Whats it like for skating Washington DC

Howdy! Welcome to another episode and today I'm in Washington DC baby. I'm here for the skate camp but I've got a whole day to myself to just kind of explore, see what's going on. I've been staying with my friend Ivana and she suggested doing a route from Shirlington which is close to where I'm staying all the way up to Lincoln Memorial and it's around about sort of a 10 mile skate and honestly just having these sort of routes is just amazing. There's like just trees everywhere, I've got the breeze behind me, it's nice and smooth and it just seems like a genuinely like a nice route to be on. So the theme of this video is going to be like what we did in Spain when I was with Amber saying is this place good to skate? That's essentially what I'm going to touch on today so we're going to explore Washington a little bit, see what it's got to offer and yeah then kind of see if it's any good to bring your skate and I'm going to say straight away off the bat right now I'd say it is pretty good because this trail I'm on now is amazing. I think it's relatively flat as he says that start skating up a hill but yeah let's, well I've already got my skates on, let's get to it, follow the little river along and let's go. Okay so been five minutes in and we got path closed so we're gonna take a little detour. I don't think it's far, I think it's just up here. Look at that, it's a school bus. Sick, that's so like Simpsons. And now we're back on the trail. One thing I've got to add, so it's almost end of June and the humidity is pretty up there, it's pretty sweaty today. That's one thing to take into consideration is the heat and the humidity so don't do what I've done and dress in trousers and a t-shirt because you're probably going to get too hot. Also being quite fair-skinned, I'm going to start making a note of this in videos as well, is the UV levels so it's really high today. I should have had like a long sleeved top on but I've got my UPF 50 thing on and my sunscreen so yeah just a heads up that it gets, it seems like the UV gets quite high here even though it's not that sunny today it's still really high so another thing just to kind of take into consideration. But look how empty this little route is, it's so good and we're going to try and find some fun stuff like this. Hmm, should we stop? Yeah, along the way and see if we can do some tricks as well. So the basis of this video is to see what it's like skating as a whole, whether it's just cruising and also what it's like for kind of jumping about, whereas this doesn't feel like it's. Let's do that one, let's go, let's make some, let's make some, what's it called, distance up. So check out this little bit, got like a kind of scenic point of view with the river. I'm not actually sure what the river's called, I should probably try and figure that one out but so far it's been relatively smooth. There's been a couple of like rough patches, I wouldn't really say this tarmac is like too rough but it does kind of switch between this darker stuff onto like this sort of stuff which I feel kind of rolls it a little bit better and it's kind of less effort but now this is flat. It's been a few minor little uphills but nothing like, nothing major so yeah so far so good. Let's see, there it goes. So this bit's really cool right next to the river going under all these bridges. One good thing is a lot of it seems to be kind of in the shade which is quite nice so it kind of keeps you a little bit cooler and the trail seems to be relatively, oh hang on, where do we need to go? Washington or Alexandria. Let's go Washington shall we? Let's do it, let's hope this is the right way. So I'm interested to see what kind of monuments we can see today whether it be in Washington DC. Oh is it a little spot? Oh this is well good and yeah it'd be interesting just to see what kind of cool stuff there is to look at along the way and I just want to find some more fun stuff like that which apparently there's a lot of so. This bridge is pretty sick, we're right next to the airport as well which is quite cool. Apparently there's a little spot down here where you see the planes taking off they kind of just come out of nowhere because it's literally, literally just there. Okay so we're at the plane bit and I'm literally, well hey I'm covered in flies but the airport, the runway is literally just there. I think planes are coming in, I'm guessing they're landing maybe they take off that way as well, I don't know. Yeah gonna sit here for a minute and watch a few planes come in and just cool down because yeah I'm a sweaty betty. So this is a cool spot because you've got going over you. Well good. So that was the aeroplane spot which is right next to the river. The weird thing is when the planes go over you hear the direction of the wind changing, it's really odd. I think there's another one coming in to my right, to my left sorry. Just now he's coming right over ahead. So cool. I wonder if you can hear the... America baby! Let's go! Okay so now crossing the bridge which is an absolute joy to skate over, it's nice and smooth, over into like I guess like sort of downtown sort of area. I can see the memorial just there. Got another little plane coming in behind but yeah man this is a really nice sort of cruise into the city. Let's go! And just so you know I'm rocking the Twister 90 RV today. I've actually got my psychedelic Endless Coburn frame on along with my Rollerblade 90mm hydrogen slicks wheels. So I've got the double whammy in force today so keeping me moving. There's a little spot, that was a scary spot, we'll leave that one. Okay we're finding all the cool memorials and stuff now. I have no idea what this is but it looks cool. So we're just going to cruise around, see what we can find. We're still heading towards the Lincoln Memorial I think, I don't know if we've gone too far away from. So if it does mean I've got to hit this gritty floor. This has probably been the worst floor I've had so far. I reckon I've done about nine miles and this is like the worst floor I've hit so pretty good going. Okay this bit really flat, nice and smooth and we're by the Lincoln Memorial now, I did see it. We've got some little banks to the right here. Oh sorry dude, sorry man, thank you. Oh this place is cool, it's like a memorial, I'm not going to jump about too much. Sick, so we made it to the Lincoln Memorial, pretty sick to be fair and then you've got that bad boy at the other end. So I'm not going to do just going to look, get a little picky and then go. This place looks so good for skating as well but I'm not sure how well they'll take it. A couple of little stair rides. Gonna hurt is it? Monuments are cool but this is what I'm actually here for, just to find little things to skate and kind of like cruise about on. Way more fun and off. Sick, look at it, it's a cool spot though and we can carry on skating and we can go back up, never had to take any stairs, lovely. So far this has been good for all types of skating, if you're a beginner or advanced it's flat, smooth, there's not many hills, it feels safe and yeah there's just, it's skater friendly and yeah it just seems like a nice place to kind of come and skate. I mean you don't have to know anything major, even if you're just cruising from spot to spot it definitely feels like a good place to do that. But we're going to test a bit more further in town, see what that's like, see what that's kind of like to navigate. I'm sure we'll see some cool spots on the way but yeah so far so good for Washington DC. Let's cut in on this little bit shall we, don't know if I can roll this or not, yes we can. Now we're down by the water which is pretty cool so yeah everything's easily accessible. Yeah it's just a cool spot, look at that, those little fountains. This is the Golden State of Montana, Idaho, Utah, New Mexico, Hawaii, I don't know if that's the States actually. Yeah, banging. This little squirrel is trying to get into my bag. Oi, what are you doing? No, no, no, no, go, go, go. He's just sitting here chilling. Come on then, have a little look. Right so I'm just sat here chilling, this little thing, no mate you can't get on me, he's trying to get, he's in my bag. What are you doing? Oh my god, oi, oi, get out, get out, oi, no, no, no, you're not allowed in. There's nothing in there for you pal, there is a chocolate bar. Get off, get off. Actually in my bag, it's amazing. What do you want? You want to have a look at that? You can't take that with you, see, no, no more, no more. All right pal, don't bring your mates. See there's so many cool little like bits and bobs that are kind of jumping around here, but I don't want to do too much because it's full of like police and stuff like that, you know, a bit more town towny now. I couldn't find, so we're just going to go on a bit of an excursion and see, see what we can find. So we're definitely a bit more in the mix a bit now. Okay, found it. Okay, we're just going to send it down this road. So we're heading towards Capitol, Capitol building and we'll see what we can find along the way, shall we? So I might get lost. So I'm not going to use my phone and I don't know where I need to stop. The roads themselves, well smooth. Just got to watch out for traffic, but the good thing is like the crossings have the timers on. So that said I had 12 seconds to cross. So when I'm coming up to a junction and you're skating in the road, you kind of know if it's good to kind of go or not. There's times where I don't know if it's good or not. So I'm just going to stick to the bike route on this one and just see where, where it kind of takes me. See, I bought a packet of crisps and a big bottle of water and it cost me about $6, which isn't too bad. It was a big, big bottle of water as well. So that's not like extortionate prices, to be fair. It's just a little ramp. I've come to another stop, I think. I haven't seen any, any other skaters yet, but there is a group of skaters out here because that's what we're here for. So they do exist, but I think maybe because it's probably just like middle of the day, either people are at work or they go like else elsewhere to kind of skate, you know? So, oh no, phone down. Dropped my phone. Right, that's gotten in my bag. Okay, we're back in. Got my phone. So let's go get a bit of speed up. This is probably the roughest road I've been on. This is like being back in England with a pothole, so pretty easy. And you've got nice cycle lanes that run through these roads as well, so it's quite a good one to get through the city to kind of navigate the roads in a safe way, you know? It's quite cool. We've got a fire engine coming out behind. Oh, and I think I found where I'm meant to be going. Let's see. Get this guy to go past. Okay, so let's see what we have up here, shall we? Oh, we've got some nice little sort of ramps to go up with some stairs going down. This one's even been waxed. This is a cool little spot. There's always a little, like, bits to kind of roll down. Oh, there's a little thin bit there. Not sure with the camera in my hand. This is a cool little spot. Look at the fountains. You've got the Capitol Building right at the back there, so let's get a little bit closer to that, shall we? Yeah, that's one thing I love about skating is where it takes me. So, again, if I have any trouble, please just kind of let me skate through. Now I've got this cheeky little hill going down, which is sick. Do I get it as a skater? Rollerblader, yeah! It's the first time we've seen this is a well nice little hill to skate down. I don't know what's at the bottom, but I think we're good. I'm just cruising through. Lots of people coming up, so I'm going to start to slow down, just weave a little bit. We're good. So, I've got to say, there's a lot to see and do in Washington, whether you're on or off your skates. I can't comment on how much the food prices are yet, because I haven't really explored that yet, but as a whole, there seems like there's a lot here to do. If you're coming just for skating, I'd recommend this place for sure. I've got a few days left, so it's going to be cool to really kind of like explore it a bit more, but as it stands right now, it's easy to get around. Everything's smooth. It's fairly flat. It's a few hills, but nothing like major. So yeah, I'd say this is up there as a good place to come skating. Yeah, guys, so I'm going to call it a day on that. This has been Washington, DC. Like I said before, I definitely recommend this as a skating sort of place to come. Everyone seems friendly. Smooth roads. You've got airplanes that fly really low. You've got squirrels trying to steal your food. So yeah, definitely recommend it, and I will see you on the next one in the next destination somewhere. So, peace.