Just kidding, I woke up and really didn’t want to hike in this weather. Headed to DC for a little getaway. Even more than the physical aspect, I think a few days off will be good mentally.
The Amtrak train apparently comes at it’s own convenience along the route to DC. It was scheduled for 10:30 but it’s notoriously late, sometimes hours late. Today it came around noon. I do believe this is my first time riding an Amtrak train. Pretty comfortable, a smooth ride, and quick for the distance I was going. I had a small jolt of culture shock when I climbed up the steps from the train platform and into Union Station, Washington DC. SO many people, and none of them hikers, and probably very very few of them with any knowledge of the AT. Basically everyone you meet along the trail, whether they are other hikers, or shopkeepers, or waiters, or other townspeople are living in a town that regularly sees hikers so they are at least familiar with the trail. Here were hundreds and hundreds of people just going about their lives in the big city. Of course, being in the city has benefits too. The Union Station food court had more restaurant choices than I’d seen in a long, long time. Of course, you can’t go wrong with a good burger, so I went to Johnny Rocket’s.
Of course all the hotels near the capital were a bit pricier than I had in mind, so I looked for something out in the suburbs a bit. I knew I wanted to stop by an REI, and there was one in College Park, Maryland out on the metro red line. There were several hotels nearby and I figured the area around the U of Maryland would have anything else I needed in terms of food and possibly a movie theatre. I headed out on the metro, and within minutes I was on foot covering the last 1/2 mile to REI. I got some advice on adjusting my pack to help with my sore shoulder and got some new stuff sacks (one to replace a lost one that my cook pot was in, and one for my food to replace one that a rodent had chewed a hole in). I got a haircut from a barbershop right next door to REI and walked another 1/2 mile to a Holiday Inn. Walked in and cranked the AC down to 65, turned on the TV, took a shower, and just lay down on the bed. Glorious.