my longest bike ride ever

which direction is mt. vernon?

 For the past month or so, we have been taking our bikes to school, weather permitting.  At first, it was terrible!  Dodging people on the sidewalks, riding between cars on the street, lack of bike riding muscles, big hills coming home from school during the hottest part of the day... Slowly, but surely though, it has been getting better.  Sooo, today, we set out on our greatest bike riding quest yet.

watching the jets land @ reagan

full bike rack at mt. vernon

 Between Arlington and Mt. Vernon, there is an 18 mile bike trail along the Potomac, called the Mt. Vernon trail. It goes past the foot of the Reagan National Airport runway, through Old Town Alexandria and ends at George Washington's home, Mt Vernon.  We left home at 8 am, so as to beat some of the 'traffic' and heat. It took about 2 hours to get down there and was around 19 miles total.  We had a snack with friendly squirrel who, oddly enough, had many of the same mannerisms as scout the beagle.  After spending about 2 hours seeing more of the sights at Mt. Vernon (more on this tomorrow), we hit the trail to finish our last 19 miles.  

Old Town Alexandria

mt vernon trail

The military community that Ed works in is a small, small world because when we were coming back through alexandria, Ed picked out an former colleague from eglin who was on the opposite side of the road, going the opposite direction. He did not even realize this guy was living in DC! So we chatted with him for a bit before continuing on our merry way.   Since getting home, I have been exhausted.  Too much sun, too little water.  I don't feel sore, but we will see about that tomorrow!  I guess I have proven myself to be an okay long distance biker because Ed is now planning our tour of Denmark, on bike. :)