Author Archives: Carolyn Ristau

Francis Scott Key Memorial Bridge, DC

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Knowing that wandering at will and walking as many bridges as possible was no longer a feasible option for me, my brother and I identified two must-see bridges for my weekend in DC: the Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge and the Francis Scott Key Memorial Bridge.

Not to be confused with Baltimore’s collapsed Francis Scott Key Bridge, the Francis Scott Key Memorial Bridge links Georgetown, DC, to the Rosslyn neighborhood of Arlington, VA.

The Francis Scott Key Memorial Bridge is a curvilinear arch bridge carrying a six-lane highway with wide sidewalks on both sides over the Potomac River. It was built in 1917-1924. The width made it easy and comfortable to walk despite a high number of other pedestrians, bikes, and scooters on the sidewalk, and the speed of cars racing across.

We walked along the downriver side, which provides ever changing views of downtown DC, the Kennedy Center, and the Washington Monument, thanks to the forested Theodore Roosevelt Island and nearly 90 degree bend in the river. This gave me plenty of excuses to pause, hydrate, rest, and take a photo.

Georgetown and Rosslyn both sit high above the river, which meant the bridge is also elevated far above the river. It is high enough that an elevated freeway sits comfortably halfway between the bridge and the riverside ground level on the Georgetown side.

The goals of urbantraipsing and pacing for Long COVID were a delicate balance as we walked across the Francis Scott Key Memorial Bridge. There were several important decision points along the way. Option 1 was to walk only half-way across the bridge. I don’t like doing that for urbantraipsing and there was a coffee shop on the far end that was a good option for refilling my water bottle and taking a short rest. So we walked all the way across.

As we approached the Georgetown side, I was very tempted to climb down to the park near the level of the water. I could tell that this would be a great spot to get an establishing shot for the bridge, but the effort of climbing down and back up from there did not seem worth it . . . until I saw that in doing so, we would walk across a C&O Canal bridge. Adding another bridge to my collection along with the fact that we could sit by the riverside and rest before climbing back up tipped the balance of pros and cons in favor of going down.

Due to the placement of Metro stations, the only choice for getting back to the Metro and on to our next stop was to retrace our steps back across the bridge. By the time we did all that, it was lunchtime and I had nearly reached my daily step count.

Go Fish 5

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GoFish! was a fundraiser in Erie, PA, in 2001. By the time we found “The Cosmic Fish, Inspired by Frederick Franck” by William J. Doan on our 2023 trip, we had gotten into the habit of asking for help once we got inside the building identified on Amy H.’s FourSquare map. This time we got a surprisingly quick response from the first person we saw: “Oh, yeah, it’s right there.”

As FourSquare isn’t available anymore, I have created my own maps for where I encountered Erie’s fish and frogs, plus statues in other cities: https://urbantraipsing.com/public-art-maps/

Frederick Douglass Bridge, DC

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For years, even before I started urbantraipsing, I thought nothing of walking from transit stop to transit stop, bridge to bridge, as I explore and encounter the expected and unexpected nooks and crannies of a city. That way of life came crashing to a devastating halt in the fall of 2023 when I developed Long COVID.

Six months passed.

And then a year.

The return to “normal” my doctors promised seemed increasingly unlikely. But a return to functional seemed within reach. The question remained: did urbantraipsing fall within this new functionality?

After a few local test excursions, I felt physically and mentally strong enough to test travel. In April 2025, I took a long-overdue trip to visit my brother in Washington, DC. On this trip, I encountered some great bridges and learned that, much like other activities, with modification and accommodation urbantraipsing is a way of life I can continue.

The open, through-arch Frederick Douglass Memorial Bridge was one of our expected encounters. I probably would have been ecstatic about the unexpected benches in the lookouts between the arches under previous circumstances. After all, it isn’t every day that you find a bench on a bridge. However, in the past, I probably would have just said “that’s cool,” photographed them, and moved on. Instead, I took full advantage of these seats for one of my rest and rehydration breaks. This slow down is the reason I spotted the Yard Park Bridge, a bridge I definitely needed to add to my collection.

Perhaps slowing down and being more intentional to accommodate my Long COVID needs will continue to add depth to my urbantraipsing experiences.

Anacostia River Canals

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The Anacostia Riverwalk Trail crosses over the openings of several canal channels within a short distance from the Frederick Douglass Bridge in Washington, DC. The first canal opening that I walked over, I had no idea that I was walking on a bridge…like when I walked over the Grosvenor Canal in London. It wasn’t until I was checking out the views from the Frederick Douglass Bridge that I saw the opening for the canal underneath the path I had just walked. (First picture in the slide show below.)

The bridge pictured above appears to have been over a canal that fed into or out of (or both?) the old O Street Pumping Station. This bridge was clearly visible as we walked passed it on our way to the Frederick Douglass. I was tempted to cross it (as a bridge walker, it is hard to walk passed a bridge and not over it), but I was tired and trying to conserve energy. However, once on the Frederick Douglass Bridge, I spotted another pedestrian bridge just beyond this one that I could not pass up the opportunity to walk, no matter how tired I was.

The Yard Park Bridge is a highly photogenic bridge, perhaps rivalling London’s Millennium Bridge. It crosses over what I think are the remnants of the Washington City Canal, most of which has been paved over. The paved portion visible from the Yard Park Bridge reminded me of the portions of the Erie Canal in Buffalo paved over for a skating rink and other recreational purposes.

  • Bridge over an unknown canal
  • Old O Street Pump Station
  • New O Street Pump Station
  • Yard Park Bridge exterior 1
  • Yard Park Bridge exterior 2
  • Inside the Yard Park Bridge
  • Yard Park Bridge opening
  • Paved-over vestiges of the Washington City Canal 1
  • Paved-over vestiges of the Washington City Canal 2

Go Fish 4

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GoFish! was a fundraiser in Erie, PA, in 2001. Amy H.’s FourSquare map helped us identify the building where “‘The Teaching Fish’ Minds to Learn, Fins to Serve” by MC Gensheimer now lives (2023), but we had to ask for help multiple times once we were inside before one of the staff showed us where this fish was in the cafeteria.

As FourSquare isn’t available anymore, I have created my own maps for where I encountered Erie’s fish and frogs, plus statues in other cities: https://urbantraipsing.com/public-art-maps/

London Docks

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There are four docks or canals connecting into the River Thames along the stretch of the river through Central London that I walked in 2012. I walked bridges over three of these, though I was too distracted by other sites to photograph one of them. The one I missed was the Grosvenor Canal between the Chelsea and Grosvenor Bridges. I was busy photographing the former Battersea Power Station, Grosvenor Bridge, and the train yard next to the Grosvenor Bridge to notice that I walked another small bridge over the Grosvenor Canal. Returning to the site through Google Street View, it looks like the kind of bridge that you’d have to know was there to notice it.

I did notice when I was crossing the bridge across Ransome Dock (picture above), between the Battersea and Albert Bridges. Although, I hadn’t yet learned my lesson to always take an establishing shot of the bridge itself, not just the views from the bridge.

I also noticed when I walked across the Rolling Bridge over St. Saviour’s Dock (picture below), which is slightly downriver from the Tower Bridge. The structure of the bridge itself was fascinating enough that I did take a picture of it. It wasn’t until much later that I learned it truly is a unique bridge – the only draw bridge to curl up on itself.

Cannon Street Railway Bridge

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The Cannon Street Railway Bridge is the last of the railroad bridges I encountered on my trip to London in 2012. Compared to the others (Battersea, Grosvenor, Hungerford, and Blackfriars), the Cannon Street bridge is relatively boring, though it also has its unique features. It is the only one of the five constructed with plate-deck girders, a style my “How to Read Bridges” book skips over, but appears to be a complex form of beam bridge for larger spans.

Go Fish 3

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GoFish! was a fundraiser in Erie, PA, in 2001. “Fish Tales” by Jodi Staniunas Hopper & Toni Kelly must have had lasik surgery sometime between 2001 and 2023 as it no longer wears the glasses it had in 2001. Amy H.’s FourSquare map helped us find this one in the lobby of the Erie Maritime Museum, one of the original patrons of the fish. As FourSquare isn’t available anymore, I have created my own maps for where I encounter the fish and other statues: https://urbantraipsing.com/public-art-maps/

Blackfriars Railway Bridge/Station

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Blackfriars Station is another unique bridge along the Thames. It is a bridge…and it’s a station for the underground. When I was there in May 2012, it was under construction, or rather extensive renovation to extend the platforms along the bridge and add solar panels above. The Guardian heralded it as the “world’s largest solar power bridge” when it opened in 2014. And over a decade later, it seems to retain hold of that title, suggesting an opportunity for more solar bridges to step up to the challenge.

Hungerford Bridge

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The Hungerford Bridge is unique among London bridges. It is a truss bridge, instead of the more typical deck arch bridges up and down the river. Also, it has a pedestrian bridge hanging off each side of it, collectively know as the Jubilee Bridges, that nearly hide the Hungerford Bridge from view, begging the question: how many is one bridge?