Tour de Brewery: DMV by Bike
Our collective reaction to the food truck.
As the weather begins to change, and temperatures start to drop, most folks trade in the great outdoors for warm living rooms and comfy couches. Fortunately, we aren’t most people.
Thanks to some expert planning by Mastermind Connect DC Chapter member Shrey Verma, -- and a favorably clear 45 degree day-- we charted course for a 16.5 mile loop from Georgetown to Alexandria and back, via the George Washington Parkway.
The route ran along the banks of the Potomac river, which in addition to being a vital tributary that stretches from West Virginia to the Atlantic Ocean, also provided some of the most scenic views of DC, Arlington, and Southern Maryland. The wind coming off of the water provided a healthy windchill, but the outdoor gear from our recent Camping to Connect excursion made the elements much more bearable.
This map was supposed to lead to treasure, but it only led us to beer.
We started at the intersection of 33rd Street and M Street NW, adjacent to the almost-famous Georgetown Cupcake Dessert Shop. I wish I could tell you why its so popular, but I refuse to stand in line to pay $4 for a single pastry that won’t last three bites. From there we headed South, across Key Bridge, and into Downtown Rosslyn, VA, home to one of the most technologically advanced counties in the country (and with the billions of dollars in defense contract money that passes through there yearly, it better be).
We broke away from the main road, and merged onto the Mt. Vernon trail, which coincidentally ends at George Washington’s old Mt. Vernon Estate. Our route took us past the Washington, Lincoln, and Jefferson monuments, as well as an almost too-close-for comfort view of the Reagan National Airport runway; we were so close to those planes I could've asked the flight attendant for peanuts.
We finally reached historic Old Town Alexandria, which, in addition to being the backdrop for the Denzel Washington movie “Remember the Titans,” was at one point the biggest slave trading port in the original 13 colonies (for good measure, we rode past the Jefferson Davis statue on King Street).
Key bridge, facing Rosslyn
After a few minutes of heavy traffic, we made it to Port City Brewery, where we were met by Joshua Farrar, who realized the morning of that he would be responsible for saving the rights of voters in Georgia, or something. And also, that he owned absolutely no workout gear.
Once we refueled on a round of VAs finest, we set out to complete our second leg, returning back to where we had started. This time, competing against a setting sun and rapidly dropping temperatures. We finally made it back to the starting point, and with a newfound sense of camaraderie, some really cold fingers and toes, and some sore… other stuff.
Can’t wait till the next one.