[SkateDC] Wison Bridge Trail Opening on Saturday (6/6/09)

[George Marinkovich]

The Grand Opening of the Wilson Bridge Skater/Biker/Pedestrian Trail is this Saturday (6/6/09) at 1 pm.

Carl will be leading a special skate to the grand opening, leaving from the White House at 11 am.  He plans to be at the intersection of South Washington Street and Green Street in Old Town Alexandria shortly before the 1 pm grand opening.  The plan is to skate across the Wilson Bridge to National Harbor on the Maryland side and then back the way we came, arriving back at the White House a little after 3 pm.

Pictures of the bridge trail are here:  
http://wilsonbridge.com/pdfs/2009-0428_trailInfo.pdf

More information about the bridge opening is here:  http://www.waba.org/events/

You are welcome to join us on a bike rather than skates, if that is your preference.  There are even free bike rentals courtesy of Bike and Roll Alexandria.  See http://bikethesites.com/ for details.

I literally couldn't let this pass without including a brief bit of doggerel, in Haiku form, to commemorate this momentous occasion:

Be the first to cross
The Wilson Bridge... legally.
Skate on Saturday!

Hope the walkway has
Faded sufficiently, so
Skate tracks can't be seen.

If you do see them 
Before the bridge opens, blame
Crop circle makers.

That is the only 
Reason they would be there, right?
The truth is out there.

On a much more serious note, the Wilson Bridge Trail Opening will occur at almost the precise moment the allied amphibious landings on the beaches of Normandy commenced on D-Day, sixty-five years ago during World War II.  The operation was the largest single-day amphibious invasion of all time, with 160,000 troops landing on June 6, 1944.  Over 5000 ships were involved in landing the invasion force on a 50-mile stretch of the Normandy coast of France.  American casualties at Omaha beach on D-Day numbered around 5,000 out of 50,000 men, most in the first few hours.  The intense fighting was dramatized at the start of the movie "Saving Private Ryan." 
(-- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normandy_Landings).

Happy Skating,
George