A Short Trip to Washington DC
Between the epic museums, awe-inspiring monuments and perfect sunny weather, my four-day trip in Washington DC flew by way too fast. Although I only skimmed the surface of all the awesome things this city has to offer I had a great first visit. Here are a few of the trip highlights.
Monuments by Moonlight
Monuments by Moonlight
On the first night of our trip, we booked Old Town Trolley
Tours’ fabulous Monuments by Moonlight tour. The trolley promptly arrived at
our hotel in National Harbor (aka in bum f*** Egypt) at 6:30 p.m. and we
embarked on a very windy ride down the freeway towards the heart of DC. Upon
arriving at Union Station we boarded an even larger trolley where we met our
tour guide “Hollywood” for the night. We made a number of big stops throughout
the duration of the evening including: the Iwo Jima Marine Corps Memorial, the
Lincoln Memorial, the FDR Memorial, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, the
Korean War Memorial and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. In addition to getting
an up close and personal look at these impressive sites, our guide was also
extremely knowledgeable and provided tons of insight into the most popular spots
around DC. I found this outing to be the perfect activity for our first night
in town as it helped us find our bearings later in the week as we did our best
to navigate the National Mall.
Water Taxi
As I mentioned above we stayed in the National Harbor. And
while the National Harbor is lovely and all, it just isn’t a convenient
location for those wanting to do tons of sightseeing in the DC area. However, a
fun way to combat this logistical shortcoming is with offbeat transportation. I
already mentioned the ultra-breezy trolley ride (which I’ll admit I wasn’t
super crazy about at first… where are the seatbelts? Why are the windows made
up of roll-able plastic flaps? How does this thing legally drive on the highway?
So many questions.) but my favorite mode of transportation was the Potomac
Riverboat Company Water Taxi. The Water Taxi departs daily from the National
Harbor and cruisers can choose between transportation to the Wharf, Alexandria
or Georgetown. I rode the Water Taxi twice during the duration of my trip, the
first time on a rainy voyage to the charming town of Alexandria and the second
time a trip to DC’s uber-hip Wharf district. Each trip was a delight with
friendly staff onboard and even light snacks and refreshments. The trip to
Alexandria takes about thirty minutes from National Harbor where the adventure
to the Wharf clocks out at around an hour.
National Harbor
While I had my laments regarding the National Harbor, it
really is a fun spot worth checking out if you have the time. Lined with hip
restaurants and specialty shops one can easily spend an afternoon enjoying the
riverside views and local attractions. However, the real fun starts after dark
when crowds of locals pour in for some late night entertainment including live
music (we were treated to a weekend show from the United States Air Force
Band). I was also impressed to find a surplus of people Saturday morning for a
free yoga session in the park with the Capital Wheel acting as the perfect
backdrop to their flow.
The Wharf
Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to see as much of DC as I would
have liked this first go-around, but from what I did see the Wharf was one of
my favorite stops for one important reason, food. Oh-em-gee you guys, the food
in this part of town was off the charts! Fresh fish markets, food trucks, ice
cream shops, trendy restaurants, you name it the Wharf has it. We ended up
visiting Mi Vida Restaurante, a tasty Mexican Restaurant with an incredible
patio, and Ben & Jerry’s because ice cream= love, duh. Not only was the
food fabulous in this part of town but the atmosphere was great too. Street
art, cool outdoor bars and a makeshift campsite, fire pit and all were a few
standouts for me.
National Mall
Jam-packed with historic buildings, priceless artifacts and
home to the President of the United States, the National Mall is naturally DC’s
biggest attraction. During our time here we visited a handful of the many
incredible museums including the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, the
National Museum of American History and the National Holocaust Museum. I was impressed by the National Mall's use of green space which provided some much-needed peace and quiet between the large groups of school kids on end of the year field trips to the capitol.
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