North Potomac, MD Outdoor Activities

Since its first tour of local landmarks in District of Columbia, CapitolCity DC Tours and Events has chaperoned visitors and the city's own curious residents on motor-coach, walking, and bicycle-mounted tours of the city. Dozens of available tours bring to life the history of the notable and little-known local neighborhoods and historic buildings that occupy the Washington DC's celebrated acreage. Licensed tour guides lead outings in seven languages, such as Mandarin, Spanish, and Italian, to make it easier for all to take in the city's breadth of historic, architectural, and municipal themes. Depending on the tour, some stops may include informative jaunts to the White House and the National Mall—places that evoke American ideals and where British tyranny in the form of unjust taxation and irresistible Phil Collins ballads were once publicly denounced.

Prior to the 1974–75 season, the Washington Capitals joined the Kansas City Scouts as the 17th and 18th clubs to become part of the National Hockey League. Eight years later, they played in their first-ever Stanley Cup playoff game on April 6, 1983—kicking off a 14-year streak of consecutive postseason berths. In 1998, Washington finally reached the Stanley Cup Finals, securing its place as one of the NHL's top teams. Headquartered at the Verizon Center—nicknamed the Phonebooth—the Caps skate against their Eastern Conference rivals as mascot Slapshot the Eagle lays new pucks before every faceoff.

Branching off from a popular bike-tour company in New York City, Bike the Big Capital enlists DC native and seasoned guide Pat to marshal riders through the hallowed streets and monuments of the capital city. Bringing together self-propelled transportation and the history of the city's monuments and people, each tour weaves through neighborhoods as groups discover areas that harbor hidden treasures out in the open. While riding through changing landscapes, tours delve beneath the surface of each popular and little-known site visited, and historical information makes way for modern marvels as asphalt winds toward blooming green spaces.

When guiding cyclists around town, Pat teams up with a fellow history buff for the company's six-hour tours, each delving into a different facet of American history. The 10-mile National Mall Cherry Blossom Tour departs only during March and April, when the two cherry trees planted by first lady Taft and their blushing peers bloom like adolescents on an all-weeds diet.

Tour A, the American Identities Tour, leads pedalers through 14 miles of tree-fringed streets while guides narrate the backstory of passing monuments and the infamous Ford Theater, where John Wilkes Booth made his escape from unreasonably high ticket prices. During the evening, Tour B shows off 14 miles of DC in the moonlight across the historical Potomac River bridges, toward a nature preserve, and with a stop at the spooky outdoor staircase made famous by The Exorcist.

Montgomery Village Golf Club's Edmund Ault–designed course sprawls across 6,726 yards of emerald corridors cleaved through the arboreal heart of Montgomery County. Fresh off recent refurbishments that include new tee boxes and switching to a bermuda hybrid grass, management continues to improve on a course that has hosted multiple PGA-sanctioned events and royal grass-grazing parties for traveling goat monarchs. Fairways tunnel through unforgiving tree lines as golfers swing their way toward each green, where fast surfaces form breaking putts. Alongside the pristine par 71, the club's grass-tee driving range, putting green, and full-service pro shop help streamline clubbers' birdie-hunting skills, and the Willow Tree Inn's restaurant and grill keeps players from dining on freshly torn divots with an all-day menu of entrees and drinks.

Course at a Glance:

• Designed by Edmund Ault
• 18-hole, par 71 course
• Length of 6,726 yards from the farthest tees
• Course rating of 72.6 from the farthest tees
• Slope rating of 126 from the farthest tees