Type: Travel
Cost: $$$$$$$$
Planned By: Dani
Adam and I had a great opportunity to travel to DC for a weekend. I had to attend a research investigator meeting in DC for work and it being only 5.5 hours away I decided to drive and take Adam with me because he had never been there. Some of the time I had to work, but we decided to stay an extra couple days to site see. Here are some of the highlights.
Friday 9/25 -
We drove to DC.. finding all the snap chat geofilters along the way. We got in to the city around 3 and our room at the JW Marriott downtown was ready for check in. This hotel was beautiful and just a couple blocks from the White House. After checking in we obviously walked over to the White House and got a selfie like every other tourist. Then we went over to get a Hard Rock Cafe shot glass for our collection. Then we went over to the Laughing Man Tavern for a couple DC Brau beers and Adam's dinner. After that we returned to the hotel so I could get ready for the Welcome Reception and dinner provided. I had fun meeting new people, drinking wine and discussing work and Adam took a nap. When I got back we decided to go out to a few downtown DC bars - first up was the Round Robin in the historical Willard Hotel. This place was super fancy and I ordered their famous Mint Julep and it was seriously the strongest drink I've ever had and it was difficult to choke down - but definitely worth the high price in that aspect. Next, we found an outdoor bar across the street from the Department of The Treasury. After that we mostly walked around the city and decided to head back to the hotel for the night.
I was in my work meeting from 7:30-3. Adam wandered around the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History and the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. He had lunch at Ollie's Trolley which has been family owned for 30+ years. After my meeting I met up with him at the Natural History museum for a quick walk around then we went back to the car and headed over to our hotel in Rosslyn near Arlington. We ordered a pizza and stromboli to have in the room while we got ready. Then we walked over to Georgetown which was really swanky with tons of high end shopping and a quarter mile long line for Georgetown Cupcake. We got a Groupon before leaving Cleveland for Pirate Booze Cruise in Georgetown. We had fun seeing some of the monuments until it started raining. We saw the rain coming so we were two of the lucky people who got seats in the inside area. While waiting out the rain we made some friends with a bachelorette party. They were so much fun and hilarious. Everyone on the cruise got a coupon for $5 of a drink at a bar nearby the Orange Anchor so we, and the bachelorette party, went over there for a couple beers. We had fun getting to know them and trying to figure out how to get Facebook to request friends. After they all left Adam and I walked around the Georgetown Waterfront then walked back to the hotel.
This was our big site seeing day. We walked over to the Metro and went downtown. We started walked around most of the National Mall including the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, WWII Memorial, Vietnam Memorial, The Korean War Memorial, etc. We decided to walk over to Lafayette Square to see the White House from the back - there were way less tourists over there. For lunch we went to Capitol City Brewing Company. They had a wide variety of their own brews. I got the End of Summer Ale and Adam got the Oktoberfest - perfect since it was both end of summer and Oktoberfest! The food and beer was good - I'd recommend it. Next, we walked back over to the National Mall made a quick stop in the National Gallery of Art and then checked out the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. I'm not a huge fan of astronomy and planes, but Adam really enjoyed it. Then we made sure to see the Capitol Building. Next, was one of the more painful walks over to Union Station for our Duck Boat Tour. Once we got there we got right on to the Duck Boat and off we went. We saw all the important sites and had a nice ride on the Potomac River. I especially liked seeing the planes take off right above us from Ronald Reagan Airport. After the tour we took the Metro from Union Station back over to our hotel. We finally got to take a much needed nap. That night we took the Metro back downtown for some nightlife in Dupont Circle. We got a beer at The Big Hunt, dinner at The Front Page (which was unsurprisingly decorated with important front page articles), and some drinks at Thomas Foolery (a cool bar with board games, candy and kid-type drinks). We decided we wanted to see all the monuments lit up so we went back over to the National Mall. We were really surprised when we get to Lincoln Memorial and there were a ton of people sitting and staring in the same direction. Then we realized they were all looking at the eclipse that had just begun. So we sat with everyone and watched for awhile. It got cloudy so we started walking to the other monuments and looked up every once and awhile to see the changes. It was awesome seeing it with the Washington Monument in the background. Then we took the Metro back and I think I passed out within seconds of laying down.
Site Seeing:
Capitol City Brewing Company:
Duck Boat Tour:
DC at Night:
The Front Page Dupont Circle DC:
Thomas Foolery Dupont Circle DC:
We got up early and walked over to the Iwo Jima and US Marine Corps War Memorial. Then we walked over to Arlington National Cemetery. We didn't stay very long just enough to see the JFK Gravesite, The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the Changing of the Guard. We walked back to our hotel, checked out and headed home. We got back in to Cleveland around 4PM.
Interested in any of our other travels? Check them out here:
Boston
Disney
Miami & Florida Keys
Bermuda Cruise
Florida & Bahamas Cruise
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