So the hubby is getting a long weekend this upcoming weekend thanks to Columbus Day! Now on a normal weekend we aren't allowed further than 250 miles off base (For those of you who are unaware my husband is a Marine HOORAH!)
But because he has a longer weekend, we can travel further and we have some money saved up, DC is such a great option for us since we're big history nerds, and both of us are very patriotic. Everything we want to do is free! How awesome!
Of course we're hitting up the monuments. Arlington National Cemetery is another big one on our list. I have a few questions because neither of us has ever been!
The monuments at night, which ones can you see and not miss any important details?
I read that the Jefferson is good at night, and maybe the Lincoln. But what about Vietnam, WWII, Korea, Washington, FDR? The museums are closing at 5:30pm so I thought the monuments would be good for us to see later in the days. And as far as museums go, gosh so many to chose from.
Which Smithsonian's do you recommend? This question is for the DC locals, do you have any suggestions for restaurants? Something a little intimate and romantic, without breaking the bank.
We never took a honeymoon, so we're making up lost ground with this trip. Local transit. Bus and subway/train stations: To be blunt.
Are they safe? I'm from Atlanta and MARTA was less than acceptable on the safety issues. But us trying to navigate a city like DC....well that would be hilarious, and potentially disastrous.
Wow, we're so excited about this trip! Tell me your stories about visiting, and please suggest anything!
Comments (16)
i went to DC while i was on a band trip two years ago (in late april, early may i believe) :) it was absolutely fantastic weather. gorgeous. don't jay walk! haha you'll get like, arrested. oh and get a hot dog. really good lol. uhmmm what else do i remember? oh the cherry blossom trees were amazing. i'm sure they're even more gorgeous when they're in full bloom.
the washington monument is pretty amazing in person.
seeing the white house wasn't as exciting as i expected though haha. then again, i only saw it from a distance lol
so yeah its great there! have fun!
Metro system is fine by me. There's some "interesting" folks that ride it sometimes, but otherwise I've always felt safe riding.
Metro's completely chill, I live 45 minutes outside DC and have been there too many times to count. Your best and cheapest bet is to get an all-day pass from Metro, it's under $8 each and there's metro stations all over the place.
As for smithsonians, the American History one is a lot of fun because it has all the pop culture kinda stuff, plus they might still have the Bob Hope exhibit. The Air & Space museum's cool if you're into that kind of stuff, and the Natural History museum is amaaaaaazing and has the hope diamond. They've got incredible minerals and stones and the building alone is worth seeing inside.
The WWII and Vietnam memorials are breathtaking at night. The Lincoln memorial is a cool place to catch the sun set if you have your back to Mr. Lincoln.
The zoo is free! And fun! :)
As for restaurants. . . I'm not entirely sure because we don't find a lot of hole in the wall places when we go. However I can tell you if you guys like coffee, go to Ebenezer's; it's on 2nd and F NE by Union Station and has INCREDIBLE coffee. SOOOO good. Oh! And if you like Chili, go to Ben's Chili Bowl: they're famous. http://www.benschilibowl.com/ordereze/default.aspx I have yet to get to go myself, but I hear amazing things from people. :)
Have fuunnn!!
I just got here!
Try Ben's Chili Bowl.
Thanks so much guys!
@PerkyPunk8064I can't wait to try that coffee place! My husband and I love coffee <3333
haha my boyfriend and i are going this weekend to dc too, i better keep an eye on the comments here
i recommend national gallery of art
MARINES SAY OORAH TRIPCRAZED! GET IT RIGHT!
@onlyFORaLILwhile@xanga - Oh my goodness thank you! That irked me soooooooooo much when they edited my post! I'm a marine wife! I think I know better than then what my husband and his buddies say for motivation. I have to hear it all the time lol. <333333
DC Metro is pretty good and easy to navigate. Even this country girl could figure them out. :)
I highly recommend the American History Museum; it's my favorite out of all of them. For the rest, it really depends on what you're in to. If you like spaceships and airplanes and stuff, the Air and Space Museum is pretty darn cool. And of course, for art-lovers there are lots of art museums. One I've really wanted to go to is the Native American History Museum (I think that's what it's called) but it was closed during the only opportunity I've had to go. :(
As for the monuments, I've heard the FDR is amazing at night. I know from firsthand experience that Lincoln is pretty cool at night. The Korean Memorial is kind of creepy at night, but it's really cool too! I'm not sure about the Vietnam Wall though, but if you want to read names, you're probably safer visiting it during the day... The Washington Monument is well lit at night, but if you want to go up in it, you'll have to do it during the day (and get tickets in advance).
Hope my super-long comment helped a little. lol!
ive worked at the national aquarium, so i have to rep it!! go! its $7/person and its a quick and easy hour if you breeze through. :) its just outside of the national mall and its a nice break from all the history!!
The metro is fine, I've never had anything remotely sketchy happen to/near me on it.
At night you MUST see WWII, Korea and FDR. Those are all within walking distance too. My FAVORITE museum is the National Portrait gallery. The American Museum of Natural History is good too.air space museum! both of them :]
Try to visit all the Smithsonian museums. Usually they're really close to each other, like 1-2 miles away utmost. It's always good to walk, since DC is changing every block.
If you want good bars/lounges, there's a lot on 8th street. Most of them are decent, in my opinion.
Georgetown is always a hot spot. Bars, restaurants, outlets, clubs, George Washington University, Georgetown University...
Union Station is also a famous spot too, architecturally. There are a lot of great/fancy restaurant along Massachusetts Avenue (where Union Station is located). And it's also opposite the Capitol (Best of both worlds). Try to go at night, it's amaaazzingggg. No worries. DC never goes to sleep ;)
Oh, Chinatown too! It's one of most dynamic Chinatown's I've ever been to. A lot different/smaller than a lot of other places, but it always surprises you everytime you come.
Then National Harbor of course. Crabcakes are literally mind-blowing.
You can basically visit all DC using the metropolitan area's metros. They will take you right to most of the open-for-visit places, like the Washington Monument etc...
If you have time, try to cross to Maryland. There are many historic cities such as Baltimore etc.
My husband and I just got back from a weekend trip to DC! It was wonderful! I want to go back and live there :)
We arrived early Saturday afternoon and headed straight for the Air and Space museum (he's a pilot). After it closed, we had dinner and went to bed since we had been up since 3:30am. Sunday we woke up early and headed to Arlington cemetery around 9:30am. Then we walked across Memorial bridge and did all the stuff down on the National Mall. We walked up to the White House, then back down to the mall area to do a quick tour of the Natural History museum. Then we went to the Capitol building, then over to the Jefferson memorial. Just a word of warning - Jefferson is kind of out of the way. We did a bit of backtracking to get there. I mean, it was all within walking distance, but his memorial is sort of by itself on the other side of the basin from everything else. I have no opinion on the transit system since we just walked everywhere - it was an easy (and free!) way to see everything! We ended up walking a good 13 miles that day, but we were able to see everything we wanted to see between 9:30 in the morning and around 7 at night. Then we left Monday morning...
I would love to see the memorials at night - maybe next time! Have fun!! We had such a great time. It's been about two weeks since we were there and I still look at the pictures we took pretty much every day :)
@stupid_white_girl@xanga - That is EXACTLY the schedule my husband and I will be having. Except we're leaving Saturday morning and should get there about noon. We're leaving DC the following Monday. So we'll have a day and a half to explore and rome.
Thanks so much everyone for your comments. They're such a great help!