Berry Adventures: Great Falls Park

Upon moving here, it didn't take long for us to discover that we are surrounded by many weekend activities that we weren't privy to in our home states. While the southeastern US embodies such a beautiful and laidback atmosphere, it is not quite the cultural or outdoor hotspot that the northeast is recognized for. Over and over again, husband and I are reminded that this truly is the area where our country was fought for and founded a few centuries ago (back when the only claim our south had was that it served as the alternative to going to debtors' prison and thus established some of our farming heritage... how delightful. Go Georgia!). 

Being slight nerds, we get a little excited when we pass a town that says it was founded in the 1700s or 1800s and have the stone houses and towns to prove it. Plus this part of the country has mountains all around which really means there's more to the local terrain than the plains to which we're accustomed. So combining cool historical towns with beautiful landscapes results in a newlywed couple willing to explore in our free time.

First up: Great Falls Park

The overview of the park is that our dear first president was obsessed with this idea of connecting the Potomac River to the Ohio River to further trade in the area. Buuuuuut there was this slight problem (among others): the Potomac has a beautiful waterfall of cascading rocks (known as the Great Falls... surely you saw that coming?) that had to be bypassed. The project took seventeen years to build, only for its use to be discontinued thirty years later... and good ole Washington died before seeing his obsession completed. I know, I know kind of a downer, but on a positive note Congress eventually made this area a park, and we went to see it in all its natural beauty over Memorial Day weekend (yeah, a little while ago, tell me about it).

If I were a bird, I'd totally hang out here, too

I must admit that we have major puppy fever up here. Like, it's bad. So in the spirit of sharing our germs, here's one of our first sneaky/creepy pictures of other people's pups (we live vicariously and with a lot of jealousy):

Oh hiiii. Do you smell something? Our jealousy of your owners? Wanna come home with us?

After seeing the falls, we elected to continue snooping on the other dogs hike around the park and soon came across these two. The guy on the left was definitely the spontaneous one and the other... not so much. Let's just say it was entertaining watching these two from across the river, and that the one sitting down was sitting for awhile...

And husband is quickly becoming an expert on finding the perfect rock/ledge/wall to use to prop a camera up for a couple pic so as to avoid the awk-ward newlywed solo shots... Proof is in the pudding (what does that even mean?):

So our recommendation is that if you're in the DC area and looking for a park experience away from the National Mall, head on out to Great Falls Park! Great way to spend a beautiful afternoon.