In a word: Idyllic

D.C. might be more concrete jungle than nature lover’s delight, but an afternoon at Fletcher’s Cove just about blows that preconception out of the water. Less than five miles from Logan Circle and still very much in the District, the Boat House at Fletcher’s Cove is cached along the Potomac north of Georgetown, offering canoe, kayak, rowboat, and bicycle rentals both by the hour and day.

For a full day of canoeing, Noah and I paid a measly $22 total (we had actually hoped for a double-kayak—which would have cost $35 for the day—but they were all taken when we got there around 12:30 p.m.). A few of our friends opted for single kayaks ($24).

And except for the faint roar of helicopters and airplanes overhead, the environs are totally serene and provide an excellent backdrop to a lazy Sunday afternoon. (Well, lazy is of course relative to your arms’ rowing prowess and competitiveness, and suffice it to say we confidently cleaned up in that category—in between swatches of time spent lazing along in a flotilla of friends.) The Washington Monument pops up in the background, for once taking second place to the natural scenery. In a word: idyllic.

To answer your most-burning question head-on, yes, the parking lot is about as foul-smelling as you would expect from the Potomac and C&O Canal, but the unfortunate fragrance honestly wasn’t an issue on the water. And even more surprising: The water actually looked clean! Still, we didn’t feel like finding out how water that incubates transgendered fish would translate to humans, so the awesome rope swing on the shore went untouched by us (MUCH to Noah’s disappointment).

Our friends who had “discovered” Fletcher’s Cove earlier this summer had also canoed upon a sweet spot to pull over for lunch, complete with rock scramble and gently flowing waterfall.

Boats were due back by 6 p.m., but we headed back by around 5 p.m. to give our sore bums a break from the metal canoe seats. After a trip up the road to the nearby Safeway, we (slowly) grilled an impressive feast of veggie burgers, corn on the cob, red peppers, okra, burgers, and lamb at the BBQ pits in the big grassy picnic area along the water.

The ultimate plus to the excursion? An easy 20-minute Vespa ride later and we were back home, showering off the day’s griminess.