You're just going to have to take my word for it...

Man, it was cold today. Not in terms of temperature, which reached a high of 43°F (6°C) this partly sunny, partly cloudy afternoon. No, I'm talking wind chill - the wind was strong, and it was biting. The windbreaker and hiking gloves I'm wearing in the picture above afforded very little protection against the chill, but Amber and I soldiered on nonetheless, making our way along Ohio Drive SW in East Potomac Park, admiring the choppy Potomac River and watching the endless procession of planes landing and taking off at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport across the water from us. 

The wind gusts kept my daughter off-balance at times, while my frozen fingers made it difficult to manipulate the camera, which explains why this shot was the best I could do (that's the Air Force Memorial at the bottom right of the photo).

The two of us eventually rounded Hains Point, where the Potomac and Anacostia Rivers meet. Amber struck a pose with the National War College and Fort Lesley J. McNair in the background.

A closer view of the ornate National War College building. It was this point that my Nikon ニコン announced "That's all for today, folks!" and turned itself off. Seems I had exhausted the battery with this shot, and had neglected to bring along the fully-charged spare, which was keeping itself warm in the drawer of my bedside table back in Virginia. 

Which means that you're just going to have to take my word for it that the two of continued walking, making our way along the Washington Channel. We eventually came to the Tidal Basin, and then the Jefferson Memorial. Believe when I say that we went inside to see the statue of the 3rd president, and to read some of his noble words, and furthermore that afterward we went down to the lower level, where I bought a book about Jefferson for Amber. I'm not stretching the truth, either, when I write that we stopped off at the George Mason Memorial before finally ending up back at the parking lot that was the starting point for today's walk. And I swear that we really did walk 4½ miles (7.2 kilometers), fighting the cold and wind the entire way, but enjoying the beautiful views nonetheless.

At some point before our alleged departure for Shanghai 上海 in April, I'll come back and resume the part of the walk from where my camera's battery gave up the fight. I'll take more pictures of the National War College, of the beautiful buildings of Fort McNair's General's Row, of the scenic Washington Channel and Tidal Basin, and, of course, of the Jefferson Memorial. 

And maybe I'll even dress better for the weather.