First trip to Washington, D.C.

In My Humble Opinion
1

Some of you may have run across an earlier thread where I had sought advice for tooling around Michigan and surrounding areas during a vacation Jakeline and I are planning for this summer. Well, once Southwest’s fares opened up and we had the full range of options before us, we decided to make our trip a little more adventurous.

We’re going to be visiting with a friend and her family in the Lansing, MI area for three days or so, but from there, we’re hopping on a train and heading to D.C. I am thrilled about this because I’ve never been to any part of the east coast, and I’ve been dying to go for years. We’ll be arriving around mid-day on a Monday and leaving that Friday evening.

I can tell you up front that we’ll definitely be hitting some of the Smithsonian museums, and I’ll be crossing at least one more baseball stadium off my list by seeing a game in Baltimore (the Nats won’t be in town that week, unfortunately). I’ve read a lot of good ideas about what to do with three days of time in D.C., but I figured it couldn’t hurt to get the personal opinions of the Doper community. What say you?* And with the time we have, do you think a day trip to Philadelphia (or even New York) is worthwhile?

On a related note, I anticipate that being in my nation’s capitol for the first time will be a somewhat emotional experience given the history involved. For those of you who are not from the area, what was your experience like the first time you ever traveled to D.C.?

*I could swear that someone brought up a similar topic about visiting D.C. not long ago, but I must have missed it in my brief search. Apologies if this is a duplicative effort.

2

There are the typical things to do, namely visiting:

  • the Capitol building
  • the Air and Space Museum
  • the Museum of Natural History
  • the Museum of American History
  • the International Spy Museum
  • the Washington Monument
  • the Lincoln Memorial
  • the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial
  • the WWII Memorial
  • the Jefferson Memorial

Most of these are in the general Mall area, with the notable exception of the Spy Museum which is near the MCI Arena/Chinatown area on the Yellow metro line. Also the Jefferson Memorial is a bit removed from the Mall.

If you’re up for non-governmental, you can go to:

  • the Holocaust Memorial Museum (incredibly informative but also incredibly depressing)
  • Washington National Cathedral (eh, it’s all right)
  • Ford’s Theatre
  • the Zoo (doesn’t beat San Diego’s though)

For shopping and tooling around, the best places are probably Georgetown and Old Town Alexandria (Virginia).

If you’ve never been the East Coast, go to NYC. DC is all right, but it’s gray and depressing. Once you’ve been to all the museums and memorials, there’s nothing left but a few decent restaurants.

3

Since you’re going to Baltimore for a ball game, you gotta check out Harborplace and Fells Point and ride the Water Taxi and go to the Aquarium… Heck, if it wasn’t over a work week, I’d suggest setting up a Doper dinner or lunch or something. Unfortunately, I live about 2 hours south of Balto, so weeknights don’t work.

Honestly, with under 5 days in the area, you’d be pushing it to try to hit Philly or NYC. Personally, I recommend Annapolis, but then I’m a sailor, so I love that town. Feel free to email me if you have any specific questions and I’ll help you if I can!

4

My favorite memory of DC is visiting the Korean War Memorial at night. It’s lit from below, and you see these statues of soldiers looking (as I recall anyway) scared, glancing over their shoulders, and just generally looking like I would if somebody slapped a uniform on me and stuck me in a war. I was probably 16 when I saw it, and it was stirring.

When I was little, we went to Chesapeake bay on a trip to DC, which was awesome 'cause I’d never seen an ocean. I got stung by a couple of jellyfish, but I was still thrilled. Given your location though, you probably won’t be so impressed. Skip the aquarium. The holocaust museum wasn’t there when I visited, but I’d go in a heartbeat now if I could.

5

I love, love, love DC and have ever since I went on a school trip in 7th grade. You won’t have much of a problem finding stuff to do. The list of typical stuff is plenty and all that it’s cracked up to be IMHO. The Smithsonians themselves can take months to all go through. There are tons of lesser known Smithsonians as well if you care to venture off somewhat.

Being in DC seems very surreal to me when you are actually IN the seat of the most powerful government that ever existed. It is a planned city so it is pretty easy to get around and you can just turn a corner and THERE is the WHITE HOUSE and THERE is the CAPITOL. Just seeing all the Secret Service all over protecting stuff and government officials all over is way cool.

The city does have a huge underbelly however. Outside of the immediate government areas, it is largely a very black and very impoverished slum. If you want a more upscale and East Coast atmosphere, hit the Georgetown area or Alexandria. Virginia is beautiful as well after you get out of the sprawling metropolis and suburban areas. You could go see lots of Civil War battle fields and things for something different.

An almost unparalleled amount of great things are within an easy days drive.

6

Come to the Zoo!

We have a baby.

A cute baby.

A baby prehensile-tailed porcupine.

7

Some of the best art museums on either coast are in DC. My favorites are the Freer (on the Mall), the Corcoran and the Phillips (just off Dupont circle). The National Buildings Museum (near Gallery Place, I think) is a very cool, odd, interesting museum too. The National Archives is also nice, just off the Mall, if you’re into history.

8

The zoo is governmental…it is part of the Smithsonian Institute.

9

Go to Laurel, MD and see the National Cryptologic Museum at the National Security Agency. This is one of the best, but little know, museums in the DC area.

10

Indeed. IMO Philly would be viable as a daytrip, but for NYC I’d say you’d really needs to make it an overnight to do it justice. Although as mentioned, DC after-dark tends to the dreary as a city, there are areas that remain lively(Georgetown & Alexandria have been mentioned).

11

I just got back from a quick trip to DC. I went to the Freer, Sackler and Hirshorn Museums (all part of the Smithsonian) for the first time, and I recommend all them of highly. The Freer and Sackler focus on Asian art (19th century and earlier). The Hirshorn is modern and contemporary art. Right now, they have a fantastic exhibit of black and white photography by Hiroshi Sugimoto. It really is not to be missed. The other cool thing about these particular museums is that you don’t have to fight your way through hordes of school groups as you do with at the Museum of Natural History or the Air and Space Museum.

The National Gallery of Art also has a very interesting exhibit on Dada, which I thoroughly enjoyed. The art didn’t knock my socks off, like Sugimoto’s did, but they did a great job of placing the movement in a historical context.

I’m sure Dopers with more local knowledge can give you specific recommendations, but big cities like DC are a great place for good food, especially the kind of food that might be hard to get back home. I know there’s a large Ethiopian community there, so it could be fun to go to an Ethiopian restaurant while you’re there. (I love Ethiopian food, but it’s mighty hard to find here in the Appalachians.)

12

For the little time you have, I wouldn’t waste time on NYC or Philly–you want to see stuff, not countryside rolling past outside a train.

Call your Senator’s office or representative’s office ASAP and ask about special passes for Capitol and White House tours. I don’t know if things have changed, but as of last summer, the White House was closed to tours of fewer than 12 people, but your Senator or Congressman can aggregate constituents into one tour group.

The State Department tour is supposed to be the best tour in D.C. but I’ve never done it and can’t vouch for it.

I found the Spy Museum to be a big disappointment–it just wasn’t that interesting. They had multimedia exhibits all going at once at top volume so it was just a lot of noise. My sister, on the other hand, loved it so there you go.

The D.C. metro is great, so I’d recommend staying at a hotel within walking distance of a metro stop.

13

Ignore this blatantly racist propaganda. Besides the fact that there are plenty upscale, non-government neighborhoods filled with whites, the majority black population of the city is naturally economically diverse, and isn’t uniformly characterized by poverty. The slums are pretty easy to avoid - you’d practically have to be directed to them if you get around by the Metro system.

14

Arlington Cemetery and the Tomb of the Unknowns is a very moving experience–especially the changing of the guard.

Arlington ceremonies.

(While wandering around Google for a good link for Arlington Cemetery, I ran across the following. Somewhat unfortunate use of an abbreviation, dontcha think?)

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/tombofun.htm

15

I’m surprised to see anyone slagging on DC as a vacation destination. We’ve been there numerous times and always leave not having done or seen everything we’d care to.

I have done the State Department tour – at least, the one of the Diplomatic Reception rooms – and it’s pretty interesting. If you like fine historical furnishings, rugs, paintings, decorative items, etc, you’ll get an eyeful. Plus it’s neat to see what most people don’t. You do have to set it up ahead of time. It’s not hard–you call the state department and leave a message, and they call you back to confirm.

I like hitting some of the lesser-known places, like the National Building Museum. People also seem to stay away from the Renwick in droves, which is too bad. The Corcoran isn’t free but worth the cost, IMO.

If you do run out of things to do, you can take a trip to Alexandria and see its historic sites. There’s a water taxi that runs between it and Georgetown, which makes it nice for a dinner trip. The Metro goes there, too, with a busline right at the station to take you to the historic area. On weekends the bus is free.

Nighttime can be a little more dead, but it’s not hard to fill the time with a little planning. Several companies do “Monuments by Night” tours which are kind of neat. You get to see them lit up, and with fewer crowds. You can cover a lot of ground that way and see things you wouldn’t otherwise get to in a short visit. You might also be able to catch something playing one of the theatres in town (like Ford Theatre, for example), or at the Kennedy Center (they have a shuttle from a Metro stop that will take you right to the door). I don’t know much about the live music scene in DC. I’ve been to Blues Alley but that’s about it.

16

Ok, I should have said that it is majority black and there are more accessible slum areas than you will find in most touristy American cities. The only reason I said that is that it is a little shocking and disturbing for a visitor to not know that coming in. I used to live in New Orleans where the same thing applies but I love that city more than anything as well.

It wasn’t a criticism. I was practically raised black myself. The national and international news usually cover only the confined government areas of Washington. If you just pan the cameras off to the right just a little bit, it can look quite different.

17

Not to mention that while there is poverty in the city, there is a large portion of the city that is not poor nor are the poorer parts nearly as slummy as he makes out.

Chinatown/Gallery Place is an interesting neighbohood with a nice nightlife. If you want to go out in the evenings head out to Adams Morgan if you are in the mood for a few bars and some clubs as well. I would go there rather than Georgetown or Alexandria as there is a lot more going on. I like the Freer Sackler especially since on a Sunday afternoon you can get in without waiting in line like you would in the American History Museum.

18

DC is great if you’re into history. The entire area surrounding the mall in a two or three block radius is essentially one huge open air museum, and there’s plenty to do off the beaten path as well (there’ve been some good recommendations in the thread).

For nighttime, try Georgetown or Alexandria. If you want to go a little wilder, there’s some…interesting clubs…around Dupont Circle.

Just tonight, Only Mostly Missus and I were lamenting that DC’s Chinatown really isn’t much of a Chinatown, really just a cluster of dim sum restaurants and a few touristy shops (I was wishing our Chinatown was large enough to have markets large enough that I could get a decent selection in my search for a quality cast-iron wok).

Word of warning on the Metro (and this has been pitworthy material in the past): The metrocard system requires you to put your card through the turnstile to get onto the platform, then when you arrive at your destination, put the card in to leave. Make sure you have enough money on your card (it costs varying amounts depending on -roughly- distance traveled). If you are not quick and it’s a busy time, you will be pushed. We can be a little rude. Oh, and on the escalator, stand to the right, walk to the left. Sometimes we who have to earn our living in the city are short-fused when it comes to tourists gawking around our workplaces. Sometimes we’re more generous (yesterday, I gave directions to a very lost teenage girl looking for the Holocaust museum while in front of USDA. So close). Please understand that while it’s your vacation, it’s not everybody’s. Fair warning is all :wink:

Oh, and if you like Chinese, a number of DC dopers recommend City Lights of China, with a full restaurant around Dupont and a food court counter location in the Reagan World Trade Center building.

My favorite higher budget restaurant (that you can still manage to get a seat in) is Bistro Bis, located just a few blocks NW of the Capitol, and about two blocks from the Union Station train stop.

If you want to know what shows/bands/book readings/art exhibitions/whatever are going on, I recommend trying to pick up a copy of the Washington City Paper, which is packed with ideas.

19

I don’t think this is accurate. Now if the OP were coming from a particularly rural background and had never seen a big city before, OK, but that doesn’t appear to be the case. The D.C. slums aren’t anywhere near where tourists go – you have to cross the river to get to them. There are certianly blocks that aren’t as gentrified as other blocks, but in the commercial and tourist areas of town, they’re nothing you wouldn’t see in any other city.

–Cliffy

20

Heh. Asimovian, I promise not to call you a poltroon for blocking my path on the Metro as long as you don’t call the fuzz when I push you out of the way. :wink:

–Cliffy