The Mount Vernon Trail is located just across the river from Downtown Washington, DC and is a great multi-use recreation trail. The recreational trail is nearly 18 miles long and it follows the Potomac's Virginia shoreline from Theodore Roosevelt Island to George Washington's Estate located at Mount Vernon. The excellent scenery and consistently well-maintained condition of this paved surface makes the Mount Vernon Trail a favorite of cyclists, hikers and runners.
The National Gallery of Art offers everything you ever wanted to know about art and presents an incredible amount of it all in one place. The Gallery's numerous exhibits and attractions stretch from the Middle Ages all the way to today. Works by da Vinci, Rembrandt, Raphael and Titian, among others, are all here. The facility proudly exhibits over 3,000 paintings, 2,000 pieces of sculpture and over 100,000 prints, drawings and other interesting pieces. Also, don't forget to spend a little time in the Sculpture Garden that can be found at the corner of 7th and Madison.
The National Archives is the ultimate historical storage unit. Every significant document and tangible piece of history is cataloged and stored here. The site houses everything from the Declaration of Independence, to the Louisiana Purchase, to the Watergate tapes. When you walk in, you'll be struck by the fortuitous, 75-foot rotunda where the most treasured documents are on display. Maps, movies, photographs, texts and more are all here, and you can delve into your own research if you are looking for something in particular.
Walking tours would be great if weren't for all that walking. Luckily, there's A Tour De Force: Guided Tours of Washington to the rescue! See some of the city's most popular sites like the White House, the US Capitol and the Lincoln and Vietnam Memorials, all from the comfort of a Segway cycle. You'll be supplied with a helmet and a Segway scooter as well as all the information you need to truly absorb and appreciate the incredible sites that make Washington such a vital place in so many ways. And, you'll see it all without tiring out your feet.