Day 29: Rest day in Alexandria, VA, and Washington, DC

Lunch with my Greenway colleague, Niles, who was also in D.C. for a few days, was a great treat. We saw him last Fridsy in Durham, so now he has to show up in New York City and Boston for our other rest days.

Today was a day off worth sharing, even though we never rode our bikes. After coffee and some Rodney Yee yoga with our host, Deb, we met Tom Kaiden for breakfast at the Royal, a fine old diner in Alexandria. Tom is COO of Visit Alexandria and a member of the East Coast Greenway board. We talked about our trip and about the tourism industry. He shared some insights on his city and sent us to the top of the George Washington Masonic National Memorial, where we got a sky-high view of the Potomac, D.C., and Alexandria.

We headed into Washington then to see the Burnjng Man exhibit at the Renwick Gallery and the Obama portraits at the National Portrait Gallery.

#nospectators, from the Burning Man exhibit at the Renwick.

We loved these young students’ enthusiasm for the sights

We came back to Deb’s house and got to walk her dog, do a little bike maintenance, and put together dinner. We are going to miss Deb, we have felt right at home with her.

Tomorrow we are off to Annapolis.