DC Trip report
Aug 8th, 2011, 12:07 PM
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DC Trip report
Brief Overview: DH and I spent a long weekend (Aug 4-7) in DC, with a few hours in Baltimore on Sunday. Stayed at Homewood Suites on Mass Ave NW. Did a Hop on Hop Off Tour at night and the next day.
DH and I took a nonstop flight from our home in Panama City, FL to Baltimore Thursday afternoon. We chose this route for three reasons -- we could fly nonstop, we had to use unused travel funds by Aug 7, and our fare was less than $150. pp roundtrip. This was our first time to fly Southwest and we were a bit disappointed that the crew behaved just like any other airline crew -- no jokes, dancing, etc.. We had reserved a full size car, and easily got on the road within 20 minutes of retrieving our luggage. We brought a portable GPS unit from home, plus I had printed mapquest directions. We arrived at our hotel in DC by 10:10 pm. Check in was a breeze. Note: We had reserved rooms at the Capitol Hill Suites for $67.00 per night through Expedia. We received a call a few weeks ago that we would have to stay at the Homewood Suites on Mass Ave NW. Expedia honored our same rate, gave us a $100. credit and upgraded us to a king bed.
About our room-- we had a separate living room/kitchen, which included a small table, sofa, ottoman, chair, a two burner stove, dishwasher, full size refrig,and microwave. Flat screen TV in both the living room and separate bedroom. Free internet access. We frequently stay at Hilton properties and have found them to be consistently clean and comfortable. After getting our luggage to our room, we set out on foot to a find a bite to eat. By this time, it is almost 10:45 pm. The neighborhood was still alive and we felt very safe walking. We got directions to Frankie's, a little sandwich/pizza place a few blocks away and had a quick meal. We then stopped at a CVS for a diet coke to tide me over in the morning. We got to bed around 1:00 am.
As I had mentioned in an earlier post, DH specifically wanted to tour the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, which is only open weekdays. We got up at 6:15 am and had the complementary Homewood Suites hot breakfast buffet. The buffet included juices, coffee, milk, scramble eggs, bacon, hash browns, oatmeal, pancakes, waffles, fruits,toast, bagels, muffins, and cereal. The buffet was fine -- about what you would expect from a buffet. The seating area was not crowded at 6:30, and the staff kept restocking food as needed.
Thanks to Fodorites suggestions, we left the hotel around 7:00 am so we would be in line early for tickets. We asked the front desk for a taxi, and the bellman called over a man who claimed to be a taxi driver. I was wary, as he did not have a marked cab, and I had heard about hotels that steer you to someone instead of calling a cab. DH asked the man how much for the ride to BEP, and he said $12.00. Thanks to Fodorites, I had already researched fares through a website, hop something, and knew that $12.00 was probably about right, so we got in the man's SUV. He dropped us off on the wrong side of the BEP -- we still had to walk around the building to find the line, but we arrived in plenty of time to get tickets for the 9:00 tour. I think there were only about 40 people ahead of us in line. We chatted with some people in line ahead of us and the time flew by. It was breezy and very comfortable compared to our brutal Florida heat.
The tour was interesting -- we got to see how money is made, and then spent a few minutes in the the gift shop. As we walked past the ticket booth around 9:45 am, there was no line, and there were signs that tickets were still available for a few late afternoon tours.
We walked to the Smithsonian Castle, and viewed the exhibits there. I was especially excited to see the football signed by Bear Bryan when he became the winningest coach (at that time) in college football, as I am a Bama fan. We walked back to the National Forestry building and collected literature. We have an interest in forestry, as we purchased some timberland last year and hope to harvest some of our pines in a few years. We walked a few more blocks and caught a cab back to our hotel. This time we paid only $8.00, but where we caught the cab was closer to our hotel.
We got our car and drove toward the Marine Base at Quantico. We had lunch at a small diner a few miles north of the main gate, then went in search of Raider Hll, a small museum honoring the raiders who fought in the Pacific in WWII. My brother's father-in-law was a member of Edson's Raider's so we wanted to see that particular museum . I misunderstood our directions, so we rode all through the Marine base before we reached Raider Hall. However, it was an enjoyable ride, as I had never been on a Marine Base. We thoroughly enjoyed the Raider museum.
After the museum, we drove to Old Town Alexandria, and walked all around. Then, we drove to Union Station where we purchased tickets for a night time tour of the Monuments on a Double Decker Tour Bus.
more to follow.
DH and I took a nonstop flight from our home in Panama City, FL to Baltimore Thursday afternoon. We chose this route for three reasons -- we could fly nonstop, we had to use unused travel funds by Aug 7, and our fare was less than $150. pp roundtrip. This was our first time to fly Southwest and we were a bit disappointed that the crew behaved just like any other airline crew -- no jokes, dancing, etc.. We had reserved a full size car, and easily got on the road within 20 minutes of retrieving our luggage. We brought a portable GPS unit from home, plus I had printed mapquest directions. We arrived at our hotel in DC by 10:10 pm. Check in was a breeze. Note: We had reserved rooms at the Capitol Hill Suites for $67.00 per night through Expedia. We received a call a few weeks ago that we would have to stay at the Homewood Suites on Mass Ave NW. Expedia honored our same rate, gave us a $100. credit and upgraded us to a king bed.
About our room-- we had a separate living room/kitchen, which included a small table, sofa, ottoman, chair, a two burner stove, dishwasher, full size refrig,and microwave. Flat screen TV in both the living room and separate bedroom. Free internet access. We frequently stay at Hilton properties and have found them to be consistently clean and comfortable. After getting our luggage to our room, we set out on foot to a find a bite to eat. By this time, it is almost 10:45 pm. The neighborhood was still alive and we felt very safe walking. We got directions to Frankie's, a little sandwich/pizza place a few blocks away and had a quick meal. We then stopped at a CVS for a diet coke to tide me over in the morning. We got to bed around 1:00 am.
As I had mentioned in an earlier post, DH specifically wanted to tour the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, which is only open weekdays. We got up at 6:15 am and had the complementary Homewood Suites hot breakfast buffet. The buffet included juices, coffee, milk, scramble eggs, bacon, hash browns, oatmeal, pancakes, waffles, fruits,toast, bagels, muffins, and cereal. The buffet was fine -- about what you would expect from a buffet. The seating area was not crowded at 6:30, and the staff kept restocking food as needed.
Thanks to Fodorites suggestions, we left the hotel around 7:00 am so we would be in line early for tickets. We asked the front desk for a taxi, and the bellman called over a man who claimed to be a taxi driver. I was wary, as he did not have a marked cab, and I had heard about hotels that steer you to someone instead of calling a cab. DH asked the man how much for the ride to BEP, and he said $12.00. Thanks to Fodorites, I had already researched fares through a website, hop something, and knew that $12.00 was probably about right, so we got in the man's SUV. He dropped us off on the wrong side of the BEP -- we still had to walk around the building to find the line, but we arrived in plenty of time to get tickets for the 9:00 tour. I think there were only about 40 people ahead of us in line. We chatted with some people in line ahead of us and the time flew by. It was breezy and very comfortable compared to our brutal Florida heat.
The tour was interesting -- we got to see how money is made, and then spent a few minutes in the the gift shop. As we walked past the ticket booth around 9:45 am, there was no line, and there were signs that tickets were still available for a few late afternoon tours.
We walked to the Smithsonian Castle, and viewed the exhibits there. I was especially excited to see the football signed by Bear Bryan when he became the winningest coach (at that time) in college football, as I am a Bama fan. We walked back to the National Forestry building and collected literature. We have an interest in forestry, as we purchased some timberland last year and hope to harvest some of our pines in a few years. We walked a few more blocks and caught a cab back to our hotel. This time we paid only $8.00, but where we caught the cab was closer to our hotel.
We got our car and drove toward the Marine Base at Quantico. We had lunch at a small diner a few miles north of the main gate, then went in search of Raider Hll, a small museum honoring the raiders who fought in the Pacific in WWII. My brother's father-in-law was a member of Edson's Raider's so we wanted to see that particular museum . I misunderstood our directions, so we rode all through the Marine base before we reached Raider Hall. However, it was an enjoyable ride, as I had never been on a Marine Base. We thoroughly enjoyed the Raider museum.
After the museum, we drove to Old Town Alexandria, and walked all around. Then, we drove to Union Station where we purchased tickets for a night time tour of the Monuments on a Double Decker Tour Bus.
more to follow.
Aug 8th, 2011, 02:36 PM
#2
gracie, Enjoying your trip report! I recall your earlier post about being slightly unnerved about getting re-routed to Homewood Suites. Glad to hear you were all good with the change in neighborhood and it sounds like you were able to hit the spots most interesting to your husband.
Looking forward to your next installment.
Looking forward to your next installment.
Aug 9th, 2011, 11:27 AM
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Thanks Obxgirl. We did like our neighborhood very much. Because of the time of our tours, we never took the metro. I think I would choose a hotel nearer to a metro stop for any future visits. We walked to Dupont Circle Saturday night, and we were not as impressed with that area as we were with our neighborhood. We were approached by some aggressive panhandlers and did not feel comfortable at Dupont Circle.
Another thing I would add is that my husband did not care for Old Town Alexandria. I loved walking and seeing the old homes, but that is not his cup of tea.
Another thing I would add is that my husband did not care for Old Town Alexandria. I loved walking and seeing the old homes, but that is not his cup of tea.
Aug 9th, 2011, 12:16 PM
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Just an odd note: The cash from the Engraving & Printing Federal Credit Union ATM in front of the BEP building is the newest cash around - untouched by human hands.
Did you get a chance to explore much of the 14th St. area north of Mass. Ave up toward U st.?
I think a lot of tourists who stay in the Thomas circle area miss it because the cafes, restaurants and shops don't really show up until you get a few blocks north of N St. and those first few blocks north of the hotel zone don't look like much.
Looking forward to more...
Did you get a chance to explore much of the 14th St. area north of Mass. Ave up toward U st.?
I think a lot of tourists who stay in the Thomas circle area miss it because the cafes, restaurants and shops don't really show up until you get a few blocks north of N St. and those first few blocks north of the hotel zone don't look like much.
Looking forward to more...
Aug 9th, 2011, 12:18 PM
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DC Trip report, part 2. Our guide on the evening tour of monuments was Ralph, and he was very entertaining as well as informative. We spent about 30 minutes at the stop below the Capitol, and had time to take some great photos well before dark. My only concern about this tour was the stop at the Lincoln Memorial -- there were a lot of people/tour buses around, so it was not exactly easy to find Ralph in the dark. Although we enjoyed that tour, I would not recommend that a night tour be your only time to see the monuments. We had purchased combo tickets so that we could do the hop on hop off tour the next day. It was very hard to see Arlington Cemetary and Iwo Jima at night. We completed the night tour about 10:30 pm, picked up our car at Union Station, and drove back to the hotel. Crashed about midnight.
We got an early start Sat am, and drove the car to Iwo Jima, arriving before 9:00 am. No one there so we had the place to ourselves to reflect. We parked along side the Memorial near some runners. I have never seen so many fit people as I did in DC! The runners showed us how to walk in to Arlington Cemetary through a side gate. We walked to the main entrance, and visited the Women's Memorial. Sadly, very few people were takng advantage of that site. We soon saw lots and lots of groups and individuals walking up to the Tomb of the Unknowns. We arrived just before 10:00 am, so we were there in time to see a changing of the guard. An announcement was made that there would be a wreath laying ceremony. Several veterans were escorted to the tomb area. I was so proud of them. Most were dressed in suits or even their old military uniform. All had several medals on their chest. Several others waited inside the visitor center for a reception. Again, it was a very moving incident. DH and I walked around the Amphitheatre and then waked back to our car. We got into some traffic going back into DC, but thanks to our GPS, avoided sitting there for hours. We drove to Union Station, parked the car, and had a quick lunch before boarding the Hop on Hop Off double decker tour bus. The daytime bus narration is not live -- it is a recording. We got off at the Capitol stop and got in line for our tour. We were able to move inside rather quickly and even got to go on an earlier tour than we had reserved. The tour guide was well spoken and the earphones helped us hear what the guide was saying, even with other tour groups walking nearby. Because it was a Saturday, we were allowed only in the Rotunda and the adjoinging room. We then walked the tunnel to the Library of Congress, where we began another tour. We abandoned that tour rather quickly, as the guide was hard to hear above the other people. The architecture of both the Capitol and LOC was amazing. We then hopped back on the double decker bus and got off at the Jefferson Memorial before catching another bus for the White House. Unfortunately, the White House visitor center had just closed. We took photos from the fence of the White House until we were soaked by a thunder storm. As it was now 5:30 pm, the bus tour was winding down and we soon were back at Union Station. More to follow.
We got an early start Sat am, and drove the car to Iwo Jima, arriving before 9:00 am. No one there so we had the place to ourselves to reflect. We parked along side the Memorial near some runners. I have never seen so many fit people as I did in DC! The runners showed us how to walk in to Arlington Cemetary through a side gate. We walked to the main entrance, and visited the Women's Memorial. Sadly, very few people were takng advantage of that site. We soon saw lots and lots of groups and individuals walking up to the Tomb of the Unknowns. We arrived just before 10:00 am, so we were there in time to see a changing of the guard. An announcement was made that there would be a wreath laying ceremony. Several veterans were escorted to the tomb area. I was so proud of them. Most were dressed in suits or even their old military uniform. All had several medals on their chest. Several others waited inside the visitor center for a reception. Again, it was a very moving incident. DH and I walked around the Amphitheatre and then waked back to our car. We got into some traffic going back into DC, but thanks to our GPS, avoided sitting there for hours. We drove to Union Station, parked the car, and had a quick lunch before boarding the Hop on Hop Off double decker tour bus. The daytime bus narration is not live -- it is a recording. We got off at the Capitol stop and got in line for our tour. We were able to move inside rather quickly and even got to go on an earlier tour than we had reserved. The tour guide was well spoken and the earphones helped us hear what the guide was saying, even with other tour groups walking nearby. Because it was a Saturday, we were allowed only in the Rotunda and the adjoinging room. We then walked the tunnel to the Library of Congress, where we began another tour. We abandoned that tour rather quickly, as the guide was hard to hear above the other people. The architecture of both the Capitol and LOC was amazing. We then hopped back on the double decker bus and got off at the Jefferson Memorial before catching another bus for the White House. Unfortunately, the White House visitor center had just closed. We took photos from the fence of the White House until we were soaked by a thunder storm. As it was now 5:30 pm, the bus tour was winding down and we soon were back at Union Station. More to follow.
Aug 9th, 2011, 05:34 PM
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Hopstop was the website we used to get local directions. You could find the approximate time and rate, whether traveling by bus, train, or cab.
The night we arrived, we found Frankie's on Vermont still open at 11 pm. DH and I each had a sandwich, which was good and less than $8.00. A lot of young folks came in to buy pizza by the slice. The CVS we shopped at was also on Vermont. This CVS is open 24 hours daily and was very busy even at midnight. We felt very safe walking in our neighborhood.
The front desk at our hotel had a list of nearby restaurants with directions. I asked the clerk for a casual, inexpensive restaurant. She recommended Daily Grill and one other place, the name of which escapes me. It took us several minutes to drive the few blocks to Daily Grill at 1200 18th Street NW because of our lack of experience driving in roundabouts or circles. (We only have two roundabouts in our small town, and they each have only three exits and one only lane -- very simple to navigate.) We kept missing our exit at the roundabout or finding one way streets. I felt like Chevy Chase in European Vacation. The food at City Grill was good. DH had the Porkchops with a rasberry glaze and they were very tender and well seasoned. I was not very hungry, so I ordered the grilled vegetables side, which was also very good. The Pork Chop was $23.50, which would not be considered "inexpensive" in our hometown. However, we realized that DC is an expensive place to live and eat, so we did not get upset about the price. That is just a part of traveling. After dinner, we strolled to Dupont Circle and walked around a bit before driving back to the hotel. Once again, we encountered problems getting to our hotel. The Homewood Suites sign is not visible until you actually pass the exit, so we drove past several times before actually making the correct turn. It became comical.
We checked out the next morning and were on the road to Baltimore by 9:00. We drove to Inner Harbor, parked in a garage and walked along the waterfront for a few hours to kill time before we had to catch our flight. We returned our rental car and caught the shuttle to the airport Although we were advised to return our rental car at least two hours prior to our flight, it all ran rather smoothly and tokk less than 15 minutes to return the car and raide the shuttle to the terminal. The line for security oved quickly and we had even more time to explore the airport shops whle we waited for our flight home. The Southwest flight was uneventful.
In conclusion, we enjoyed our trip and hope to return next year to see the sites we did not have time to see this trip. Specifically, we want to tour some museums, see the Vietnam War Memorial, tour the Capitol on a week day, visit the National Archives and Georgetown.
The night we arrived, we found Frankie's on Vermont still open at 11 pm. DH and I each had a sandwich, which was good and less than $8.00. A lot of young folks came in to buy pizza by the slice. The CVS we shopped at was also on Vermont. This CVS is open 24 hours daily and was very busy even at midnight. We felt very safe walking in our neighborhood.
The front desk at our hotel had a list of nearby restaurants with directions. I asked the clerk for a casual, inexpensive restaurant. She recommended Daily Grill and one other place, the name of which escapes me. It took us several minutes to drive the few blocks to Daily Grill at 1200 18th Street NW because of our lack of experience driving in roundabouts or circles. (We only have two roundabouts in our small town, and they each have only three exits and one only lane -- very simple to navigate.) We kept missing our exit at the roundabout or finding one way streets. I felt like Chevy Chase in European Vacation. The food at City Grill was good. DH had the Porkchops with a rasberry glaze and they were very tender and well seasoned. I was not very hungry, so I ordered the grilled vegetables side, which was also very good. The Pork Chop was $23.50, which would not be considered "inexpensive" in our hometown. However, we realized that DC is an expensive place to live and eat, so we did not get upset about the price. That is just a part of traveling. After dinner, we strolled to Dupont Circle and walked around a bit before driving back to the hotel. Once again, we encountered problems getting to our hotel. The Homewood Suites sign is not visible until you actually pass the exit, so we drove past several times before actually making the correct turn. It became comical.
We checked out the next morning and were on the road to Baltimore by 9:00. We drove to Inner Harbor, parked in a garage and walked along the waterfront for a few hours to kill time before we had to catch our flight. We returned our rental car and caught the shuttle to the airport Although we were advised to return our rental car at least two hours prior to our flight, it all ran rather smoothly and tokk less than 15 minutes to return the car and raide the shuttle to the terminal. The line for security oved quickly and we had even more time to explore the airport shops whle we waited for our flight home. The Southwest flight was uneventful.
In conclusion, we enjoyed our trip and hope to return next year to see the sites we did not have time to see this trip. Specifically, we want to tour some museums, see the Vietnam War Memorial, tour the Capitol on a week day, visit the National Archives and Georgetown.
Aug 11th, 2011, 08:44 AM
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My sister-in-law wants to join us when we return to DC again. I know next time that we will not rent a car. Parking is very expensive in DC. However, we needed a car on this trip to reach Raider Hall, which is on base at Quantico and not within walking distance of the Marine Corp Museum. We will try to stay near a metro stop next time. Actually, our original hotel, Capitol Hill Suites, is located very near a metro stop, but we were bumped to Homewood Suites.
Aug 11th, 2011, 09:15 AM
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The only time we've ever rented a car was for day trips to Mount Vernon and to Gettysburg. We kept it for a day, then relied on Metro and buses for the rest of our transportation needs~much less hassle, and less expensive! 
Aug 11th, 2011, 10:09 AM
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Enjoyed reading-thank you! My husband and I visited DC last summer and, other than it being too hot for long walks, we enjoyed ourselves very much. Gettysburg was the highlight of the week and I hope everyone has the change to go at some point in their life. Incredible! Thanks again.
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