Heading to Washington DC this weekend.
Namel3ss
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
We are going to be there until Wednesday and I was wondering if any of you fine folk had some "must see" suggestions. We like museums, beer and good food. We are generally a young crew and don't mind walking alot and will have a rental car, but prefer using public transit if we can. We've got some ideas from google, but I bet the fine people of this forum can top that advice. Thanks 
PS Never been to DC before, all my family lives in the Northwest, or very North East (Maine, New Hampshire or Boston), so that's most of my in-country travel experience.
PS Never been to DC before, all my family lives in the Northwest, or very North East (Maine, New Hampshire or Boston), so that's most of my in-country travel experience.
May the wombat of happiness snuffle through your underbrush.
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Old Town is definitely more "mature" which is fun, but maybe not what I would do if was a bunch of young dudes looking to experience a new city. Instead, I might go to H Street NW and hit up Rock and Roll Hotel, The Palace of Wonders, H Street Country Club, the Argonaut, the Pugilist and the Shamrock and Star as an evening of bar hopping. Palace of Wonders has a burlesque show, Country Club has indoor mini golf by the bar, Rock and Roll has a live DJ (who, granted, usually sucks) and shows, and Shamrock and Star is a combination Irish whiskey bar and Jewish deli.
Edit:
That is sort of the more hipstery choice, granted. If you wanted to go for the more fratty choice, Adams Morgan neighborhood has a great selection of bars for hopping as well. You'd probably start the night at Madame's Organ and roll from there.
I present to you DC's temple of beer.
http://www.churchkeydc.com/
Something like 50 taps, rotated biweekly.
adam's morgan can go fuck itself, go to U street or H street
http://www.birchandbarley.com/documents/CKDRAFTWEDNESDAY4-27-11.pdf
U Street is better for locals just because you can feel out where to go, and the bars aren't as well organized. H Street is honestly the most happening place to go and bar hop without knowing what your plan is.
I wouldn't send tourists to H Street to bar hop considering it has pretty much a weekly rotation in the police bulletin.
It really doesn't. You don't want to go out past the bars, sure, but it's gonna be real clear where the bars are and where Trinidad starts. You have a mile buffer zone.
Bens Chili Bowl.
How has this venerable institution only been mentioned once in a post about DC?
http://www.benschilibowl.com/ordereze/default.aspx
Get a half smoke with chili, mustard and onions. Get chili cheese fries also. Get another one, to go.
The Smithsonian Natural History is awesome, and all Smithsonian museums are free. The Holocaust museum is amazing, but if you go do it later in the day. No need to get very depressed at 9AM.
See the changing of the guard at the grave of the unknown soldier, go to the WWII memorial.
But seriously, go to Ben's Chili Bowl. Do not get a chili dog, get A Half Smoke, with chili. Vastly different things.
This man blasphemes the house of Ben. Boo this man.
Seriously, Ben's Chili Bowl is a perpetual hoax played upon tourists and interns. It might make sense if you'll be at U Street anyway for other stuff (not really), but it's definitely not worth it as a destination. If you want to eat at a key DC eatery and have a few bucks to toss out, head to Bistro du Coin. If you want to go a bit cheaper, head to Kramerbooks and Afterwords; both are in Dupont.
Have you ever seen real live lion cubs?
Personally, I would hit both wings of the National Gallery of Art.
Ben's Chili Bowl is alright, but the line is a little silly and the chili is tasty but goopy as all hell.
http://www.capitalbikeshare.com/
And I agree with Darkewolfe about Ben's Chili Bowl. It's a tourist trap with crappy food.
Rigorous Scholarship
Check out http://www.nasm.si.edu/udvarhazy/ if you have a way to get out by Dulles airport. It's a giant hanger of everything that won't fit inside the museum by the mall. There's an actual NASA shuttle, satellites, and more historical aircraft. Admission is free (like all Smithsonians), parking is $15 or some other ridiculous amount.
Spy museum is fun, in the mall area, and only $10 or so for admission.
"The Mall" means the downtown area with all the museums and government buildings.
Bus Boys and Poets is a waste of a meal and effort pretending to care about boring things. Good bars / food have already been mentioned in this thread.
On the metro (subway), stand to the right on escalators, walk on the left. Yell at anyone you see doing it wrong.
We had to get up super early on Sunday, the reason for the trip is my sister in law was graduating with her bachelors. So, we sat though that, then went to the Kennedy Center, great view and decent food.
We are actually staying in Maryland so we headed back over to that side and stopped at this Pirate themed bar they know about in Silver Spring. 4 of us spit a pitcher of grog and a pitcher of sangria. Good times were had by all. That pirate bar would just print money in Portland, they ran it right. I'll get a link later.
Then Osama died, and DC went nuts, so, that was cool.
Good trip so far.