I had about an hour and a half to kill with the little guy after we dropped Shira off at National Airport, so I thought I'd check out Daingerfield Island. It's one of those sites along the GW Parkway I've always passed but never had the time to stop.
First off, Daingerfield Island is no longer an island. And, if I was expecting big things, I would have been disappointed. But, I had a curious 7 year old with me, so we actually had quite a fun adventure.
The island (really a park) contains a marina which made for some fun boat spotting. It's also positioned across from the National Airport, so you get an excellent view of the planes taking off (though not quite as nice as Gravely Point - nothing beats that). While most of the docks are off limits, we did find some in the back area which had no gate or sign up telling us we couldn't be there, so we did some poking around there too.
The most unexpected find, though, was a trail entrance in the back of the overflow parking lot here. There was a sign up at the trail entry point that mentioned the Lyndon Johnson Memorial Grove (which is a few miles away). Not sure how to explain that.
Regardless, we ended up spending 45 minutes traipsing around unmarked trails, which I assume are used only by fishermen and hoodlums (which have to be sleeping at 8am on Sunday, right?). We eventually made our way out the Potomac river where we could do a little light shell collecting. Come to think of it, there must have been a geocache or two in the area, I'm sorry I didn't check.
All in all, a very productive outdoor adventure considering we were 5 minutes from home. I wouldn't go out of my way to visit the island, but if you're in the area and need a picnic place or some time to kill, definitely check it out. Come with the right mindset, and it will be an awesome time.
Of course I took photos (about 127 of them...most of which I'll spare you...):
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