I am planning on being in the Washington DC area next week to visit a a friend I haven’t seen in a couple of years. I have another friend that I know that is in that area and will visit them too.
I’ve never been there before, so if anyone knows something/place cool to visit please send a note my way! Doesn’t have to be in DC – but within say a 2 or maybe even 3 hour drive is fine.
I arrive at 10 AM on Saturday and can’t check in till 3PM so my first thought to kill some time is to drive to Philadelphia to grab one of those famous original Cheese steak sandwiches at either one of Geno’s Steaks or Pat’s King of Steaks (which are apparently right across the street from each other).
Five hours round trip is a long ways to drive but in the grand scheme of life, who knows if I’ll ever be in the area again, so I figure it’s worth it. If I could find some place else to visit and take some pictures(preferably with a nice view, my camera has a 42X zoom). I’m not much for historical stuff or museums (though I may make some exceptions on this trip).
I browsed ~250 potential places on Trip Advisor in Philadelphia but sadly did not see anything that really interested me(except maybe this). Given the sheer number of ideas on that site I figure it may be difficult to find things on other sites that aren’t just repeats.
One day during the week(perhaps Sunday the 9th) I plan to visit Norfolk, VA – a full six hours round trip. But it looks like it will be worth it too — mainly to see the military stuff there. Of the three major locations it’s the one I am most looking forward to.
Possibilities in Norfolk include
- USS Wisconsin
- Norfolk Naval Base
- Cape Henry Lighthouse
- Victory Rover Naval Base Cruises (hope I don’t get sea sick)
- Former TechOpsGuy Dave’s wife suggested The Mariner’s Museum in Newport News, VA (fortunately in between DC and Norfolk)
One day hit Baltimore up for their Blue Crab, possibilities for this trip include
- Ripley’s Believe it or Not! – I was a fan of a TV show of the same name when I was a kid
- Federal Hill Park
- Washington Monument and Mount Vernon Park
- Canton Waterfront Park
- Crab from a place like Captain James Crabhouse or Costas Inn
Then the rest of the time in DC, most of these places to visit just so I can say I visited them, really not excited about any of them (specifically avoided any places that don’t allow pictures like the Mint) –
- Smithsonian Institution Building – perhaps the National Air and Space Museum
- Newseum
- National Geographic Museum
- Lincoln Memorial and Reflecting Pool
- Jefferson Memorial
- Capitol Hill
- National Mall
- Washington Monument
Hopefully I can easily hit all the above sites in less than one day.
- Sweetwater Tavern – local friend says there is good food there
- Ted’s Montana Grill – enjoyed this place when I was in Atlanta – it was the first time I had Buffalo (that I can recall).
- Tilted Kilt would be nice but is ~70 miles away so probably will wait till I’m in Atlanta next to hit that place up.
I’ll likely be working remotely for a couple days while there, not sure yet.