Washington, D.C. + Virginia

November 18+19+26-30, 2018

TL;DR: Phew. We walked 21 miles in two days trying to get to all of the things in DC, and it feels like we barely scratched the surface. It’s incredible that so many museums are free, and exciting to be at the center of all that history.

The sights

Manassas National Battlefield Park

Sight of the 1st and 2nd battles of Bull Run during the Civil War. Pretty nice museum and self-guided walking tour around the battlefield.

Remarkably and devastatingly, in this first major battle, over 5,000 Americans died. It’s also where Stonewall Jackson got his name.

Air and Space Museum, Udvar-Hazy location

Housed in a huge airport hangar-like building, this was our first free Smithsonian stop, and man was it awesome. (Embarrassing fact: Jess has always thought this was the “Aaron Space Museum.”) Home to the SR-71 Blackbird AKA the fastest jet-propelled aircraft in the world used for spy missions.

Also saw the Discovery spaceship, and a ton of people were watching the Mars Rover landing.

Overall an incredibly expansive museum with a ton of cool airplanes, helicopters, and all the space stuff.

Library of Congress

Lots of old maps, Jefferson’s library, a great WWI exhibit, the reading room, and tons of beautiful architecture and mosaics everywhere.

Air and Space Museum (part 2)

Was probably a liiiittttle too soon for this after the epic Blackbird experience. But still really good. Lots of planes and space shuttles.

Natural History Museum

We still cannot believe this is free. It’s so wonderful, and they have over 140 million specimens in their collection! Really awesome exhibits, including:

Oceans and aquatic animals

Infectious diseases
Rocks and gems (including the Hope Diamond)

An amazing Nat Geo photography exhibit
The animals!

The dinosaurs!

The butterfly exhibit (which was free when we were there on Tuesday)! While we inside, a butterfly landed right on top of Bri’s head and hung out there for about 5 minutes. It was glorious.

The Archives

Took a gander at the Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, and Constitution (which you cannot photograph). Pretty old and surprisingly faded, but felt suitably patriotic afterward. Also saw the Gutenberg bible from 1454 which was, impressively, in much better shape.

Museum of Women in the Arts

This was the only museum that we paid for, and was filled completely with pieces by women. There was also a great Rodarte exhibit, including the two Black Swan costumes (how is Natalie Portman that tiny?!). They also had an exceptionally great museum store.

A bit of everything

Walked by the Treasury department, and tried to walk by the White House, but it was basically completely blocked off at all ends. So we walked by the Washington Monument (which was under construction “indefinitely”), then the WWII Memorial, Reflection pool, Lincoln Memorial, Korean War memorial… then we walked across the bridge to Arlington to catch the metro.

Old Town Alexandria

Charming little town outside DC. Walked down King Street to the Torpedo factory, which is a big warehouse for artists to make and sell their fares. Took a quick look at the water and then grabbed a few happy hour drinks before walking over to Mason Social (see Roadfood) before …

John Legend at the MGM Hotel (!)

Well. It’s been said before but we’ll said it again: He’s a legend. He did mostly Christmas songs, which really got us in the mood, but also some of his more popular regular songs. He’s got the voice of an angel, this one. Chrissy Tiegan is onto something.

Charlottesville

Walked around UVA, stopped and got some food and beers at Hardywood Brewery (they had a lot of good stouts/porters, so Jess was quite happy). Main Street was very crowded and very Christmas-y. Ended up going to South Street Brewery for an appetizer-y dinner.

Details, details, details

Brr! Very cold, very windy (20 MPH) weather in DC. Not very conducive to walking everywhere, but we did anyway.

We saw the biggest leaf blower we’ve ever seen.

We went to a cool Japanese bar called Izakaya recommended by Jess’s cousin. Jess got a “dai drop” with a sake sphere… definitely thought it was frozen sake, but it was actually a sphere you were supposed to shoot into your mouth with the whole shot and it exploded! So cool.

And then this happened…

Leaving MGM after the John Legend concert was not what you’d consider fun. Lyft and Uber have different pickup points, and our Lyft driver couldn’t find us and we tried to be proactive and help but it just would not work. Eventually did get home, though, so. There’s that.

In Charlottesville at Hardywood, some jerk was basically demanding a beer they weren’t releasing until the next day, and then claimed that he wasn’t going to tip the guy… just unreal rudeness.

Ran into some crazy fog leaving Charlottesville.

Now we know

We wanted to go to a few breweries around Manassas, but literally ALL of them were closed on the Monday that we were there. Isn’t Monday the most likely time everyone needs a beer?

Virginia is stringent on IDs. Bri had to get his passport when he ordered a beer at lunch because his ID had (just) expired. They did give us a free round of beer for the trouble, though.

Greenbelt Park (where we stayed in Layla) has a walking trail that leads toward the Metro, which was super convenient. Still quite a hike, but was awesome to sleep in nature.

The first morning, we took the commuter train as opposed to the metro, which went straight into Union Station with no extra stops. (Bonus that the station was super pretty.)

Road food

In the same family for three generations, Tune Inn has stolen the hearts of locals with greasy burgers and an incredible roast beef sandwich.

Chef Marjorie Meek-Bradley took things into her own hands at Smoked & Stacked, giving DC something it needs: house-cured pastrami.

Tender fried chicken, sweet-and-crunchy Brussels sprouts, & half-off-wine Wednesdays keep locals and visitors coming back to Mason Social.

Huge hoagies are made by a gourmet chef in a tiny space at Bub & Pop’s. The best-sellers go fast, so call ahead if you go and want something specific!

Where we stayed

Nights one and two: Cracker Barrel, Centreville

Thanksgiving break: Layla took a break at the Barchets’!

During Thanksgiving, we left Layla in very good hands and the driveway of Bri’s family friends, the Barchets. Though we didn’t get to spend a ton of time with them, we had a really nice dinner before we all left for Thanksgiving. Thanks again, John and Ellen!

Nights three through six: Greenbelt Park