Saturday, July 16, 2016

What To Do In D.C. {My Trip Recap}

Happy Friday! I hope y'all have had a great week and have had a chance to check out my picks from the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale in this post. Judging from all of the packing posts I've had up lately you may have known that last week I went to visit my brother in Washington D.C. where he is spending the summer interning for a law firm. I hadn't seen him since Christmas so it was nice for a chance to go and visit and ensure that I would see him again before next Christmas (going to school on opposite sides of the country doesn't really guarantee that). 


I left for my trip on a Wednesday and came back the following Monday which gave me the perfect amount of time to explore on my own and also have plenty of time to spend with my brother. I've been to D.C. twice before and have seen a lot of the must-sees already so it was nice to be able to do some of the things I haven't done before without feeling overwhelmed and obligated to go to the "must-sees."

The weather while I was there was insanely hot and I would highly recommend bringing a good pair of walking shoes if you're headed to D.C. any time soon since I hit 10,000 steps before lunch time nearly everyday. I am sharing what I did each day with y'all in this post to help you to see exactly what I did and help you to plan out some stops if you're headed to D.C. any time soon! 

Wednesday

Wednesday I was up bright and easy to catch my flight. We left my house around 6:00 and with a short layover in Atlanta and a long time on the runway (thanks weather) I landed in D.C. around 3:30. After arriving I headed to my brothers Apartment, ditched my bags, and decided to stretch my legs. I discovered that my brothers apartment was about a mile from the National Mall so I decided to walk there and back before my brother got home from work. If only I had realized just how hot it was going to be ahead of time because y'all I was desperate for some air conditioning when I got back. My brother got back from work around 6:00 when I basically begged to go straight to dinner. He decided that Shake Shack sounded good and I wasn't about to argue (considering I had 2 granola bars for lunch). 

Also, I've always known that my brother and I look alike but this snap chat face swap makes that an alarming reality. Follow me on snap chat @prepstepsnaps for a behind the scenes look at what I am up to and help give your opinion for ideas for blog and video posts! 

 

Thursday

I started my Thursday morning with only one thing on my actual to-see list and that was the Holocaust Museum. Because I woke up relatively early I decided to visit a doughnut shop I had heard people rave about before visiting the museum and I can agree that it lived up to its hype. Astrodonughts was delicious and a great treat to start the morning. They are open all day and specialize in donuts and fried chicken, weird combo if you ask me so I settled for a traditional donut and a birthday cake one to truly test their flavors! 

I started my visit at the Holocaust Museum around 10:45 and loved that I was able to do it at my own pace (big fan of solo tourism). I spent a couple of hours there wandering through each floor, watching the videos, and reading about different circumstances occurring during the Holocaust. After leaving the museum I realized my close proximity to the Washington Monument and decided to wander that way and enjoy the view. Since I still wasn't hungry for lunch just yet I opted to walk down the National Mall and eventually decided to head to District Tacos for lunch. I'm not sure if it was because I was super hungry that it was so good but I would highly recommend it. It was a great place to eat lunch by myself and their guacamole was so delicious. It is kind of similar to Chipotle in that you wait in a line to order your food and they have similar meal options but I am glad I was able to go there instead of a chain! I wandered around the area where District Taco is located (near Metro Center) and after deciding that I was tired of walking headed back to my brother's place.

That night I went to dinner with one of my roommate's from this past year who is interning in the city as well. We went to a restaurant called Logan's Tavern for dinner and Dolcezza for dessert. Both were yummy and it was fun to catch up with her to hear about her summer and experience in D.C. so far! 

 

  


*outfit*

Friday

Something interesting that I discovered on my trip was that a lot of the museums and galleries don't open til mid morning so I decided to use that time to get some coffee and explore on my way to whichever museum I was hoping to visit. On Friday morning I decided to take a walk by the White House on my way to Renwick Gallery. I should have set up a stand selling selfie sticks with how many people I saw using them! After seeing the house and doing my fair share of people watching I walked straight to Renwick and was so impressed with the museum. Renwick is a newer addition to the Smithsonian Museums and has an exhibit that is all about Wonder with a lot of modern and unique pieces of art spread out in this spacious (and free) museum. I enjoyed walking through each of the rooms and appreciating how much time must have gone into creating each of these pieces.

After Renwick I decided to venture to Georgetown for some exploring and shopping. I loved Georgetown and could have gladly walked up and down the different streets just looking at all of the cute and colorful houses there but then I realized how good the shopping there was too and I was sold! I wandered into some of the stores, got cupcakes at not only Georgetown Cupcakes but also Baked and Wired, and had the most delicious meal of my trip at Farmers, Fishers, Bakers. If you happen to go to Farmers, Fishers, Bakers you have to get their homemade soda! The special the day I went was Blood Orange and it was one of the most delicious drinks I've ever tasted! 

After exploring Georgetown I went back to my brother's apartment to set some stuff down and then went to meet Gil at his office for a grand tour of the firm before heading to happy hour with some of his friends from work. It was cool to see exactly where he was working and I have to say the view from the rooftop of the building was pretty cool as well. After enjoying happy hour with his friends we grabbed a bite to eat at Nandos before heading in for the night. 

 



 

 

 

 

 



 

 *outfit*

Saturday

Saturday was probably the busiest of the trip even though it was the day we got the latest start. My brother kept raving about a breakfast place with homemade pop tarts so we headed to Ted's Bulletin for brunch and it was absolutely delicious. I got french toast, an iced coffee, and a brown sugar pop-tart to go and we were both stuffed by the time we left. We lucked out and go two seats at the bar right after walking in but if you're going with a group I'd recommend making a reservation as there were a lot of people waiting to be seated. However, if you're in a rush they have a nice section to grab some pastries to go without having to wait to be seated! 

After breakfast we went to the Newseum which ended up being one of the highlights of my trip. Gil and I both agreed that it is worth the entrance fee and after spending a few hours going through the exhibit thought that the Pulitzer Prize Winning Photographs were high on the list of our favorite things in there. The balcony at the Newseum has a great view of the capital and if you have some extra time definitely wait in line to try their virtual reality videos. After wandering through the Newseum we headed to the Air and Space Museum and moseyed through the first floor deciding that it was a little too crowded to really enjoy what we were seeing. Then I pretty much forced my brother into renting us bikes to bike to the different monuments instead of walking. Capital City Bikes has stands set up all over the city and the bikes are pretty cheap to rent. My brother kept shaking his head at my request but I loved riding them around! We ended the day by getting dinner at Hillcountry Barbecue where you must get their lemonade and mac and cheese, so delicious! 



 


 

 

*outfit* (featured in this blog post)

Sunday

Sunday was super laid back and I began by heading to Union Market to explore and decided to get a crepe for breakfast. That afternoon my brother's law firm had a soccer game that I got roped into playing in which was fun but also really hot. After coming back and getting cleaned up we went to Matchbox pizza for dinner and ended the day with a celebratory ice cream at Milk Bar after finding out my brother had made it onto Stanford Law Review! 

 


Monday

Monday was another travel day but my flight didn't leave until 11:00 so I went to breakfast at Founding Farmers (the sister recipe of Farmers, Fishers, Bakers) where I had cinnamon maple syrup waffles which were delicious before heading off to the airport! 

I created a video of my travels for you! See that here:


 I hope y'all enjoyed this look at my trip to D.C. and if you're heading that way I would love to know if you'll be visiting any of the same places as me! 

2 comments :

  1. Your D.C. trip looks so fun and it seems like you squeezed a ton into your time there. I haven't been to D.C. in years but the next time I'm there I definitely want to explore Georgetown, it looks so cute!

    xoxo,
    Katie
    chicincarolina.blogspot.com

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