2 Days In Washington, DC
I was in Washington, DC in March for a work conference but have never been so I flew in two days early to explore the city. And even more exciting is that my brother joined me! We’ve always wanted to go to DC and took advantage of the fact that one of us was already there.
I had a long list of things to do in DC but quickly realized how big the area we wanted to cover is and threw my list away. If you’re coming to DC on a quick trip and want to see some of the popular sites, I’d suggest following what we did as a guide. We saw a lot and got a good taste of the area.
We stayed in the Wharf area and it made a good base location. There are a lot of hotels and restaurants in the area, it’s a short taxi ride from the airport, and it’s easy to walk to the National Mall and monuments. If you’re comfortable walking a few miles this is a great location. It wasn’t a far taxi ride to the mall area either and traffic was less congested than if you are staying north of the mall.
Day 1!
We started our day by stopping to view a $150 million yacht. After that we walked towards Tidal Basin to see the monuments and memorials.
Our first stop was the Thomas Jefferson Memorial. I’m a huge Hamilton fan and the musical was playing in my head as I walked around.
After that was the Franklin Delenor Roosevelt Memorial. It was one of the most impactful and moving memorials we visited.
Shortly after that is the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial. There are a lot of cherry blossom trees in this area and many were already in bloom.
After that we made our way over to the Lincoln Memorial.
Then the White House. It looked smaller than I was expecting.
At this point our feet needed a break and we were hungry and decided a lunch break was in order. A friend had recommended The Square so we walked further north only to find it’s closed on Sundays. Bummer. I really need to be better about checking these things before going out of my way. Nothing in the area was open so we had to walk back towards the White House where we found an open coffee shop with food. Hallelujah! After we were properly caffeinated and fed we took a taxi to the Washington Monument to cut out some miles.
On our walk back to our hotel we went by the Smithsonian Castle. I’m not sure what it is (it’s closed for renovation) but on the backside they have magnolia trees that were in bloom. They are stunning!
We had dinner reservations at Amazonia and had the BEST dinner! Causa/Amazonia is a dual concept Michelin-starred (!!!) restaurant specializing in Peruvian cuisine. The restaurant is down an alley and hard to find. Probably a sign that we were about to have a fantastic meal! Our taxi dropped us off on the side of a street where the directions ended but we could not find the address anywhere. My smart brother pulled out his phone and was following the walking directions which were taking us down back alleys. Fortunately, our reward was an epic dinner! The service and the food were all excellent. We leaned in to our servers’ recommendations and she did not steer us wrong. I could write about this meal all night but will stop.
After dinner we decided we wanted to see the monuments at night because I was certainly not ready to call it a day yet.
On our way back to the hotel we learned a friend was in town so we turned around and met him for a drink. It was such a fun treat. Meeting up with friends in random places is one of my greatest joys.
Over the course of the day we walked 25,000 steps which is approximately 10 miles. My dogs were tired!
Day 2!
We slept in because 3 hour time change and up very late. It was a rainy day so visiting museums was on the docket. There was a break in the rain so we walked to the mall. We started with the National Museum of Natural History. It was OK but not quite what I was expecting. Maybe I’ve watched Night at the Museum a few too many times. I’m glad to have seen it in person but there were a lot of people and my brain wasn’t in the mood to read a lot of placards. We saw some dinosaurs, human history, and the hope diamond!
We walked next door to the National Museum of American History and saw the original Star Spangled Banner from 1813. Like the one that inspired our national anthem. IT’S HUGE! You cannot take pictures and it’s in a dark room for protection but it’s really cool to see. Also saw Lin Manuel Miranda’s Hamilton Costume, Walter White’s gear, and a Bob Ross painting!
The rain was making it hard to walk around outside and there were so many people in the museums. We found a coffee shop and rested for a bit before moving hotels. I was in town for a conference and it was time to get to work so we moved up towards Dupont Circle. We had an enjoyable dinner at Rosemarino D’Italia and called it a night.
That concludes 2 days in DC! I was there for a few more days for a conference and was mostly in meetings/classes but after a long day of sitting I made a point to see one more thing.
I visited Capitol Hill for work! That was a neat experience. All of my meetings were in the House of Representative buildings. Fun fact: the buildings are all connected by tunnels and it’s a crazy maze. Not sure if that was intentional or not. I love new experiences and this was for sure one.
Visited the American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery. The modern art section was my favorite.
The last evening I went on one final walk around DC. I took a taxi to the White House, walked by the Washington Monument, around Tidal Basin, along the Lincoln Reflecting Pool to the Lincoln Memorial where I took a taxi back to my hotel. It was a really enjoyable walk. The cherry blossoms were basically at peak bloom (it was scheduled for the next day) and that was a treat. There were so many people though. There are few things that annoy me more than slow walkers and walking with hundreds of your friends means mostly slow walking. I kept having to remind myself to enjoy the experience. Lol.
Tips for planning a trip to DC:
DC is huge and very congested. I didn’t use the train (Metro) so I can’t comment on that but have heard good things about it. Taxis are readily available but can get expensive really quickly. There is a lot of traffic which means a lot of sitting in traffic jams. If you can, take a taxi versus Uber/Lyft. DC charges fees for using non taxis. Probably not shocking, those fees are not built into the price quoted for the ride. DC is very walkable but pretty spread apart.
If you only have a day or two, I’d suggest doing exactly as we did. Take one day to walk the monuments and the second day to visit museums. Based on how much energy you have you can always add in more. There is so much to do in DC that it’s impossible to fit it all in in a short period of time.
If you want to see the cherry blossoms, I recommend going shortly before peak bloom. The trees are all over the city and bloom at different times. We saw plenty of blooms a week before peak and walking around was much more enjoyable. It was cool to be there at peak, and I’m glad ot have checked that box, but the massive crowds took away from the expereience. It probably wasn’t helpful that I went at 5pm with everyone else in DC.
The monuments and many of the museums are free so that’s fun! DC is a cool town and definitely a place to visit at least once. Bring your good walking shoes and have a blast!