Washington DC (23yo)

[Scoobz0202]

One of my best friends moved to the DC area (warrenton(sp?)) about a month and a half ago, and another friend and I are heading to hang with him for a few days next month. We will be landing in BWI on Wednesday May 11th (evening), and flying out on the Monday (16th) morning.

I don't believe the Nationals are in town that weekend so thats out. One thing that I was wondering about, I believe there is an Orioles game that night. At 710. Anybody familiar with Baltimore? Would it be easy to get a cab to the stadium and join the game about the 6th-7th inning or so? I've always wanted to see that stadium.

But we'd probably be in or around D.C. from Thursday-Sunday, maybe even sunday night. Basically... can you cram a lot into that short of a time? We are a combination of love of history and wanting to have a great time at night. Would it be best to pick the most important historical things and just focus on those?

What's must see? I'm thinking Vietnam memorial for sure. The Holocaust museum is in DC right?

Night life. What part of DC should we try to get to for the night life, there is some right? We are not the rave, dance club types. We'd prefer sports bars or if not a sports bar any bar that isn't blasting hip hop. (For me personally I love craft beer so a bar with a wide selection of beers is a plus)

Any input is appreciated.

[JonInMiddleGA]

What's must see? I'm thinking Vietnam memorial for sure. The Holocaust museum is in DC right?

FWIW, my 13 y/o son with a passion for history said he though the Holocaust Museum was great. The Vietnam Memorial was a no-brainer (one of his favorite teachers lost his father who was flying combat support during Ia Drang, so he felt a connection to the rubbing he made). He also recommended that you try to get both the Korean War Memorial & the WWII Memorial, the latter at/around sundown when it's lit. Over the course of two visits, he's done about 6 tourist days in DC & I was kind of surprised by the strong recommendations he gave for those last two.

Happily, he had no recommendations concerning the DC nightlife ;)

[Scoobz0202]

Outstanding Jon. Both my buddy and I that are going are huge WWII history guys so I don't know why I didn't think of that one. I will write those down.


I kind of joked with my buddy that we have to try and cram the best of DC memorials/history that we can, because when we were in 7th grade our D.C. field trip got cancelled. It was the year of 9/11. We went to Williamsburg, VA instead. Williamsburg for 5 or so days at that age was torture.

[JonInMiddleGA]

I kind of joked with my buddy that we have to try and cram the best of DC memorials/history that we can, because when we were in 7th grade our D.C. field trip got cancelled. It was the year of 9/11. We went to Williamsburg, VA instead. Williamsburg for 5 or so days at that age was torture.

LOL, he just got back from his 7th grade class trip a couple of weeks ago (complete with 1 day in W'burg, his 2nd visit to it. He says 1.5 days there is indeed plenty).

Perhaps your 7th grade trip will look better when you hear that the corresponding class from his school had their DC trip replaced with several days visiting the various historic landmarks in the western part of Georgia. That would be the FDR museum at Warm Springs and beautiful Callaway Gardens, and, umm, well, there was probably an interesting rest stop or Stuckey's on the drive somewhere ;)

[saldana]

where are you staying when you get there? you cant take a cab from DC to Baltimore...way too far...BWI to Camden yards is about a 20 minute drive once you get out of the airport...i've always loved the air and space museum and the american history museum...A&S is is about a 15 min walk from the Holocaust, which is about 15/20 from WWII memorial/washington monument...then another 10/15 to vietnam/lincoln

[JonInMiddleGA]

i've always loved the air and space museum and the american history museum...A&S is is about a 15 min walk from the Holocaust, which is about 15/20 from WWII memorial/washington monument...then another 10/15 to vietnam/lincoln

To piggyback on that, my son thought Amer Hist museum was a good companion to the WWII memorial, but I didn't mention that since I wasn't sure whether any of the notoriously time intensive Smithsonian stops would fit the agenda or not.

[Scoobz0202]

where are you staying when you get there? you cant take a cab from DC to Baltimore...way too far...BWI to Camden yards is about a 20 minute drive once you get out of the airport...i've always loved the air and space museum and the american history museum...A&S is is about a 15 min walk from the Holocaust, which is about 15/20 from WWII memorial/washington monument...then another 10/15 to vietnam/lincoln


We haven't figured out the hotel yet. Probably should get that figured out. We just booked the plane tickets today, and decided to do this yesterday.

My buddy that lives in Warrenton is picking us up at BWI. We flew into there because it was so much cheaper and he was willing to drive to get us.


EDIT: To add to that, if there are any areas where it would be smart to get a hotel (probably closer to where the nightlife will be for obvious reasons) then that would be great. We can drive, or cab it, to the sightseeing stuff.

[saldana]

as far as craft beer in DC, unfortunately, my fav place has closed, but here is a pretty substanial list of places to go...if you are gonna be on the Mall hitting museums and such, capitol city brewing usually has some decent stuff

Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV beer bars, restaurants and brewpubs (http://www.ratebeer.com/places/regions/washington-arlington-alexandria/8840/48/)

ive never been to the place that is at the top of the list, but their selection is unreal, and i know a bunch of the guys that have posted about it, and they are 1st class beer guys

so are you staying in warrenton? if yes, you have to drive past the Manassas Battlefield to get to DC...being a history buff would make that a cant miss if you are into that type of thing

as far as getting around in DC, what i would suggest is driving to the end of one of the Metro lines and taking the metro into the city...without looking it up, i think the yellow line goes down towards manassas and you can take it into metro center, then switch to the blue i think to L'enfant plaza and walk about 10 minutes to the Mall and Monuments...way cheaper than taking cabs around or trying to find a place to park (there arent very many)

[JonInMiddleGA]

as far as getting around in DC, what i would suggest is driving to the end of one of the Metro lines and taking the metro into the city...without looking it up, i think the yellow line goes down towards manassas and you can take it into metro center, then switch to the blue i think to L'enfant plaza and walk about 10 minutes to the Mall and Monuments..

Just keep a sharp eye out for feral ghouls and Super Mutants, take plenty of stimpaks with you.

[saldana]

dola, i looked...the blue line ends in springfield...you can take that straight to the stop at the smithsonian, and it has a stop at Arlington.

[chesapeake]

From Warrenton, your best Metro option is to take Lee Highway to 66 Eastbound and then to park at the Vienna Metro Station.

+1 for the Manassas Battlefield. You can walk much of the tour and drive the rest. If the weather is good, it should be pretty nice.

Warrenton is about an hour away from downtown -- sometimes significantly longer during rush hour. You'll have to factor that into your planning.

[Logan]

We seem to have a lot of DC threads, might want to search for more information.

A great place to get very drunk, very cheap is Fox and Hounds in Dupont. Last time I brought it up a couple of our resident DC people vehemently agreed.

[Noop]

I loved my time when I went there to look at schools. I forgot the name of the seafood restaurant we went too but it was good. Crap its been so long since I've been but it was really good I can't remember. If you get a chance you should check out the Park around the corner from EX-IM and the VA place.

[digamma]

Madame's Organ

[claphamsa]

Warranton is waaaaay out there.... cost you tons to take a cab, so its not like you can really go out drinking.

btu if your 23... hit up 18th street in adams morgan. lots of bars equally packed with hipsters and tools and interns. so everyone is represented.

[molson]

If you want to try something different food-wise, there's tons of great Ethiopian places in D.C., and there's really no other U.S. city (other than Seattle) that has that. They tend to have interesting beer too.

[Tim Tellean]

Air & Space maintains a great museum on Rt. 50 by Dulles Airport, thats an hour or so from Warrenton.

[claphamsa]

If you want to try something different food-wise, there's tons of great Ethiopian places in D.C., and there's really no other U.S. city (other than Seattle) that has that. They tend to have interesting beer too.

+1 I love ethernopian food.

[Vince, Pt. II]

Ironically, there's a ton of Ethiopian food places in San Jose as well. I really enjoy several of them.

[Scoobz0202]

I've got a good list going. Will just have to figure out the hotel situation, then map everything. Just a couple others:

1.) Are there any areas to try and avoid, and then the better spots to be in in regards to the hotel? Looking for the best bang for you buck, obviously. After reading some previous threads is it just about finding a hotel close to a metro stop?

2.) Food recs. Not looking for a fancy joint, just good food. I've interested in checking out the Ethopian food. Any specific joints? Saw Ben's Chili Bowl in a previous thread for a stop. No real preferences. Anything will do from seafood to bbq to mexican.


Again, appreciate all the input folks.

[molson]

I've interested in checking out the Ethopian food. Any specific joints?

They're concentrated on the U Street Corridor, but there's a bunch scattered around other parts of the city too. I've been 5-6 times across D.C. and Seattle - and it's always been really good, cheap, and I've always left crazy full - there's not a ton of difference between the places (though FYI, they often look kind of dingy from the outside.) I'd just pick one out from yelp.com after you get the rest of your plans taking care of and see whatever's close, or what's near a place you want to check out anyway.

[gstelmack]

First DC thread I could find. Going to be there in mid-August, as my kids have free Six Flags tickets that expire on Sunday 8/14.

Will we regret going to Six Flags on a Sunday and would be better off waiting until Monday? We'd have to pay for tix on Monday though, as long as it's not insane.

We'll spend Monday doing some DC stuff, mostly the Smithsonian. Kids are 6 and 8 and I don't think all the cool political stuff will fly with them. Might try out the spy museum as well.

We'll be staying on the east side of 495 near the 50 interchange that leads out to Six Flags. Should be able to catch a train down to the Smithsonian area, right?

Anything obvious for 6-8 year olds we should be considering as well?

[RPI-Fan]

First DC thread I could find. Going to be there in mid-August, as my kids have free Six Flags tickets that expire on Sunday 8/14.

Will we regret going to Six Flags on a Sunday and would be better off waiting until Monday? We'd have to pay for tix on Monday though, as long as it's not insane.

We'll spend Monday doing some DC stuff, mostly the Smithsonian. Kids are 6 and 8 and I don't think all the cool political stuff will fly with them. Might try out the spy museum as well.

We'll be staying on the east side of 495 near the 50 interchange that leads out to Six Flags. Should be able to catch a train down to the Smithsonian area, right?

Anything obvious for 6-8 year olds we should be considering as well?

I think that in the summer, day of the week (weekday v. weekend) for the amusement park really will not make a huge difference.

[chesapeake]

We'll be staying on the east side of 495 near the 50 interchange that leads out to Six Flags. Should be able to catch a train down to the Smithsonian area, right?

The Blue Line runs out that way, so I expect you'll be fine. The Smithsonian stop, on the Blue and Orange lines, drops you off right in the middle of the Mall.

As far as attractions go, the Air and Space Museum, on the south side of the Mall, usually appeals to younger children. The American History Museum (north side) often has pop culture exhibits that will have things that kids will recognize. The basement of the Natural History Museum has a good, interactive lab for kids. The best food for the money on the Mall is in the Capitol Visitor Center. The Museum of the American Indian has more interesting food, but it is very pricey.

[gstelmack]

Thanks for the suggestions, especially the food one.