A bit belated, since it’s already fall, but I wanted to share a few snaps from our recent (ish… it was Labor Day) family paddle out on the Potomac.  Steve and I had been talking about how we hadn’t been out on the water since we got back from the San Juans, and we were both jealously eyeing the kayakers and canoeists out on Lake Burke during our family hike there over Labor Day weekend, and we decided a family paddle was in order as soon as possible.  We’d initially planned to go to Lake Anna on Labor Day, but swimming was prohibited due to a harmful algae bloom (yuck, and also, what are we doing to this planet?).  So we quickly shifted plans and headed to our favorite local kayaking spot – Fletcher’s Cove.

Fletcher’s is upriver from Georgetown and on a particularly narrow, calm and sheltered stretch of the Potomac, making it especially good for the little duffers – yet we don’t make it there nearly as often as we’d like.  In 2018 we didn’t even get to Fletcher’s once – every time we tried to paddle, it was closed for high water, and I was working on the 52 Hike Challenge anyway, leaving little time for river fun.  This year, we bounced from boathouse to boathouse, checking out the paddling options on other stretches of the Potomac and on the Anacostia.  Closing out the summer at our old favorite boathouse seemed like a long-overdue treat.

Nugget and I were first to launch this time, and instead of paddling upriver toward Chain Bridge, we meandered downriver while we waited for Peanut and Steve to catch up.  The dock employee who launched us suggested we might see some interesting birds on the way, and he wasn’t kidding – there were waterbirds aplenty, and we got up close and personal with this Great Blue Heron.  (I think we also saw a cormorant – we weren’t able to get close enough to positively identify it before it took off, but it had the trademark awkward cormorant flight.)

Steve and Peanut caught up with us soon, and got to check out the avian life too.  The water was so peaceful!

As we headed downriver, I spotted a familiar landmark ahead.

The Washington Monument!  I didn’t realize we would catch a glimpse of it, and now I’m kicking myself for all the times we paddled to the Chain Bridge instead of exploring in the downriver direction.

Eventually, we turned around and headed back to the dock – but it was a great morning of paddling (despite the blister I was working on; Steve accidentally shrank my paddling gloves in the wash after we returned from the San Juans, and I haven’t replaced them yet).  Both Nugget and Peanut were totally into paddling.  Steve said that Peanut’s paddling form was great and they actually got into a paddling rhythm for awhile!  She’s growing up, you guys.  Hold me.

Totally self-indulgent and way belated, I know, but I couldn’t let the month get away from me without sharing these snaps from a gorgeous morning on the water.

Do you have a favorite local paddling spot?