Going to DC with a friend for a couple days and am wondering if Hexbear has some ideas on what to do. We already have a list of the 4 (maybe 5) museums we're going to, so probably don't need any suggestions there. (Though feel free if somewhere was super cool to you.) Preferably things close to metro and/or downtown.
The Smithsonian Air and Space museum is a little ways outside of town away from most of the Smithsonian museums but it's super cool because they have all these actual historical air and space craft just sitting there and you can walk right up to them.
+1 for this!! They have the USS Enterprise space shuttle and the Enola Gay among others!
Museums.
Seriously one of the only good things about that city is it's got a shit ton of really good museums and most of them are free.
My knowledge is 30 years out of date, but the zoo and aquarium were fucking badass when I visited them.
There used to be a piranha exhibit that allowed you to stick your fingers in to see that they're scavengers and not interested in your living hands, so I put my whole arm in 😂
If your traveling by plane, maybe try going to the pentagon? I hear the west wall is very nice
Definitely take advantage of the fact that all the museums and the zoo are free. Few major cities with this level of amenities just let you walk in and pay nothing. The art galleries on the mall are very good if you're into that sort of thing. The zoo is reasonably good if that's appealing as well.
Rock Creek Park is a pretty uniquely rustic park for being in the middle of a city. Good hiking/biking paths. You can use capital bike share easily enough to take a scenic ride. Especially down Beach, which the southern half of was completely closed off to cars. The zoo can actually be got to off of Rock Creek Trail very easily.
If you like urban bike baths, the Metropolitan Branch Trail is also very good. Goes from Union station up to neighborhoods that aren't often seen by tourists. You can hike this too, of course. On Saturdays, there's a brewery on this path that has good BBQ set-up outside.
I second the Air and Space museum that's way out in Virginia, near the Dulles airport. It's kind of a pain to get to and you have to pay for parking, but you get to see some seriously historical craft including the space shuttle Discovery.
Get some Ethiopian and El Salvadorian food while you're in town. Sadly, most of the good ethnic food in the area is in the suburbs, but those two have great representation in the city and are a bit unique as well.
Sadly we won’t be able to do the air and space museum but thanks! We were definitely planning on some time in rock creek park and we’ll also check out the metropolitan branch trail now that you mention it. Thanks a million!
Nice. Cool thing about MBT is that it basically runs along the red line of the metro, so if you get tired of walking/biking, you can just grab the train on the way back. Enjoy. It's honestly a cool city and I think most people that hate it confine themselves to the politics part of the town, which is not a small part, but there's so much more to the city than just the strivers on the hill and the neighborhoods they live in.
Ride the Metro, like all day long. It's lovely. Then you get an idea of how nice we could have it in the US. Just hanging out in the various pubic parks is also really nice. If you can suspend you disgust of the military, go to the evening parade with the silent drill platoon at the 8th & I barracks/the Marine Corps commandants house. I detest the corps, especially having been a part of it. But I'm a nerd for drill/parade stuff, and as a show of what people are capable of it's a pretty cool demonstration. Don't forget to spit on the white house lawn and the memorials to all the past tyrants too!
The Bureau of Engraving and Printing tour is a reasonably fun way to spend an hour and a half.
Take the Acela to Baltimore and sigh that it's the closest thing to HSR America can offer. There's a nice aquarium there, or a well-renowned railway museum if you want to keep the theme. At the time I went (2016) the Acela fare was like 3x the standard Amtrak fare, and I think there might even be cheaper commuter-rail options.
There's a fiddly little island (Theodore Roosevelt Island) in the Potomac which would make for a nice hike, I recall it being conparatively deserted when I went.
Take the Acela to Baltimore and sigh that it's the closest thing to HSR America can offer. There's a nice aquarium there, or a well-renowned railway museum if you want to keep the theme.
The B&O is probably the best train museum ever, best I've been to for sure.
Also Baltimore just has a lot of cool spots. Go to Fells Point if you're there, really cool old dockworkers neighborhood with a lot of cool bars and stuff.
Those trains to Baltimore supposedly reach 125mph so you are doing pretty good on speed too.
Just walk around! DC is one of America's few great cities. Absolutely worth exploring on foot and via transit.
Idk but stay off the roads, DC car brain insanity is almost as bad as DFW area in Texas.
Theodore Roosevelt Island is pretty cool. I know you're probably not into presidential monuments, but this is mostly just a nature park with a monument in the center of the island. Has some nice trails. Unfortunately I think you have to drive there though, although maybe you can get there from the Rosslyn metro stop? No idea.
Museum of the American Indian. I actually have not spent a whole lot of time there, but I went there for an indigenous peoples conference once and looked around briefly and it seemed pretty nice, so probably worth checking out.
Across the street is the United States Botanic Garden which is extremely impressive. Took my at-the-time girlfriend there once and she loved it, and I was surprisingly impressed also since I'm usually not that into gardens.
Now quite a bit outside of DC is the Great Falls. You'd absolutely have to drive there and that might be a little too far out of your way but I highly recommend it, it's a really impressive park, the falls are beautiful and you can climb around on the rocks which is fun.
For nightlife, head to H Street. I'm not sure how gentrified it's become at this point, when I lived there it was very steadily pushing east. If you go to the United House of Prayer for All People though, what they used to do is every I believe it was Friday night, they'd have a big fish fry on the street. Fried whiting or shrimp (the shrimp is better imo) with hushpuppies and fries and homemade pink lemonade. Absolutely delicious. Not sure if they still do this though, but I hope they do cause that shit was amazing.
Yo thanks! We were already planning on Museum of the American Indian but we’ll check out the botanical gardens too.
C&O canal and the MD/DC side of great falls. lots of cool hydroengineering structures there too
If you go tour around Georgetown (it's a nice area) try also going down the Exorcist stairs. Near Georgetown there's a great ice cream shop I'd recommend called Thomas Sweet. It often has a line out the door. I'd prioritize any of the great free museums over this, but there you have it.
It'll be warm enough to justify carrying canteens or bottles of water around with you, so don't neglect that.
