Fort Washington Revisited

On Sunday DC Urban Exploration group met up at Fort Washington, MD. I'd been to this site before but was excited to be meeting old friends who I'd not seen for nearly a year or more. Barb and Jeff came with me. We met in the parking lot and immediately started the hugs. It was so good to see Andrew again and John, and then Emily turned up with Jason and I just knew we were going to have a great day.

 We trudged to one of the batteries and spent a while climbing over the fort and just catching up with conversation. To me it felt almost like a party kind of atmosphere because I was so happy to have so many friends together at once. 

Looking down on Barb and her friend Don from work.

 

 John, Andrew and Mark.

Warren is a relatively new member but has been to a lot of recent events and he's a fun addition to the group.

 Andrew caught me taking a sneaky photo.

After a while John and I decided to go up to the main fort and started walking hoping others would follow. We chatted about previous escapades and traffic tickets when I spotted a flash of sapphire out of the corner of my eye. 

We stopped and I was delighted to see a flock of bluebirds flitting among the branches. I snapped a few hasty photos but was more interested in relishing the moment. We were the only two people witnessing this and it was wonderful to just stand, watch and listen.
After they'd gone we continued walking and then ferried some of the others to the fort.

Being Superbowl Sunday there were few other people around so we pretty much had the full attention of the volunteer soldiers that walked around the grounds answering questions and supplying information.

Can't believe he slid the whole way down without falling off!

Jeff looking very professional here.

I loved these stairs at the back of the Visitor Center. We ambled around but soon tummies were rumbling and beer cravings were kicking in so it was off to a Thai restaurant for a superb lunch. An hour and a half later we split up, with Barb, Jeff and myself heading back to Centreville, but as soon we arrived home, it was a quick spruce up and then to the Tree to watch the game. An excellent end to the day with the Packers' victory.