On September 13, 2009, I went with a group of people from the Outdoor Adventure Social Club on a "kayaking tour of Washington." We rented kayaks from a boathouse on the Potomac and spent the afternoon paddling around at will. It was a gorgeous day and I enjoyed myself thoroughly. I took along a disposable waterproof camera; here are a bunch of the prints. I've manipulated the colors of some shots, mainly increasing the saturation, to make up for the washed-out, overexposed look of the prints.

The boathouse.

Heading upriver towards Georgetown University.

Georgetown, with a bigger and fancier boathouse.

The Key Bridge.

Ducks and ducklings (near Roosevelt Island, I think).

OASC friends in a tandem kayak.

Roosevelt Bridge on the left. The balustrade on the right is marked as "Rock Creek Park Trails" on Google Maps; it stands at one end of the National Mall.

The Lincoln Memorial. Somehow, it was especially exciting to see it from the water. If I recall right, somebody told me that these steps down to the water were originally intended to be the dock for diplomats' boats; this would have been the "front door" of Washington, D.C. and the intent was to make a big impression. I haven't really looked up the history for myself, though. I believe the steps are built on fill and would not have been part of the L'Enfant plan.

Paddling towards the Arlington Memorial Bridge.

I got one of the other paddlers to take a couple pictures of me.

The inlet to the Tidal Basin. Apparently you can kayak in there sometimes, but on the day we visited it was all gated off.

The shoreline of East Potomac Park. We paddled past a race finish line (a triathlon, I thinkówe also saw race workers removing the temporary swimming launch docks).

Arlington Memorial Bridge.

My friends Mattie and Amy, in a tandem kayak in front of the Kennedy Center, with the Watergate in the background on the left.

Another OASC pair in a tandem.

Kennedy Center.