So, I have a big lens… Let’s take it plane spotting.

Avoiding DC Pain

The easiest (least effort) major airport for me is DCA (Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport). Mostly because it has a Metro station. However, I don’t want to go shooting (pictures) from the airport. I want to be under the planes.

Luckily, There’s a park at the end of one of the runways.

There are two main ways to get there. I could drive, or take the train and hike. Driving is already pretty low on the list (if you haven’t driven on the G.W. Parkway, don’t). But, so is hiking. Luckily, there’s a third option. Bike.

Now, I don’t have a bicycle, just an old helmet. However, DC has a bike share system. Looking online, both DCA, and the park have bike stalls, and there’s an easy bike path between the two.

So that’s my plan, take the train to DCA, then bike the rest of the way. Let’s go!

Off To The Capital

After an hour long train ride, I was at DCA. Now, I know the header says “Off To The Capital”, but it’s lying to you. DCA and the park are both in Virginia.

The first thing I did was get some water, then look for the bike stall. It took a little longer than I care to admit to find, even with a map. But I got there.

Now, I was expecting this to be like the sketchy rental scooters, but no. The app had a list of electric bikes at the stall, including their estimated ranges, and ID numbers. All I had to do was walk up to one, scanned the QR code, confirmed payment, and the stall unlocked, easy.

Now, it’s been a long time since I’ve ridden a bike. So it took me a moment to get back into it. The electric assist motor didn’t help with that, but was nice once I got going.

After about ten minutes, I was there. I docked the bike (which auto ended the rental, nice), and got set up.

Plane Spotting

This is the first time I’ve been under a plane taking off. Let me tell you, there is nothing like it. Not only is it loud, but also all surrounding. It is truly awesome (in the old sense of the word). This video doesn’t do it justice.

I took pretty much everything. But I ended up only using the SIGMA 150-600mm lens. And yes, a couple people did ask about it.

So enough beating around the bush. Here’s some of the pics I got. Clicking on them will take you to their photos page, with more info.

Going Home

After a little while, I packed back up, and got ready to go. I didn’t want to leave, but I was out of water, and wanted to beat traffic. So I grabbed the ebike, and went back to the airport. I’m definitely doing this again.

After a quiet train ride, I was back at my car. It was time to go home. The only bad thing about this trip, Metro raised the parking price by 20¢, bastards.