DC Bike Tour - Discover Lonely Landmarks
Every Saturday and Sunday from 1pm to 4pm there is a free bike tour given by the National Park Rangers. It meets in front of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial, and you bring your own bike and water.
Yesterday I did the tour titled "Off the Beaten Path - Discover Lonely Landmarks" and it was a lot of fun.
The tour was lead by three full time rangers, and there were four of us in the group. We stopped at many memorials that I've seen driving by but never taken the time to really notice, and some that you would never find without being shown, such as the plaque for the first airmail delivery in US history, which departed from DC and was bound for New York, but the inexperienced pilot crashed in a field 20 miles in the wrong direction. The total ride was about 7 miles, and could be done by anybody but since we were on DC roads for some bits I wouldn't recommend small children.
The schedule of future tours is available as a PDF file.
Credit goes to my dad for discovering this great find.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Cherry_Blossom_Festival
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_Memorial
This is the only memorial on the mall paid for and in honor of citizens of DC. This memorial is dedicated to DC citizens who lost their lives in the "great war" (it was created before World War II).
http://www.dcpreservation.org/endangered/2003/warmemorial.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Paul_Jones
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Jackson_Downing
the electromagnetic phenomenon of self-inductance. He was also the first secretary of the Smithsonian Institution (which he is now standing in front of) and the second president of National Academy of Sciences.
http://etc.princeton.edu/CampusWWW/Companion/henry_joseph.html
