A perfect fall day

It's funny how some things stay with you from childhood, even when you become an adult. When Daniella and I were kids, Mom and Dad used to take us to a place they called the "Private Park." It was private because you needed a key to unlock the big gate at the entrance, which was chained up except for members who must have paid an annual fee every year to join. We went to the park in all seasons -- winter, fall, spring and summer -- and it was entirely nature; no play structures or carousels or another distractions. Just trees and creeks and wooden bridges over the creeks. There was a network of trails that seemed to go on forever, but I'm sure the park isn't as big in reality as I though it was in my imagination. We'd go there a lot, sometimes on Yom Kippur, or around Thanksgiving. I saw my first frogs' eggs there; I got stung multiple times on my leg by a bee there; it was the place where I really learned to look inside logs and at leaves. Daniella and I ran races and held hands while we walked through the woods. It was a really special place and I've never found anywhere like it.

Until today.


This morning we decided (well, actually, we decided to this a few days ago) that because it was such a beautiful, sunny (if a little brisk outside) day, we were going to take a hike somewhere. We decided to go to Great Falls Park, run by the National Park Service. A friend of mine from high school, Ed Stephenson, had told me about it just before he moved away from here a few months ago. It's in McLean, about a 40-minute drive from our house, and after a big breakfast of bacon and pumpkin and cinnamon bread from Great Harvest, we set off. We got there around 1:30, clambered out of the car and began walking along the Potomac. The park runs along the river and there are three spectacular overlooks where you can see a magnificent set of waterfalls. At first we walked along the part of the trail that led to a dam where the water flowed uniformly over; there was an island in the middle of the water that we walked onto that Rachel announced we were "jumping to conclusions" because we had to hop amidst rocks to get out here (and the reference was a sly one, to a part of "The Phantom Tollbooth" that Mom and Dad gave to me a long time ago). We decided to turn around and walk toward the falls, and the view from the falls was incredible -- we got to see kayakers ride the rapids, and hang over the fence and just stare at the water. At one point Rachel turned to me, jumped in my arms and gave me a big hug. "THANK YOU for taking me here!" she exclaimed. "I thought it would be much boring!" You're welcome, sweetie.

I hiked for myself for a bit after the others decided to hit the visitors center, and I saw not one, not two, not three, but FOUR deer cross my path and head into the woods. Magical! And then I looked up with a bunch of tourists and saw turkey vultures in the trees. The weather was perfect, the leaves were magnificently colored and it was hard to believe we were only 15 miles outside D.C.

Then we decided to have an early dinner at a place Anne found called "Amoo's House of Kabob" in McLean. Totally unpromising name and decor but my LORD, the food was amazing. I have never in my life tasted Persian food so good. We are definitely going back there, even though Rachel refused to eat her chicken -- I told Drew we will force food on her if we have to, but we are going back. One clue as to how good it was: lots of locals eating there.

It was so early still that we decided to get cupcakes in Shirlington at a place near the hotel where Darryl, Daniella and Valerie stayed when they were here last month. The place we went to was called "Cakelove" (the place we had gone to before was wiped out of desserts by the time we arrived around 8 or so) and we picked up six cupcakes. Then we headed home and had "Family Movie Night," watching "Enchanted," a clever sendup of Disney fare with Patrick Dempsey and Amy Adams. Anne and David had the right spirit and LOVED IT, as do Rachel, Drew and I, and Rachel cuddled in my lap, and Drew's, for most of the movie. When it was over, she and Drew danced around the family room and he lifted her up a few times -- she really does know how to pose like a ballerina in the air -- and then he took her up to bed while I cleaned up dessert. Altogether, a terrific, terrific day.