This past Sunday afternoon a group of us went on an urban walk in Washington, D.C. Although it was a sunny day with a high temperature of around 40 degress, a gusty wind made things seem a little chilly until it subsided a bit towards the end of the day.

Starting from the Woodley Park-Zoo Metro Station, the first half of our walk took us through the Kalorama District, past landmarks dating back to the early 1900s. We crossed Rock Creek along Connecticut Avenue Northwest over Taft Bridge, with its guardian Perry Lions and Bairstow Eagles, walked past the Beaux Arts architecture of Brighton Apartments and the Churchill Hotel, and enjoyed interesting sights like the Woodrow Wilson House, the Dumbarton Buffaloes, and statues of Civil War Generals McClellan and Sheridan.

The middle section of our walk took us past the Federal-style Dumbarton House, Oak Hill Cemetery and its charming gothic chapel, to our halfway point for a 30-minute free-ranging visit to Dumbarton Oaks Museum and Gardens. Not much time for a visit to the gardens, but during the winter months nothing is in bloom and the entry is free. (You get what you pay for!) The museum is always free, and well worth the visit any time.

For the last leg of our walk, we took Lover’s Lane northeast between Dumbarton Oaks and Montrose Parks. Picking up the Rock Creek Park Trail, we followed the creek upstream through the woods to our starting point, passing Taft Bridge from below. A few of us satisfied the appetite (and/or thirst) whetted by the walk in a visit to Murphy’s Irish Pub on 24th Street Northwest.

Four miles of proof that you don’t have to drive miles out of town to find a nice afternoon hike, full of interesting sights! A Google map of our route and the points of interest is located here.