Meandering along the George Washington Parkway, which runs from Alexandria, Virginia, to Mount Vernon, George Washington’s home, you encounter the wide Potomac River, Dyke Marsh, beautiful large homes facing the Potomac River, and the paved Mt Vernon Trail that runs from Alexandria, Virginia all the way to George Washington’s home at Mt Vernon. In that eight-mile stretch of Parkway, many places to pull off in turnouts and parking lots give you expansive views of the Potomac River.

I have travelled this road and trail many times in summer and winter, in inclement weather and fair weather. On each visit, I usually could find something interesting to photograph. On a cold December day, I spotted this scene along the Potomac River with some abandoned pier pillars just above the water line. Something about the position of those rotted pier pillars in the foreground and the vastness of the Potomac River with the Maryland shoreline in the background caught my eye. Trees line the Maryland Potomac River shore with muted forms of the landscape that rise and disappear into the horizon.