Washington, D.C
This year (2016) was a big birthday for me (25...I guess I'm officially an adult now...scary!) and as a tradition with my mom we always take a big trip for special birthdays. I love getting to travel and make memories in different cities. We spent 10 days to do an East Coast "road trip" where we flew to Washington D.C. and made our way to New York City. This was by far one of my favorite trips we've ever done! We spent the first 4 days in D.C. then rented a car to drive to Philly, where we spent 2 more days, then took the Amtrak to NYC for a 4 day stay.
Our first stop on our east coast trip was Washington D.C.
This city is unique in the fact that it holds the heart beat of our country. There's so much to see and a lot of walking involved, yet it doesn't seem like it's that big of a city. We spent 4 days in D.C. just so we could see as much as possible with all the museums, building tours, shopping and historical places. Get ready to put your walking shoes on as I take you through our nation's capitol!
Our first day in D.C. we went to Alexandria, VA just across the Potomac River. I love Old Town Alexandria because it's like stepping back in time. The architecture is beautiful and there is great shopping all down King Street. Oh and did I mention the ice cream? It was to die for! There was an ice cream shop around every corner! After strolling around for a couple of hours, we got dinner at Virtue Feed & Grain. It's a great place right on the water with amazing, locally sourced food. It's a short metro ride or Uber ride from DC so there's no reason not to visit while you're in town. The metro in DC is safe and easy to use so no need to rent a car while in town.
The next day we visited Georgetown. We did a two day hop on/ hop off tour which took us right to Georgetown. This worked out well since the metro doesn't run into the town. We were able to spend several hours hitting all the shops and grabbing lunch before heading back to the main D.C. area. That afternoon we explored parts the National Mall. While it may not look that large, it's a huge stretch of land spanning from the Lincoln Memorial to Capitol Hill lined with Museums and Federal Buildings. We had to break it up into different days just to see it all. That night we did a Monuments by Moonlight tour which was beautiful. We were able to see all the amazing monuments across the city and my personal favorite was seeing the Lincoln Memorial at night (Olivia Pope anyone?).
The next two days we toured several of the Smithsonian's (which are free by the way), the Federal Bureau of Engraving and Printing (this is where money is made literally!), and we also toured the Holocaust museum. I'm a huge history nerd so I loved getting to take in all DC had to offer. We also went to Union Station, and then toured the Capitol Building and Library of Congress. This was one of the highlights of our trip that we originally didn't plan to do, but it ended up being my favorite. The Capitol is gorgeous and contains so much history in one building.
Our last night in DC we went to Le Diplomate for my 25th birthday dinner. The food was phenomenal and the restaurant was so cute! I highly recommend eating here while you're in town, but plan in advance to make reservations. I made our reservations about 3 weeks out. We ate at many awesome places while we were in town including Ted's Bulletin and Shake Shack.
I highly recommend going on a trip to D.C. at some point. I would also recommend going in the spring or fall since you will be outside a lot. The weather is great that time of year and the city is beautiful. My next post will cover our second destination, Philadelphia.
