That is true. I took a walk down Florida Avenue on Sunday and then cut down by the New York Avenue Metro to H Street and that area is rather rundown still. North Capitol Street itself is Ok for the most part. I agree with you on the area near the bus station, although supposedly they are building some condos on 3rd and L which will be somewhat pricy. They also tore down the abandoned rowhouses on K street, NE.
Which are the dicier looking areas near Dupont? I know Adams Morgan better than Dupont.
That’s not a misapprehension. Its the feelings of my friends who have lived there for almost 30 years. They get depressed about it sometimes. He is a photojournalist, she works at WHO. Perhaps they feel the ebb and flow more than most.
zoo: not a great zoo. Not worth taking time away from much better stuff. Sort of depressing.
museums: love the *Hirschorn[i/] and the Modern Art Museum (forget the proper name. I know it by sight). The Air & Space museum is pretty cool. Surprisingly, it’s not actually empty (ok, dennis miller joke).
mall: well, the museums are just kind of all around the mall, so you’re there. It’s just nice walking around there, from the Washington memorial to the Lincoln memorial with the war memorials (sort of) along the way. It’s a great place just for people watching. You can walk to the white house, the Jefferson memorial. It’s all spread out, but if you’re at all active, it’s all reachable.
You could just spend an easy couple of days tooling around the mall, hitting museums, finding places to eat.
Orioles: If you’re hitting an O’s game, you might have a fuller day getting to B-more early and seeing shit there, instead of trying to see stuff in DC and then getting to Baltimore for a game. The aquarium is probably the best inner harbor attraction (but like $20 per person). As a resident, I can’t really say that I’m all that enamored of the whole inner harbor. Make your way just a couple blocks south of the Science Museum into Federal Hill for better places to eat than anything in the harbor. Bars near the stadium are friendly and used to seeing tourists, not just locals.
Philly is a day trip and I love it, but there’s some wasted time in there.
Most places are fine during the day, but after the dark is when the animals come out (and I’m not just talking about the huge rats, although that is certainly a hazard). Go over to 14th Street and you’ll still find a few interesting characters. Go down Massachusetts to the little parks around Scott Circle. In the past few months there have been fewer shadier people, but it’s still not tourist-friendly. And then, a little farther away, around K-L-M and 15th to 13th you’ll find some very interesting folks after dark. Of course, these folks are engaged in crimes that don’t involve any harm to anyone, but a teenage tourist may get quite an education by some of the individuals who populate that area in the nighttime.
> Honestly I think DC is a very strange place. I feel like there’s not much “there”
> there. It is a city whose population moves on every four years, not a place
> where people put down roots. I’m not doing a good job describing the feeling I
> have. The city just has no soul. I grew up in NYC and to me, the deserted
> streets of DC at night are just plain freaky. (yes, I know there are areas which
> are plenty active at night).
There are no more than a thousand jobs that are likely to change every four years, and that’s over a metropolitan area of about two million people. Many of the people who have to leave those jobs because of the change in administration stay in the Washington area at private industry jobs anyway. Nearly all my circle of friends are white-collar employees, either in government or government contractor jobs. Nearly all of us started our jobs just after college or grad school and will probably retire in those jobs. Some of these people are second-generation government workers. I have no idea what you’re talking about. There are a small number of intern jobs that are filled by people who come to Washington knowing that they will only work in D.C. for a couple of years and then leave, but there aren’t that many of these people and they don’t really interact that much with the long-time residents. And the blue-collar workers in the area are even more likely to be long-time residents.
Yes, Washington isn’t as much a night-time city as New York is, but then most cities aren’t.
Unless they came by bus, why would tourists even be in that area? The only sites worth seeing near there are Union Station and the Postal Museum, and they’re at a Metro stop.
True, but some were claiming these bad areas of town aren’t close to any tourist areas. If someone takes a wrong turn at Union Station, they will be in a shady area very quickly.
Don’t know about the comparison. I haven’t spent much time in Columbia Heights, although from my brief impression Columbia Heights is probably more dangerous.
The 15th to 13th Street corridor I described isn’t so much full of muggers and whatnot, but you’ll see plenty of drug dealing and prostitution late at night. If you want an interesting show, go drinking at the outside seating at the Post Pub on L St., right off 15th. After 10 or so you’ll be very entertained. For further entertainment, head to Click’s, which is above the Post Pub.
Squeeze a half million people into 60 square miles and don’t be too surprised if what goes on at 13th and L is quite different from whatever is going on at 15th and L.
I live at 13th and P and walk to the gym on Thomas Circle several nights a week, and either I’m so accustomed to the surroundings that things don’t even catch my eye any more, or the action is in such a state of constant flux that you have to be in just the right spot and just the right time to see anything noteworthy.
No, I don’t consider the occasional streetwalker to be noteworthy, but I guess it’s all what you’re used to. Maybe you can see more of them after midnight and maybe at that time they are more agressive, but this thread is dealing mainly with a tourist trip to DC and I doubt that many tourists are going to be walking around non-retail parts of town at these hours.
It’s hard to tell if you’re promoting the place or warning people away from it. Sounds like fun, to me
I’ve made a day-trip to NYC from Baltimore (DC to Baltimore to pick up a friend, on to The Bronx for a game, then back to Baltimore) a few years ago. I do not recommend this as a “day-trip.” You’ll be spending at least 8 hours round trip driving, and it’s just not worth it for how tired you’ll be at the end of the day. If you have the time and want to go to NYC on your trip (Yankee Stadium is an absolute must if you’re on a Stadium Tour. It’s like walking into the cathedral of baseball. This is from a Red Sox fan.), make it an over-nighter. Don’t try to do it in one day.
I’m suprised it was only mentioned once, but Arlington National Cemetery is definately worth a visit. It could easily chew up a day, though, there are so many fascinating things to see there, and not something you want to rush through.
I see the OP is from Southern California, so this may be superfluous advice, but in case it isn’t:
D.C. in summer is usually hot, sometimes very hot, and ALWAYS humid. Dress lightly. In the actual words of the first D.C. guidebook I ever bought (a Frommer’s IIRC), “The proper clothing for Washington in summer is the least amount of clothing you can wear without causing a commotion.”
Drink lots of fluids, and pace yourself. On my first trip to the city that wasn’t a school trip, I tried to see as many sights as possible in two days and was nearly trashed after day 1. I hadn’t thought to take it easy because I lived in Philadelphia, which is not exactly a cool resort itself in July, and the temperature that first day was only 81 Fahrenheit. But 81 was also the percent humidity, which was not the case in Philadelphia.
And bring good sunglasses. On a bright sunny day the glare from all the polished white marble structures can be painful. The Supreme Court building is the worst; standing in front of it is like standing on a ski run, without the cool breeze.
The advice isn’t superfluous, and I’ve had numerous people warn me about this. I have had two experiences in my life that taught me that humidity makes all the difference in the world (a day in Dallas that was 99 degrees with 97% humidity, and a day in Laughlin that was 101 degrees with humidity in the high 80s). I won’t take that lightly, although I’ll still be praying to get lucky with the weather the week we’re there.
On a different note, a few of you have supported or shot down the idea of day-tripping to New York. What about Philadelphia? Outside of the Liberty Bell and a good cheesesteak, would the city be worth a day trip?
This may be part of the same question, but I realize that DC is landlocked. One of my goals, silly as it seems, is to be able to say I saw the Atlantic on this trip. What’s the best place for us to make a side-trip where we can actually be on the coast?
If you want to see the Atlantic it will be about a two-and-a-half or three hour drive (depending on traffic leaving DC). You can either head to the Delaware Beaches or the Maryland Beaches. Go up through Annapolis and over the Bay Bridge, and then decide which way you want to head. I don’t know if the trip would be worth it, but it’s certainly an easy day trip if you are so inclined.
My recommendation is to go see the wild ponies at Assateague Island. It’s route 50 all the way, but jog over to Rt 376 when you hit Berlin, then right at 611.
Then if you still want to see the touristy beaches, you can drive up 611 to Ocean City MD and keep going on Coastal Highway to Rehoboth Beach DE.
Assuming you have a car and are willing to do it on a work day, the trip to Ocean City, MD, from D.C. can take as little as two-and-a-half hours. Still, that’s a five hour round trip, and while you can usually find cheap hotels on the way, don’t count too much on it during the summer.
On the other hand- the boardwalk down in Ocean City can be a lot of fun (beaches, arcades, bars, a few small roller coasters and other thrill rides, and a pretty neat Ripley’s Believe It Or Not museum), and the food down there is to freakin’ die for - Boardwalk Fries (that’s the brand, not just a generic term), plenty of places to do hot dogs and burgers, Dolly’s Saltwater Taffy if you go up to Rehobeth in Delaware, and more all-you-can-eat seafood buffets than you can shake a stick at. And being where it is, that means fresh blue crabs, oysters, and clams.
Philly is about 2 or 3 hours away from DC. Could make a nice leisurely day trip, but again, don’t try to pack too much into the day or you’ll be exhausted on the ride back.
I only go to Philly for the Zoo lately (5 year old boy and a membership means this trip is made at least 3 times a year), but in the past, over athe course of 2 days about 10-15 years ago, I’ve gone to the Zoo, a ballgame, Liberty Bell & Independence Hall, and the Franklin Institute. I wouldn’t do more than two of these things in a day, though, on a one day trip.
Again, on the Stadium Tour note, I understand that Citizen’s Bank Ballpark is a nice place to see a game. I’ve heard it compared to Camden Yards, which is an absolutely fantastic venue.
Interesting. Unfortunately, my wife is not a huge baseball fan like I am, so I’m pretty much limiting myself to one game on this adventure. If we made it all the way up to New York, I’d love to hit Yankee Stadium, but the idea of leaving my wife alone in New York on the one night we’d be there makes me cringe at the very thought. I’m pretty well commited to doing the Orioles game.
I remain hopeful, though, that if all goes well this year, we may be able to do a New York/Boston trip next year, in which case, I’d try to see plenty of baseball. But who knows?
This sounds right up my alley, seriously. Except maybe the seafood, which I’m not a huge fan of.
I’m sure this is the big city boy in me talking, but the idea of wild ponies seems so far removed from reality I can’t even explain it. I’m intrigued, and I’m thinking Jakeline would find that to be really cool. Thanks!
Oh…I can’t believe we’re several days into this thread and this just occured to me, but one of my other life goals is to go bowling in as many states as possible. (I know, I know…leave me alone). At any rate, are there bowling alleys in the DC area? Anyone have any experience here? I figure I can cover two or three states pretty easily from DC if the opportunity presents itself.
Bowling in DC got easier now that they opened a bowling alley right next to the Gallery Place/Chinatown station. Until that opened a few months ago, DC didn’t have any bowling alleys except a small one at George Washington University.
As for Virginia, there are a few along I-395. Look for a Bowl America. It is, as they say, “where thousands cheer.”
Yup. There’s a Lucky Strike in DC (same chain as the ones in Hollywood and at the Block in Orange) and you can hit Strike Bethesda in Bethesda, Maryland.
