Rock Creek Park

Philip’s parents went home several days early and Phil had already taken the time off work so we’ve been enjoying the time with him. Yesterday we rested and took care of a few items off the honey do list. Today we decided to have an adventure to Rock Creek Park. We started at the Nature Center where they had lots of hands-on activities for the children. We learned about water tables, the kinds of animals that live in Rock Creek Park and what they do during each season. They have a working beehive on display, which has a clear pipe leading outside so the bees can come and go. We found a sand table with plaster casts of animal tracks for you to make your own tracks with.

We took a short nature walk around one of the park’s meadows. I learned that a "meadow" is not necessarily a large open patch of greass. We discovered that a "paw paw" is a tree and found a patch of them on the edge of the meadow. We didn’t pick any up and put them in our pockets.

After our walk, we had lunch at the picnic tables. It was absolutely beautiful. Just sitting there in the heart of DC, completely away from the sounds of the city, shaded by trees and listening to woodpeckers (we learned to identify their sound at one of the exhibits) – it almost made me want to go camping. I got over it when a bird pooped on my shoulder. Thankfully, I had packed handi-wipes.

We learned that there was a Civil War site there in the park and another one just down the road. The Park Ranger recommended we go to Fort Stevens because there were cannons there. So off we went.

Fort Stevens is right there in the middle of DC. Here’s an old picture of it:

Here’s a picture of us there today:

Philip and the children pretending to fire the cannon at the houses across the street. Boo is the spotter, telling them when to fire, Phil was signalling Pumpkin Girl to light the cannon.

Phil says we still store ammunition like this, in a bunker with little chimney for ventilation.

When we were finished defending the fort from the rebels, we headed down to Georgetown to see the Old Stone House. It is the oldest house in DC, pre-dating the Revolutionary War.

It sits there on one of the busiest streets in Georgetown, right across from a Barnes and Noble and down the street from a Sephora and Ben & Jerry’s. We drove right by it at first and so ended up parking and searching for it on foot. By doing that we got a chance to admire some of the cool houses in the area.

I found this lantern hanging on the wall of the Old Stone House:

I have an almost identical lantern, but red, in my dining room window.

We had such a good time today, tracking down American History. I think Boo is turning into a history buff. He kept wanting to know what part the Old Stone House played during the "Silver" War. I’m looking forward to Philip’s next day off when we can head out for yet another adventure.