Baseball, Breweries, Bikes: DC

Day 280, Washington DC

Arrived in out Nation's Capitol around 8am.  We quickly found a parking space at a near by park and took off to explore the city.
Highlights included the Smithsonian(s), White House, and the perhaps most interesting, the lockkeeper's house.
According to a PBS travel show, confirmed on plaques, and recalled with the help of Wikipedia, the lockkeepers house was built at the joining of the Washington City Canal to the C&O.  The lockkeeper and his family moved into the structure in 1835 where, for 20 years, he collected tolls and directed traffic for the canals.  As railways became more prevalent the canal was closed barge traffic before finally being filled in two decades later (currently Constitution Ave).  The house was home to squatters and even prisoners then Park Police used it as a lock up.  Currently it is empty with potential plans of opening it as DC's smallest museum.

House fit for a lockkeeper (and his 13 children) Photo by PB

Lowlights: CONSTRUCTION all over the Capital Building and Mall!  Lack of bars/breweries around stadium.
We found one brewery which served it's purpose of feeding and drinking us.  The real treat was found at The Bull Pen.  Directly outside the stadium between stacks of retired railroad cars was beer garden and pregame party!  Open two hours before each home game, next time we will go straight here.

Hard to capture the Bull Pen's true beauty.

The game was great and National's fans are very friendly.  The game was a sell out and seemingly all 40,000 people had a comment for my Astros Ryan jersey.

Pat outside of National's Park.