The next big step
Night had fallen, and behind us lit 18-story glass and steel atrium shone like a huge moon. Was 03 July, and my old college friend Jean and I were about to join a group of sailors of Occoquan, Virginia, at the end of National Marina wharf to see Gaylord Hotel and Convention Center's first fireworks show ever in July. But first I wanted to take a few pictures. As usual. Jean was using his camera under water, which she had prepared for our sailing trip on the Potomac River because he was not sure if this type of wing would both fall over and get wet as sailing Sunfish in college-was the last time she and I had been on a sailboat together. Got it. We turned a lot.
But Jean did not understand. I do not mean on the beat. She got that far. No, I could not understand was the idea of National Harbor, she was struggling to put into perspective, despite we've been here since late June now.
"I mean it's great in a crazy alternate universe sort of way, but still do not understand. What really is, and why are you here? "
Big questions of fact. How do you explain?
We stood in the dock as Jean turned away from the river to take photos of the thousands of spectators who had gathered along the coast National Harbor in anticipation of the fireworks. Finally, stopped and took a brochure from his pocket and began to read their facts and figures. "National Harbor is built on 300 hectares, with six hotels and buildings about 20 "he said." When completed, will 7.3 million square feet mixed-use community space, 4,000 hotel rooms, 2,500 units residential, 500,000 square feet of Class A office space (whatever that is), 1 million square feet of shops, restaurants and entertainment spaces and 10,000 parking spaces parking. "
"Yes," I said, will be bigger than the Mall of America, the world's largest shopping mall. "
"Then, it supposed to be a giant shopping mall? "
"Um, I do not think so."
We walked slowly towards the end of the dock, the lights on atrium moon changed from white to red.
"I think it's supposed to be a kind of multi-use destination, where you can spend your holiday in whole or use as a base to visit Washington, DC, which is a kind of super-stations. Or you can make sidetrips to Alexandria or Mount Vernon by boat. At least I think that's the idea. "I tried a bit of history. National Harbor developer Milton Peterson was not the first to think that this old gravel pit in Smoots Bay in the shadow of the Woodrow Wilson Bridge and the ring road would be the perfect place for something really big. In the 1970s and 1980s there were several major projects for the property that ultimately instance has not materialized. One of them was named Bay PortAmerica America and another. "All that sound too large, such as National Harbor," I said. "But This was what came through was "not that an act of Congress. "(In 1999, Congress passed a law exempting the National Harbor and protected federal review demands of the environment, although there is no reason to believe that any claim would have occurred.)
We welcome our new friends we'd Occoquan- met earlier in the day that had dripped on his appointment Fourth of July weekend at National Harbor and the city of Alexandria observed the fireworks arc in silence in the black sky over the river jet. Jean reminds me that the tree-lined boulevards and specially commissioned public art works, hotels, restaurants, shops, water taxis, tour boats, under letters, artwork, and the kiosk to the seer, were all meant to give visitors many things to see and do. "There is more fair and just things are bigger than we are accustomed, at least around here. Hey, you live in Orlando, be used for this sort of thing. "
"That's a point," he admitted.
"Take these people out of Occoquan," I continued. "They understand it." I had said earlier they had made the trip to National Harbor and four or five times. "They can get in their boats and spend an hour or two coming up the river, pull in their slips, get their deck chairs and relax Them. BBQ, shop, listen to a calypso band, walking their dogs and go to sleep soundly in their beds. When the weekend again, pulling his docklines and go home. "
"We used to anchor in the river for the fireworks," volunteered Alan Gross, who sat on the edge of the group with his German shepherd Schatzi and had heard our conversation. "But then we had to return to Occoquan in the dark with all that traffic. It was insane! This is much better! "
The firing of rockets for the first time in the air off a barge in the river and exploded in a shower color above our heads. Behind us the Gaylord atrium changed from red to blue.
Jean and I had arrived at the National Harbor, on Saturday afternoon a ray of sunshine in late June on board Snipp, my Albin Vega 27. After a week of zigzag lazily to the Potomac against a persistent headwind (is there any other kind?) Snipp had finally eased off the main channel of the Potomac National Harbor and Marina. We are excited to get there.
We spent the night previous Smallwood State Park Mattawoman Creek, where he had been face to face with a nest of mid-tournament bass fishermen, men with steely eyes and teeth tight and only three things in mind: low, catching, fast and catch big. They had no patience for people in sailboats. We, however, only wanted out of the gorge and check on the marina. The trouble was that we became so wrapped up in no aground in the narrow channel in the park came under the domination the many-headed hydra seagrass lurking beneath the surface. We grabbed fast. If it were not for the heroic action with a boat hook, an oar and a citizen multi-tool Swiss Army, we feel that it would have been absorbed soon join other homeless unfortunates. Once released, docked as before by phone instructions then I had to disconnect because we could not get to the office from the bench. (There was a padlocked door at the end of the pier.) We redocked near the office, where we were assigned a sheet that could not dock because it was shallow enough to land a bass boat. We chose a deep void and return slip redocked. This sliding was natural Seatow belong to type, so it re-attached and re-re-redocked against a vessel sunk in the dock. It was a night of inspiration.
The stretch of the Potomac on Mattawoman is full of things to see. First is the entrance to the spacious Occoquan Bay side of Virginia, with a lovely Mason Neck Wildlife Refuge in the bay of the north coast, and then a good look over George Mason Gunston Manor bet high on a cliff looking down Gunston Cove and the Potomac. The river are close here to a nice size and the channel moves tirelessly from one bank to another.
Soon we had our first view of Mount Vernon, the most known American manor houses, how to fill the edge of the channel to take a boat ride of three stories high, a large margin, as it rushed to the canal at Mount Vernon. Jean was in a trance, as well she might be, but I stubbornly insisted that they pay less attention to landscapes and far to detect floating logs and other waste that often trash this piece of river. Soon after, Fort Washington stood above us on the coast of Maryland, and finally we could see the bridge Woodrow Wilson, and beyond, the Washington Monument, a show that continues to thrill.
Among Indian Queen and cliffs Rosier, bellies channel to the coast of Maryland. Here? It was just another tourist boat Snipp and large, both for us to enjoy a moment too cozy between the markers are close together red and green, and so close to the coast that we could play on clay and red maples. But before long he had shot through the channel to go to the center of the river, which is preparing for the trip through the central clearing the Woodrow Wilson Bridge. Not that we went to the bridge. But I must mention the channel because it is here, on time the middle reaches of the river and as you clear that National Point-South Harbor is suddenly, without prelude, just there, like Xanadu or the Emerald City. It is sufficient to that feels good as Kublai Khan or Dorothy-I'm not sure what. Either way, straight out of a storybook.
"My God," exclaimed Jean of the bow, "What the hell is that?"
"This is National Harbor, of course, silly." "And so they are especially crying more, no doubt, is the Gaylord Hotel and Convention Centre, which is three times the size of everything else. "I had been at National Harbor with friends in the spring and so was able to be annoying blasé about the whole thing. But in reality there is no denying that it is a wonder.
A moment later, however, had Something else caught his attention. "Look at that huge sail!"
"You are referring of course to the eight-storey glass candle semi-transparent port side decorates the front of the Westin hotel. "
She gave me a look dark and abandoned in favor of his camera binoculars. Click click.
"Jean," I called ahead, "what is our next score?" Click. Click.
"Shhhh," he I said (or something), "find the marker that is!"
I sympathized with the desire for Jean to take pictures because the focus of the National Harbor Water definitely has it all in the land route for breathtaking views. But Smoots Bay is shallow and our tables, but fairly new, were not enough new markers to show the new entrance to the marina. And then we are also running at the root of many of very large stations. Did I mention that it was a Saturday afternoon? Click. Click.
"Jean, stop that!"
She sighed and put the camera away, and then scanned the bay. "No. .. Red," she said, pointing to a marker next to South Point.
I made a sharp turn to starboard, and immediately asked the next marker, which turned out to be two markers, one red and one green, a little further. Continue following the signs, because skirted the coast to we reached the outer pier, which is also the fuel dock. He gave us to find our assigned slip: B17. A number purpose because the slip was almost large enough to hold a B-17 bomber. That hardly would also estimated that eight of my Albin Vega 27, if rafted up to two depth. I do not mean that we feel a little out of place, no place could have been more welcoming, to say that National Harbor is precisely the kind of place where you have to keep adjusting your sense of proportion.
Click. Click. Jean was at it again. But this time did not object, since they were tied to our trip and had already been received by the friendly revelers on the boat next to ours. So I left it and went looking for Eric Bradley harbormaster. I found in his office / kiosk on the quay outside, deftly juggling fuel surcharges and the allocation of slips for boats in search of a couple of hours of parking or overnight stay. A small battalion of dockhands moved efficiently between A, B and C docks, joining a steady stream of boats coming.
'Wait until weekend of Fourth of July! "?" Bradley said when I commented on congestion. " We will be completely full, and we are expecting over three yachts a hundred feet on the north side of the main dock. "
Before coming to Washington to open the National Marina, Bradley was dockmaster at Annapolis Landing in Back Creek in Annapolis. "It's an entirely different set of ships," he said. "[In Annapolis] had predominantly transient boats up and down the east coast. Here are predominantly large boats, most of which never go to the southern U.S. 301 bridges. They are right happy here. "
A large part of the Navy is committed to annual slipholders, which had about 60 percent occupancy by mid-summer, but a generous number of slips are reserved for boaters, both transient nights and every hour. "We're getting more and more boating and sailing clubs hold their meeting here." Groups especially to plan their events around special programs scheduled for National Harbor almost every weekend, like wine tasting and meat and a foam Festival, or events such as Oktoberfest seasonal Christmas Market and repeat, ie weekends Thanksgiving until Christmas.
"I was thinking this would be a great place to come for Christmas, 'I said.' Do you stay open all winter? "
"We move boats from Pier C in winter because we have a large amount of ice pushed up against him by the river, but keep the marina open year round. "Eric explained that there is a breakwater C dock to protect the springs inside of at least some of the wind-blown chop that accumulates through the water exposed Smoots Bay, especially during the winter.
At this point in our conversation, three boats and idle at the dock, waiting their turn, so he returned to the dock B, wondering do nothing if Jean had exhausted its battery from the camera yet. Click. I guess not.
"Shower" was all he said. I raised electronic key to the facilities of slipholders and smiled. We dived into the cabin for a couple of reasonably dry towels and some clothes and was very clean looking showers.
"Whoa, what's that?" Jean suddenly stopped and stared at a small beach, just to the left of the main dock where a giant face, legs and hands slipped dramatically in the sand. Over, under and around the size of Volkswagen body parts, dozens of children rushed forward, as dozens of parents taking photos with the same enthusiasm. Click. Jean too.
"That's The Awakening," he said, trying not to sound too upset. "For about twenty years was at Hains Point, on the other side of the Woodrow Wilson bridge in the center of Potomac, and virtually infinite people were to see him. "I pointed vaguely in the direction of Washington and East Potomac Park, five miles upriver." But someone in his wisdom decided not to adjust the image of the park, so it was released, and Petersen, a developer of National Harbor, bought and built a beach so you can leave of. "
Jean When I finally got moving again, crossed a courtyard, which sometimes seemed as if a small stage, and turned right first arrived in the street, National Plaza. There, just across the street from the Westin Hotel and close to Olympia News, was the entrance to the office of harbor master and port Sports bathrooms, laundry and showers. Showers!
When I left sometime later, he met John and Betty Lockard of Arlington, Virginia Ayes maintaining your boat in the Irish sea. The Lockards had managed to slide in May and ship in June. 'We love! " them excited. "The only problem is that we have to remember to make reservations at a restaurant if we want to eat dinner when we are here on weekends. "
Hmm, good thought. As we waved goodbye, I took out my cell phone.
All cleared, it was time to explore this all-American Oz walk. Our first was head of the Spanish Steps.
"Spanish steps," asked Jean.
"Yes, the Spanish steps," I replied. "Probably because they lead to American Way, Main Street National Harbor, that" I went quickly because I could see this was making no sense, "is based on a main shopping street in Barcelona called Las Ramblas, apparently, Petersen and fell in love and wanted to copy here. Therefore, "I continued, "Like many cities in southern Europe, is a boulevard, shaded by a canopy of bananas. This makes it a cool, shady refuge in the hot summer sun and bright and warm in the winter when the trees are traditionally cut, almost to stumps.
"I know, I've seen a lot of European boulevards," said it a little more coolly, "I grew up in France, remember."
"Oh, yes."
"And the Spanish Steps in Rome, not Spain. "
"Oh, yes."
Fortunately, by then we had reached the steps, which are flanked placed two large mosaics on the walls on each side. Both are mosaics of Washington, DC native Cheryl Foster, representing Maryland, especially those who have earned a living in the water.
At the top of the steps is the viewpoint. "A place that has a view," I repeated. This viewpoint is a great platform that overlooks the beach with the giant awake, and beyond the marina, the Potomac, and finally Alexandria on the opposite bank. A "view" by any standard. But Jean was not admiring the view. His head was down and meanders this way and that in the viewpoint, the study of 1,600 Maryland artist Steven Weitzman map square feet which portrays the early history of America from the Chesapeake Bay. The piece, of Chesapeake trip is Fotera fact, a kind of structural concrete, and terrazzo that Weitzman developed for public art pieces.
"Enough of this," he finally said, "Let's go shopping!"
And so we did, wandering from one side of each of the National Harbor half a dozen streets and then down the other, sometimes cutting through the streets of the cunning walkways little. The Sea Street, which lost time through art and fossils Whine. In National Plaza, sampling was performed Aromi Italian gelato. And we look for the American Way by South Moon Under and Govinda Gallery, then took an express Mayorga Coffee Roasters and continued up the street to the shops, restaurants, hotels and residence buildings gave way to an early signs and fenced dog walk area. We looked forward to the kiosk guess, but it was empty. I guess we did not know to come. Bananas are a couple of years to go before a drink on the street, but the center boulevard is now dotted with different arrangements of stones brought from New England and shaped and polished at times. The effect is a bit like the old sources of southern Europe, often anchor their old main streets.
Before our American walk Ended way, we passed the headquarters of the future home of the National Children's Museum. This 150,000 square foot, Cesar Pelli-designed building is expected to open 2013. It will be within walking distance of another project: a Disney hotel. Just before coming to National Harbor, Disney announced that it had acquired a 15-acre site in the final American Way, where the company plans to build a 300-room resort on a date yet to be named.
Oh, yes, all that, and we had not even arrived at the Gaylord Hotel and Convention Center. We did, and spent another few lazy hours marveling what you can do with 2,000 rooms and nearly half million square feet of convention space. We learned that hypothetically could use the conference room 800-feet long to store the entire monument to Washington, if you put on your side. And we have been able to answer the question: What can you do with a cavernous 18-story atrium? Apart from the obvious answer: to enjoy the light-you can actually build a small colonial-style city chockablock with shops and restaurants, including a sports bar with video wall 30 feet high. You can also run a small stream through the atrium and out into the gardens outside the building. And you can build sources within 65 meters firing in the air and dance to music from 7 to 10 pm each night.
Hurray! Thank God it was time for dinner. Jean and I were able to summon enough energy to elect our way out of the atrium and gardens. Harborwalk and then walked back to the "people." We found Rosa Mexicano restaurant on the seafront Maritime Street, and happily collapsed in chairs on the terrace overlooking the marina. We could see Snipp, who seemed a little lost in its massive slide, surrounded by a phalanx of elegant powerboats great kid.
Several cold beers, a couple tortilla soup and mole dishes later returned to the zombie- boat and fell into our bunks. But not before Jean had taken some pictures of National Harbor at night, seen from the bow of a small sailboat in the slip B17. It was a beautiful sight. . . and very large. . . and maybe even a little strange.
"Maybe tomorrow everything will fall into perspective."
"Sure. Good night, Jean.
About the Author
By Jody Schroath, Senior Editor for Chesapeake Bay Magazine. For more great articles and photos on boating, sailing, fishing, and cruising, visit http://www.ChesapeakeBoating.net
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