Lock 17- C and O CanalJun 3, 2011
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Our ride
These two little girls (Eva & Dolly) are gonna pull all of...
Sitting low in the water
| Ah one of the benefits at staying at this KOA-free all you can eat pancakes, 7-11 am! Well, we tried them yesterday-once was enough. Two things you should never let my husband eat outside of the home---pancakes and spaghetti! He is very very particular about these two things. Although, he didn't comment about the pancakes, just the syrup being horrible. We decided that we wanted to take a canal boat ride under mulepower on the C & O Canal. There are two locations-both close to DC-off we head for the Great Falls Tavern Visitor's Center in Potomac, MD. It's only one hour away..okay for a day trip. Although we would be closer from our next campground, I have absolutely no plans of driving from that campground because of it's proximity to DC-will be doing public transportation. You know how some people have trouble pronouncing certain words? Well, I've found mine-apparently Potomac. Doesn't seem hard, but what I do to it every time, is pretty amazing. Even Sam is correcting me. I'm beginning to think we're taking the Ryno Route because there is no signage to the site and we seem to be on a lot of local roads...but nope, we made it! This was our first time at any type of lock and we both found it very interesting. Sam says it would have been cooler if we could have gone further up the canal. It was an hour long outing. Once they get us out of the lock, a woman dressed in period costume, details life on the locks. These ladies sure were strong. They had a long pole that they use to manuever us around when it was time to turn around. We brought our bikes because we wanted to ride the towpath after our boat ride. But first, we thought we'd have a hot dog at the concession stand. Barely sat down and we had visitors. Don't know where all the geese were hiding, but they were sure little beggars! The towpath is supposedly mostly level (according to their propaganda). Hah, it wasn't. But I made it up (and down) those little hills. Very scenic. Saw lots of turtles and fish in the canal. The towpath runs between the canal and the Potomac River. Stopped at the overlook of the Great Falls. Weather was beautiful, but I was sweating bullets when we made it back to the jeep. It was only six miles, but I'm not in bicyle riding shape. Got the bikes back on the jeep and we attempt to find our way back onto the road home. Of course, we had to revert to gps. I will blame a sweat soaked brain for that! Run into some DC commute traffic, but not too bad. We decide that since we're out, we'll check out the Hollywood Casino when we get near home. It's just about six miles past the house. Stop at the atm for gambling money. Like I said yesterday, the exterior of the casino doesn't look like any that we've seen before. But once we step in, holy cow, it's loaded with slots and table games and it's crowded. Find a quarter Haywire machine-my favorite-very hard to find at other casinos. Sam ventures off (but not too far) for another machine. When it's all said and done...I walk away a big winner :-) $65 net (that's alot for me). Sam is down $70...it's all relative I guess. As we're wandering around, we go past a "box office". I thought it was a box office because above each window were posters of movies. Didn't pay much attention to what was showing, since I'm really not on top of movies. As we continue left, I notice a doorway with a sign above that says "Silver Screen". Off we go in search of something to eat. I'm thinking Italian...Sam is thinking...anything! Buffet-nope; steakhouse-no, wayyyyy to pricey and limited menu; off to the coffee shop. Ok food. I had a french dip and Sam had ribs. Had to ask for plain fries, otherwise we'd get parmesean fries (their standard). As we're eating, we decide we should go check out the box office and see what's playing at the movies. Maybe we'll come back fo a matinee tomorrow. As we're standing there, I look at the movie posters and now I forget what they were of, but even I knew (at this point) that they weren't current showings. They were vintage posters...duh! Then I look closer-the box office is really cashiers for your slot winnings! Thank gawd I didn't go up and ask for movie tickets. I did ask a worker nearby if they had a movie theater. She didn't laugh, just said no, after asking me to repeat the question. Yes, Ethel and Fred, it finally clicked. Hollywood Casino..theme would include vintage movie posters, reference to the silver screen, etc. Life is just a trip with us! And yes, Mr. Ryno was on the same page as me!!! Stop at the grocery (another new brand) for a few things and head back to our house. WOW-the neighborhood has filled up-it looks like the hot en totten (sp) have moved in. Yep, we are definitely becoming less enamored with KOA's and weekend camping. We've been spoiled that we started this trip during the off season and now summer vacation is upon us! This leads us to a discussion of the campgrounds we would re-visit and those we wouldn't. I have to go back to my blog to try and find names of some of the campgrounds and I didn't post them :/ From this point forward, I will be starting my blog at a new campground with the name of the campground as well as a few pictures of it. |
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