Summer along the C&O

A blue heron on the lookout for fish in the C&O
Canal near Swains Lock, Potomac, Maryland.

Wednesday morning, before the heat and humidity became a deterrent, Pris and I decided to take a walk along the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal that hugs the Maryland side of the Potomac River.  We began at Swains Lock.

The southernmost point of the C&O begins in the Georgetown section of Washington, D.C. and snakes north and west within the state of Maryland until, 185 miles later, it ends at Cumberland, MD, near the Pennsylvania border.

We try to get in at least three-plus miles of scenic exercise when we visit our daughter's family in Potomac.  Swains Lock – sixteen miles north of D.C. – is a short drive away from her home, down a narrow, serpentine access road.

Snow Storms, as When I Was a Boy

Yesterday, Priscille and I left Potomac, MD for Bridgewater, NJ before 9:00 AM with the objective of arriving here before the next blizzard battered the East Coast. About five hours later, after a blessedly uneventful motor trip that circumvented the busy coastal I-95 route, we arrived safely in Bridgewater.

Our trip to the Washington area to visit with family was memorable, one destined to live in our recollections for a long time: Almost three feet of snow in some places; power outages; snow so heavy that plows could not keep up; two days before the driveway could be cleared.

But the compensation was worth it: A solid grouping of days inside with family, doing all the things that families do when there is no electricity to power the electronics and modern appliances that we rely upon each day.
Makes you appreciate the truly basic elements of life: good family, health, conviviality; and, when the power returns, a celebration of thanks with hot food and good wine! We even had our own private prayer service on Sunday morning, right in the living room.

Oh! And did I fail to mention that all schools in Montgomery County, Maryland, are closed for the entire week? Even if the storm in Bridgewater is not as bad as the double punch that struck the nation’s Capital, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Bridgewater-Raritan School District take the next two days to dig itself out.

So Near, Yet so Far

Late Saturday morning, about a dozen of us left our daughter’s home in Potomac, Maryland, and drove the short distance to Swains Lock, one of the access points to the towpath of the Chesapeake and Ohio canal. From that rendezvous we all set out for a bracing walk along this old passageway frequented year-round by bikers, joggers, hikers, campers and day walkers. The 185-mile long C&O canal snakes along the Potomac River where it eventually flows through Washington, D.C.

We enjoyed the conviviality of an invigorating walk on that bright sunny day, observing the light blue of the sky and the steely gray of the river which contrasted dramatically against the earthy fall-brown of the leafy ground cover.

Our one-hour stroll was a welcome break in extended Thanksgiving festivities with families and friends. Even though we’ve all been living in the same sandbox for a couple of days, everyone is playing fair and enjoying good companionship, food, wine and family activities.

During that quiet one-hour towpath trek where the river cliffs rise steeply to the left on one side of the canal, and the river quietly meanders below on the right towards the nation’s capital, there was no physical indication that we were only about 12 miles from the nerve center of national politics. It seems that we had all implicitly decided to take a break from the hustle of the recent elections.

In that natural environment, there were too many other equally important topics.