In 1973, the National Park Service constructed the Mount Vernon Trail along the Potomac River, paralleling the George Washington Memorial Parkway.

With the river as your companion, you can ride your bike, jog, walk, or rollerblade along this 18.5-mile trail from Mount Vernon, the home of George Washington, to the parking lot of Theodore Roosevelt Island. Along the way, enjoy a view of the Potomac, stop for a picnic at Riverside Park, visit the fortifications at Fort Hunt Park, and take a side trip into Dyke Marsh Wildlife Preserve. (NOTE: Bicycles must be left in the rack at the rack at the entrance to the Haul Road, the trail into Dyke Marsh.) Or, stop at Jones Point Park, which features a 19th-century lighthouse. You can then lunch on the wharf in Alexandria amid the 18th-century homes and shops that have been occupied since the city was a tobacco and shipping port.

Beyond Alexandria, you can see the sailboats near Daingerfield Island. Check out the Washington, D.C. skyline. Spend a lazy day at Gravelly Point watching planes take off from Ronald Reagan International Airport. Once over the Columbia Island Bridge, you pass the Navy-Marine Memorial of gulls in flight above a wave. Getting tired? Rest in the greenery of the Lyndon Baines Johnson Memorial Grove in Lady Bird Johnson Park where you can view the classic monuments and memorials from a distance.

Near the end of the trail, it passes under Memorial Bridge, which symbolizes the union of the North and South after the Civil War. Just past Theodore Roosevelt Island is the Custis Trail, which will connect you to Rosslyn and the Arlington County trail system.