Blackberry Photography (2): Sunrise Over Lorton, Va.

I took this picture a few weeks ago, as I was crossing the Purple Heart Bridge (northbound) over the Occoquan River, while I was heading to work.  It was nearly 6 A.M. and the traffic was fairly light (for the DC area, anyway).

There is more glare in the picture than I would have liked, but I suppose that is what you get when you are taking a picture without really aiming… while wearing sunglasses (a really cool pair from Wiley X)… while driving at 70 miles per hour.  To tell you the truth, I think I made a pretty fair job of it.

Anyway, Lorton, Va. is was the home of the DC correctional unit otherwise known as Lorton prison, which has been closed for ten or twelve years now, I think.   In the picture, what is left of the prison would be about a mile to your left.

This particular stretch of highway can be a real pain in the a**, as anyone who lives in this area and drives on I-95 can attest to.  The first day that Mrs. GF and I commuted into DC from our brand-spankin’-new house (this was in 1994), there was a jackknifed tractor-trailer on the bridge , and it so destroyed the rush hour traffic, that it took us nearly three hours to get to work.

Lorton is also the home of the Autotrain.  If you are planning to take the AMTRAK Auto Train to Florida, that station is about two miles ahead and to the right of where I am, here.

Lorton is the second southernmost geographic area in Fairfax county.