Guus Bosman

Friday night we had dinner on the balcony together. My father cooked; sausages with a lot of vegetables and fruits. We made a plan for the weekend, and we decided to rent a car to leave the city and visit places in Virginia.

Saturday morning we took the car from Avis near Clarendon. It took a few minutes to get used to the automatic gear but then we were on our way to our first Virginia visit: the Great Falls.

These waterfalls in the Potomac river, about 20 miles upstream from Arlington make for a magnificent view.

In the 1800s traders created a canal with five locks to by-pass the waterfalls and improve commercial relations. The canal worked only for 30 years and was replaced by a canal at the other side of the river, the Chesapeake & Ohio canal. Remains of the original canal and its locks are still visible though. There were also ruins of some buildings of the village that existed next to the canal. We went for an 90 minutes walk to see the terrain, and watched a movie on the history of the canals and waterfalls.

The dissatisfied look on my face is not because I'm dissatisfied but because the sun is shining very brightly. Great view.

A cajak is going down the Potomac river... dare devil.