Return to the District

Two weekends back, I spent a long weekend in the DC/Maryland/Virginia bubble. My primary reason for returning was to attend a dear friend's wedding but there were also a lot of other friends to see and familiar terrain to revisit.

I arrived in DC on Friday afternoon and wandered from Columbia Heights to Downtown to Georgetown before meeting up with friends from my time living there. On Saturday morning, I rented a car and drove to Frederick, Maryland for the sunset wedding at a beautiful country club. The ceremony was followed by a reception, dinner, and dancing.

On Sunday morning after the wedding, I drove back to DC, stopping at Great Falls, Virginia on the way. Here the Potomac chews through rock as it drops sharply in its journey towards the capital then on to the Chesapeake. In the nearly four years I'd lived in DC, I never once made it to Great Falls.

Great Falls doesn't come close to the gorges of Colorado, but it does have a certain primeval charm. The effect was especially pronounced when I first got there early in the morning with heavy mist still hanging in the air and blotting out the the sun.

I dropped off my rental car in downtown DC then brunched with more friends in Chinatown. In true DC fashion, I metroed to Reagan National Airport to fly home. I was glad to land in Colorado and watch the sun set behind the mountains as I drove back into Denver.

DC is a vibrant, bustling place, but I'm not quite sure now what I used to see in it. I like the scenery and pace of life here in the West so much better.