The National Arboretum. It’s one of the forgotten DC sites because it’s not accessible from the Metro but it’s amazing, especially this time of year.
There’s also Fort Stevens. It’s a small park that’s tucked away between Georgia Ave and 13th St NW about a half mile south of Walter Reed. There are some civil war era cannons on the site and it’s a cool little spot that’s one of those places you’d never just come across while visiting as a typical tourist.
Mary Surratt’s house is a pretty mediocre sushi place.
The Franciscan Monastery looks kind of neat. It’s not too far a hike from the Brookland station.
:smack:I was going to mention this but it slipped my mind (I go past it every day). They have beautiful gardens, the building itself is pretty cool, and the main attraction (when I was a kid, at least) is the catacombs.
Eastern Market is always interesting.
If you want to take a trip out into the 'burbs Wheaton, MD has a few interesting features, like the Trolley Museum and Brookside Gardens. And while you’re there you can take a gander at the longest continuous escalator in the Western Hemisphere. May sound boring, and it probably is, but at the same time it’s quite impressive. That picture doesn’t really do it justice.
Dumbarton Oaks is beautiful.
Second Eastern Market. Why didn’t I think of that? On the scale of “true DC experience” I’d say that’s pretty close to the top. It does mean getting up early on a Saturday though.
Also, if you’re in town at the right time, Artomatic
and drop by the Kennedy Center at 6pm on a weekday to see what’s free on the Millenium stage.
Gravelly Point Actually on the Virginia side of the Potomac just south of National Airport. The planes coming in overhead are so close you can just about see the passengers.
Maine Avenue waterfront (fish market) Get fresh fish or crabs and have lunch right there (bring chairs or a blanket).
Haine Point East Potomac Park Play golf or go fishing, or just have a picnic with the seafood you bought at Maine Ave.
(Had no idea there are Wiki pages for these places)
I’ve lived in the DC area almost 10 years and regularly visit museum and attractions, but there are so damn many that I have only gotten to a small fraction of them. Here are a few of my favorites that haven’t already been mentioned in this thread:
The National Building Museum - I’ve heard it described as having the “most dramatic indoor space in DC” referring to the central courtyard. It also has one of the best museum bookstores/gift shops in the city. The exhibits are just so-so.
The Textile Museum - a surprisingly good museum that might at first sound like a kind of boring subject (at least if you think like me).
Great Falls of the Potomac - Requires a car. It can be seen from either the Maryland or Virginia side. Both are dramatic, but I prefer the Maryland side. This is my vote for the most amazing natural wonder in the DC area. It can be combined with some challenging hiking (or climbing) along the Billy Goat Trails.
The Kreeger Museum - an interesting little art museum in the rarely touristed Foxhall neighborhood of DC
The American Visionary Museum - It’s in Baltimore, but really very interesting. There are a bunch of other great museum in Baltimore too, like the Walters Art Museum, the Baltimore Museum of Art, and Historic Ships of Baltimore
The National Museum of Health and Medicine is closed right now for relocation, but you can see some of the same things in downtown Frederick, MD at the National Museum of Civil War Medicine.
Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens - It’s in a kind of sketchy part of town that isn’t easy to get to without a car, but I love this place in the warmer months of the year.
Here are some I haven’t been to yet that are really offbeat:
The Laogai Museum - focuses on human-rights and political prisoners in China
National Museum of American Jewish Military History
The Heurich Mansion - It’s supposed to be somewhat whimsical and high on my list of places to get to.
The L. Ron Hubbard House - This has potential.
Bookmarks thread
But even bigger.
Yes, this is a great place to spend an afternoon. When the kid was a little younger we used to go a couple times a year, but it’s been a while since we’ve been. An oversight we need to correct. (Although we may wait until spring so we can catch the azaleas.)
Once during a job interview I was taken to lunch. The subject of great burgers came up and one of the guys I was with said we’d never guess where the best burgers in D.C. were to be found. Mostly to be a smartass, but because I also thought it was true, I said “Haines Point golf course snack bar.” You could have knocked him over with a feather, because that’s exactly what he was going to say. (I haven’t been there in six or eight years though, so who knows?)
Got the job.
–Cliffy
Not too far away, the Naval Academy at Annapolis. Yes, sure, the best and the brightest of our future naval heroes. But wait, there’s more. They’ve got a naval museum, sure enough. Down on the lower level, one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. Model ships carved out of beef bones by English prisoners captured by the French during, urm, some important war or other. Presentation is everything. The ships are lit with black lights, and they are eerie. Well, if they’ve still got that exhibit - been several years - but I can’t imagine what they could replace it with.
And the Maryland capitol building, where Washington resigned his military commish after the Revolutionary War. George figured that there were more important things than being the best general this (then small) country had ever seen. Impressive, in its way.
Bookmarking this thread too, for reference next April.
I almost hate to mention the place because I want to keep it all to myself.
The Hotel Tabard Inn is, quite possibly, the coolest place I have ever slept in.
We have seriously considered going back to DC just to stay there again.
While it’s far from cheap and hard to get into but try to have brunch at The Mansion on O Street - that place is mental
Good food, too.
thanks for all the ideas
If you can get out into the surrounding area, Gunston Hall was George Mason’s plantation house and is one of my favorite colonial houses to visit, and Mason Neck is a nice national park for walking by the water and watching for wildlife. If Mason Neck is a little too out of the way, then Old Town, Alexandria has some nice historic houses and tours as well as well as some of the best food in the area.
Take the Blue Line (Metro) to Rosslyn. Walk north a little bit toward, iirc, US 29, and there is a trail there that takes you down to the riverbank and the footbridge.
It’s interesting in that the Island is within the limits of DC but you can’t get there from anywhere else in DC on foot without traveling to Virginia first.
Husbandito and I are headed to DC for the first time on Saturday, so I’m subscribing to this thread. I’m hoping we’ll make a couple of discoveries during our trip that I can contribute later.
I see a few mentions of the Spy Museum, but none of the Museum of Crime and Punishment, which is pretty close to it. I very much enjoyed that latter one.
Just so you know, the Washington Monument is still closed to fix earthquake damage.
national museum of health and medicine, but really it’s a museum of medical oddities.