# Advice for a few days in DC? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 22, 2013, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-for-a-few-days-in-dc/653664 "2013-03-22T18:22:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-for-a-few-days-in-dc/653664/41 "2013-03-26T23:01:51Z")
Virginia never counts as DC, under any circumstances:) ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2013, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-for-a-few-days-in-dc/653664/42 "2013-03-26T23:44:54Z")
> [@Misnomer](#): > > Dulles airport is in Virginia. Sorry. 🙂 Well, okay, I didn’t know I’d set foot there, either. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-for-a-few-days-in-dc/653664/43 "2013-03-27T00:50:54Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Virginia never counts as DC, under any circumstances:) This is old-timer’s stuff. People of my generation are making Northern Virginia, Washington, D.C., and the Maryland suburbs into one cohesive cultural-social-economic region. We have more on common with each other than any of us do with the rest of Virginia. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-for-a-few-days-in-dc/653664/44 "2013-03-27T01:07:46Z")
Yeah, only people in the burbs think this. If you have congressional representation, you’re not from DC. > [@](#): > > i looked at this guy and knew for certain that if we’d met at a party he’d claim to live in Washington, D.C. Ask for a street address, and he’d look away, mumbling. “We’ll, just outside D.C,” David Sedaris, _When You Are Engulfed in Flames._ ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-for-a-few-days-in-dc/653664/45 "2013-03-27T01:21:22Z")
We don’t have to “think” it. It’s a fact. Unless you’re giving directions, no one really cares what boundaries you live behind. And Washington, D.C., isn’t Manhattan. No one would bother boasting about it like Sedaris implies. And, as much as I love David Sedaris, he’s an admitted fabricator. I don’t believe anyone felt ashamed of having to “admit” to living just outside the District. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-for-a-few-days-in-dc/653664/46 "2013-03-27T03:39:47Z")
> [@That\_Don\_Guy](#): > > I also recommend the tour tram - or at least I would if I was convinced that it was still in operation (the last time I rode the one I am thinking of was in 2003); it looks like the one I am thinking of has been replaced by a double-decker bus, run by the same company (it costs $50/person for two days, and is hop-on, hop-off, but keep in mind that it stops at 6 PM each day). We rode it last April, and it was not a double-decker bus. (I’m not sure I saw any of those in Washington but can’t say I didn’t. Ours was not a double-decker though.) We just paid for a one-day ticket. I forget how much that was, but we bought our tickets at the start/stop point, the corner of the block that contains Ford’s Theater. Across the street and south from the house where Lincoln died. It also operates a souvenir shop inside. The drivers are very nice. One we talked to for a while when he was on his break, because he’d been stationed in Thailand during the Vietnam War. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-for-a-few-days-in-dc/653664/47 "2013-03-27T12:49:16Z")
The gift shops at the Hirschorn and Sackler museums are great places to shop for gifts to bring home. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-for-a-few-days-in-dc/653664/48 "2013-03-27T14:00:04Z")
Stray Boots walking tours look like fun; someone suggested that for my recent jaunt to NYC, and they have several of them set up for the DC area as well. I keep wanting to try out some of the interesting-sounding food trucks (there are phone apps that help you locate those). ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-for-a-few-days-in-dc/653664/49 "2013-03-27T14:03:13Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > I keep wanting to try out some of the interesting-sounding food trucks (there are phone apps that help you locate those). Try to find Jose Andres’s Pepe food truck. Also the Hula Girl food truck is supposed to be very good. I’ve been wanting to try their spam musubi. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-for-a-few-days-in-dc/653664/50 "2013-03-27T14:07:57Z")
> [@Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](#): > > … > EDIT: > One more thought just came to me. I’ve seen [DC Ducks](http://www.dcducks.com/buy-dc-tour-tickets) around town before and it looked like an interesting way to see the sights. It’s basically a 90 minute tour of the mall and its surroundings in a WWII amphibious vehicle. I’ve never had a chance to try it but it looks like fun. We did a Duck tour in Boston and it was fun (a Girl Scout trip). Maybe not the best use of time / money but it’s definitely something to consider. Zoo: Woodley Park / Zoo is the Metro stop that is signed for the zoo, but actually it’s slightly better to go to the next stop up the Red line. It’s about the same distance but you’re not walking uphill like you are from Woodley Park. Also, late afternoon you won’t see many animals at all. Better to go in the morning. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Lord\_Il\_Palazzo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Il_Palazzo)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2013, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-for-a-few-days-in-dc/653664/51 "2013-03-27T15:44:52Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > Zoo: Woodley Park / Zoo is the Metro stop that is signed for the zoo, but actually it’s slightly better to go to the next stop up the Red line. It’s about the same distance but you’re not walking uphill like you are from Woodley Park. > > Also, late afternoon you won’t see many animals at all. Better to go in the morning. Good catch. You can tell it’s been a few years since I’ve been to the zoo. The [zoo’s web page](http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Visit/metro.cfm) says it’s equidistant from the Woodley Park and Cleveland Park stations and suggests arriving at Cleveland Park since it is uphill from Woodley Park to the zoo. The downhill walk to Woodley Park might not be a bad idea for the return trip. Another one to add to the mix: I don’t have any experience with them myself, but I know my brother and sister have been on a few ghost tours of (supposedly) haunted places around DC. If you’re into that kind of thing, it might be a good way to see a bit of the city that’s off the beaten path. A quick trip to Google reveals a few different companies that run such tours and some (fairly possitive) reviews. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/advice-for-a-few-days-in-dc/653664.md?page=2)