump:

It is getting late in the season for berries, but Kathy spotted some black raspberries, which are at their height, and she showed William.  He was at first very reluctant to taste something plucked from a strange and (to him) unknown plant --

-- but he eventually worked up the courage to taste the berry.  While he acknowledged that it did taste like a raspberry, it was too tart for him:

One interesting feature at Great Falls Park is a large flood gauge that shows the height of the biggest floods.  You can see that, if William's great-grandfather had been standing here in 1935, he had better been holding his breath, because he would have been 10 feet underwater!

William is at an age where he likes to explore, but he is also very careful.  He was eager to walk across this fallen tree trunk bridge, but thought it would be best to accept a helping hand from his NaiNai:

The southern Mid-Atlantic region has wild paw-paws, and Matt spotted a paw-paw tree to show William.  While the fruit and tree are formally called Asimina, the common name pawpaw, also spelled paw paw, paw-paw, and papaw, probably derives from the Spanish papaya, perhaps because of the superficial similarity of their fruits.

We encountered a variety of fauna as well as flora.  Here, William cautiously holds a fuzzy green caterpillar on his finger.  He reported that, as it crawled across his hand, it tickled.

We took the River Path and, thus, followed the Potomac River as we walked.  Once, when we stopped at an overlook, we spotted two paddleboarders working their way downstream.  One of them was swimming behind his/her paddleboard.  We never did find out whether he/she fell off the board or was simply enjoying a little swim behind it.

While we got no photos, we also stumbled upon the upper rigging of some rock climbers who were practicing below us.  We waved down to them and promised them we would not touch their equipment.  It would be dangerous to disturb it because they might fall.

Before long, we reached the Canal Path.  We read the historical signs describing how the canal locks worked, and we remembered the stories about how George Washington had a dream that commerce would stream up and down the Potomac, using the canal to float around the Great Falls.  We occupied our time talking about these weighty subjects.  Kathy and William walked ahead while David and Matt strolled behind:

No hike is complete without a tasty meal, so, on our way home, we stopped at an Italian takeout restaurant for a tasty bite.  William had his first meatball sub and allowed as how he liked it.  Maybe when he's in Philly he'll try his first cheesesteak!

Stay hungry, my friends.