D.C. has a street named for each of the 50 states, plus Puerto Rico. As dedicated D.C. geocachers, we have made it our mission to hide a geocache on each of these streets.
Welcome to Connecticut Avenue! Okay, technically this hide is on Calvert Street, right near the intersection of Connecticut Avenue.
Of course, Woodley Park is home to the National Zoo, but there are many neighborhood murals and historic sites to visit along the way. Not to mention trail entrances to beautiful Rock Creek Park, a National Park that is more than twice the size of NYC's Central Park.
This intersection lies near two historic bridges: the William Howard Taft Bridge, which carries Connecticut Ave. over Rock Creek Park, and the Duke Ellington Bridge, which leads to the Adams Morgan neighborhood. The Taft bridge has two lion statues on either end. We learned from The Streets of Washington blog that the original lion statues deteriorated, so sculptor Reinaldo Lopez-Carrizo "cast entirely new sculptures... The new lions were installed in July and August of 2000. The molds for the new concrete lions were subsequently used to cast two lions in bronze, which now flank the main entrance to the zoo up the street." In just a short stretch of Connecticut Ave., from south of the bridge and up to the zoo, you can spot six lion sculptures! (http://www.streetsofwashington.com/2009/11/million-dollar-bridge.html)
The Duke Ellington bridge on Calvert Street was named for Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington in 1974, the same year he passed away. Ellington was a native Washingtonian and a famous jazz performer. You'll find four relief sculptures (two at each end) at the ends of the bridge depicting four modes of transportation: train, plane, ship, and automobile. (https://historicsites.dcpreservation.org/items/show/175)
The cache you're looking for is magnetic and hidden across from one of the famous neighborhood murals. Bring a pen to sign the log! And tweezers will likely be helpful for getting the log out of the container.