All about Washington DC

I lived in Washington DC from 2009 until 2014. Cameron moved there in the fall of 2007. Alexander was born there! We visited when Annabelle was a baby, in the fall of 2016. And we just took a week-long trip, from April 25 through May 2, 2023.

Let’s get into it.

This will be divided into

• activities

• food and drink

• getting around / neighborhoods

• our planned itinerary

• what we actually did

Activities

DC has so much to do, and the great news is that most of it is FREE. The National Mall is where you’ll find most of the Smithsonian Museums as well as most of the monuments and memorials. Don’t be fooled though; the Mall stretches on for a while, with the museums, monuments, and memorials on the sides of it. It’s impossible to see everything in one day. In fact, I’d venture to say you could spend several weeks and not see it all. It’s important to look into every option and decide what works best for your family!

The main museums you can find along the mall are as follows:

• Sackler Gallery (Asian art)

• Freer Gallery (Asian art)

• Hirshhorn (modern art)

• Air and Space

• African American History and Culture

• American History

• American Indian

• Natural History

• Portrait Gallery

• Sculpture Garden (not a museum but really cool spot!)

• Botanic Gardens (gorgeous)

The monuments and memorials on or right by the Mall:

• Washington Monument (555 feet 5 inches tall, 55 feet wide!)

• Lincoln Memorial (he is 19 feet tall, 19 feet wide)

• Vietnam Veterans Memorial

• Vietnam Women’s Memorial

• Reflecting Pool (right by Lincoln)

• WWII Memorial

• Korean War Veterans Memorial

• MLK Jr Memorial

• FDR Memorial

• Jefferson Memorial

Also, you can see the White House, Capitol Building, and Library of Congress. You can contact a senator to get tour information. The Capitol building is the easiest to get a tour of, but you can request tours for the others as well. Just know, the White House is booked up months in advance. If you want a chance of visiting the inside, make sure to request way ahead of time!

You can visit the inside of the Washington Monument - it’s an elevator up, but I believe it’s stairs on the way down. It’s neat to see and do at least once!

Here are a few other things to consider that are not right on the mall:

• Postal Museum (GREAT for kids)

• Planet Word (this was one of our favorites!)

• Spy Museum (super popular, NOT free)

• Children’s Museum (also popular, NOT free)

• Arlington Cemetery (free to visit, but it’s a lot of walking - tours are not free - more info below!)

• National Zoo

There are a lot of other neighborhood-specific things to see and do. There are playgrounds all over - you’ll just have to search based on where you are staying. There are plenty of Farmers’ Markets on the weekends. I’ll get into the specific things in Georgetown and DuPont Circle in another section.

DISCLAIMER: The list of stuff to do in DC is massive. I know I have left things off. I’m going off of my own experiences and recommendations from my IG followers. ❤️

Food and drink

This is highly personal, so I’ll stick to what we had and enjoyed.

We stayed in the DuPont Circle neighborhood, and we visited Georgetown a few times as well as the areas near the White House and the National Mall.

Breakfast / Coffee

• Three Fifty Bakery. We got these mini quiches 4 different days! They were so good. It was my favorite breakfast. The coffee was good as well. [DuPont]

• Tatte. A bakery and coffee spot. They offer a huge variety of unique food items! [multiple locations]

• Ted’s Bulletin. You can get great coffee. They have homemade pop tarts, millionaire bars (YUM), and other treats. They do have lunch items as well, but we always just got breakfast. The huevos rancheros is excellent. [multiple locations]

• Blank Street Coffee. I got the blended latte, which I thought was excellent. [DuPont / U Street]

• Peregrine. Excellent coffee! [multiple locations]

• Au Lait. This was a coffee place very close to where we stayed. I didn’t enjoy my coffee at all, but it has 4.9 stars online sooo maybe I just got unlucky! [DuPont]

• Teaism. We didn’t go here on this trip. But it’s really good if you like tea and yummy brunch! [DuPont]

• Baked and Wired. This quirky coffee shop / dessert shop is EXCELLENT. For sure, it’s worth the trek to get there. This time, I got a Thai Iced Tea, plus we shared 5 treats. Everything was delicious. [Georgetown]

Treats

• Levain. You must try the cookies here. They’re very popular! [Georgetown]

• Baked and Wired. It’s linked in the breakfast section! [Georgetown]

• Shake Shack. The black and white milkshake is SO GOOD. The burgers and fries are great, too, but we went in just for milkshakes one day. [multiple locations]

• Ted’s Bulletin. Linked in the breakfast section! [multiple locations]

• Georgetown Cupcake. They were on TV. The cupcakes are good. Honestly, Baked and Wired is way better, I think! [Georgetown]

• Sprinkles. Also a famous cupcake shop! Good cupcakes. Baked and Wired is better. 😅 [Georgetown]

• Sticky Fingers. This is a vegan bakery. The owner was a good friend of ours when we lived in DC! She actually won Cupcake Wars a few different times - once, she was competing against other vegan bakers, and once, she was competing against non-vegan bakers and still won. 🙌🏻 [Columbia Heights]

Dinner

• Stachowski’s Deli. This place is a butcher that sells some produce and packaged goods. But our favorite thing was always the MASSIVE sandwiches. My go-to was always the meatball sub, and Cameron loves the pastrami. [Georgetown]

• Das. This Ethiopian restaurant is top-notch. I recommend the chicken and beef sampler as well as the vegetarian entree sampler. [Georgetown]

• Pow Pow. Vegan asian food. We shared the Natalie Porkman and the Orange Chick’n. Both bowls were HUGE and unbelievably tasty. [Franklin Square]

• Pupatella. This pizza place was really close to where we stayed. I loved it. Then again, I’m pretty much a “pizza is pizza” gal - I love it all.

• Farmers Fishers Bakers. This used to be a date night spot for me and Cam. We didn’t get to go this trip, though.

Getting around / Neighborhoods

I highly suggest getting a Smart Trip card and using the buses and trains. DC is very easy to navigate. You can walk or take public transportation to get just about anywhere. You can also rent bicycles and scooters all over the place. And in a pinch, snag a Lyft or Uber or even taxi. I don’t recommend driving! There are one-ways everywhere, and parking is a pain (and often expensive).

Here is the subway map. Notice the colors. Those are called the red line, blue line, green line, and so on. And the way you say which direction you’re going is by naming the end of the line. For example, if I’m at Dupont Circle (that’s on the red line), and I want to head to Metro Center (that’s where the red crosses the blue and orange), I’d get on a red line train toward Glenmont.

Sometimes, you have to be on one side of the station rather than the other, so it’s good to know ahead of time which direction you’re heading.

When you get to the platform, you’ll see a sign that says which train is coming (blue, orange, yellow, etc), which direction it’s heading, and how many minutes it’s going to be. Once the train arrives, the lights on the ground will start blinking. The doors will open. Let people off the train before trying to board! Get on, have a seat or hold onto a pole, and wait for your stop.

NOTE: You’ll need a Smart Trip card to enter AND leave the station. The price varies depending on how far you traveled.

NOTE 2: On all the escalators, stand on the right and walk on the left.

NOTE 3: Don’t crowd the doors of the train, especially if it’s crowded. Move toward the inside so that people needing to get on/off can do so more easily.

The buses are different. There are a lot of them, and you need to know which direction you’re headed. At the bus stops, there is a sign that shows the route for that bus as well as a schedule of times when the bus should be stopping there. It can be a little confusing, but honestly, I prefer the buses to the trains. The trains make me sleepy! The buses are also $2.00 each time, and you only scan your card when you step in, not when you step off.

I highly suggest getting an app or two for using public transit. Moovit (Apple, Google) is okay but doesn’t always update with accurate bus info. Google Maps (Apple, Google) is updated regularly and was highly reliable. The DC Metro app (Apple, Google) was updated as well but doesn’t include a trip planner.

Neighborhoods

DC is divided into quadrants: Northwest, Northeast, Southwest, and Southeast. There are things to see and do in each quadrant, and you must include the quadrant when looking up an address!

The streets are mostly letters and numbers. For example, 14th Street NW between S and T is where you can find a Ted’s Bulletin. There are also state streets (Wisconsin Ave, Pennsylvania Ave, etc) that move diagonally around the city. If you’re at 25th and P, and you want to make it to 35th and R, that’s roughly 12 blocks (not exactly, but it does give you a good idea).

Dumbarton Oaks in Georgetown

I’m not sure where else to stick this suggestion. It’s a gorgeous place to visit, way out in Georgetown. You have to take a bus to get there, or walk, and it’s not open all day or every day. But if you make it there, you’ll be there for hours. The gardens are gorgeous!! I’m so bummed we didn’t get to visit on this trip (it was rainy for our Georgetown days). Here’s a link to their website.

What we planned

We stayed in DuPont Circle. Here is the listing for our AirBnB. We knew that area and felt comfortable walking around! It is a basement apartment, which didn’t really bother us. There is no A/C in the bedrooms, though, if you happen to be coming in the summer! There’s only a window unit in the living room.

Tuesday April 25

• Drop stuff off at Cam’s old work until check-in time

• Explore that area (Garden District BBQ)

• Relax, wander, ice cream

Wednesday April 26

• Ted’s Bulletin for breakfast

• Zoo (lunch there)

• Back to home

• Shake Shack for dinner

Thursday April 27

• Head to the Mall:

  • Head to the Archives Metro station

  • Sculpture Garden

  • Natural History

  • Washington Monument

  • Lincoln? Go with how much energy we have.

  • Smithsonian Metro (Potbelly’s for lunch?)

Friday April 28

• Duke Ellington (where I used to teach)

• Dumbarton Oaks

• Farmers Fishers Bakers

• Baked and Wired

Saturday April 29

• Arlington

• Planet Word maybe

• Take it easy, find a park, etc

Sunday April 30

• Go see old apartment

• Stachowski’s for lunch

• Rose Park (playground)

• Trader Joe’s

Monday May 1

• 10:30 Capitol tour

• 12:00 quick lunch - picnic with old friends

• Go see more of the museums and monuments

Tuesday May 2

• Wake up, get breakfast, head toward airport

What we actually did

This trip was great, but it did not turn out like I planned. Here’s what we actually did!!

Tuesday April 25

• Landed a little early, headed to DuPont circle metro. (I had ordered pre-loaded Metro cards online before the trip. That saved us some time when we got there!)

• We were going to relax at Cam’s old work, but the boss man was not in yet.

• Shake Shack for lunch and milkshakes. We charged our devices as well.

• I contacted our AirBnB host and found out we could check in early.

• We got settled in then walked to Trader Joe’s. It was about a 10-minute walk. We picked up snacks, sandwich stuff, cereal, and fun drinks (there are so many fun drinks there). We also picked up dinner (pizza for the kids, Indian food for me, and I think Cam got fried rice).

• Took it easy that evening

Wednesday April 26

• Ted’s Bulletin for coffee and breakfast. Got the Huevos Rancheros (delicious).

• National Zoo - It was crowded but not overwhelming. We walked a TON. Soft pretzels for a snack/lunch. The kids got Dippin’ Dots. I’m not a big fan of zoos in general, but if you are, then you’d like this one.

• Fedwich for dinner. BBQ near our lodging!

Thursday April 27

• Three Fifty Bakery, for quiche and coffee!

• Visited Cam’s old boss. So great catching up with him.

• National Mall day - Hirshhorn Museum first (4.5/5 for grownups… the kids thought some of it was cool!)

• Lunch was from food trucks. I got some falafels and rice, and it was delicious!

• Went through the Natural History museum for about an hour. It’s a good one for kids, but we were really tired at this point.

• Walked down to the Washington Monument just to say hi.

• Headed back “home”

• The boys got pizza.

• Annabelle and I went out on the town. We went to Levain bakery for cookies and Das Ethiopian for dinner. Fancy! We walked part of the way home then got a Lyft for the rest. She was tired of walking.

Friday April 28

• Colada Shop for coffee. I didn’t care for mine. It wasn’t sweet enough 😅

• Took a bus up to Duke Ellington School of the Arts for about an hour. I got a tour of the new building. It’s the same building, just renovated, and it’s STUNNING. It’s actually the building where Cameron and I got married, believe it or not. I got to see several old colleagues, which was lovely!

• Walked around Georgetown, in the rain. We got Alexander a sweatshirt from Urban Outfitters. Cam and I bought some shoes at Allbirds.

• Leftovers, sandwiches for dinner!

Saturday April 29

• We headed to Eastern Market, where Cam used to live. There was a nice playground there, so the kids had fun. I got coffee from Peregrine. Charlie and I headed back alone while Cam stayed with the big kids.

• I went to Ted’s Bulletin to get some treats and also Blank Street for a blended latte (yum).

• I was not feeling great (iykyk) so I tidied up the AirBnB, which made me feel a little better. 🥰

• We ate some sandwiches and frozen food from Trader Joe’s for dinner.

Sunday April 30

• Quiche again for breakfast! I miss those quiches…

• We waited for 30 minutes for a bus to come, but it never did. Soo we walked a mile to Planet Word. (5/5, highly recommend! You need tickets ahead of time, but they’re free)

• We met up with my old friend/colleague. It was so nice to see her! We stayed there about 1.5 hours.

• Blick Art Materials is a big art supply store - it’s pretty expensive, but the kids got some Paint by Stickers books and little fidget toys.

• Right around the corner was Pow Pow, the vegan Asian place. (5/5, delicious)

• Then we decided to walk a little ways to The White House to take a few pictures. It’s definitely worth seeing, I think. There’s always some commotion out front, but it’s just cool seeing such an important building in person, you know?

• We got milkshakes at Shake Shack on the way back home.

• After resting up, Annabelle and I headed out again, to Kramer’s. It’s a coffee shop and bookstore and bar/restaurant in one. We got a couple of books and then walked back home.

Monday May 1

• Tatte bakery for breakfast. I tried a pistachio croissant and some sort of egg sandwich. The spinach was too much for me, but the croissant was great. The kids got a baguette that was really good, and Annabelle got herself a chocolate snail.

• We headed to Georgetown. Finally, the weather wasn’t rainy. It was a little chilly, but we were happy for the sunshine! We walked along the canal and got Baked and Wired. It did not disappoint!

• We walked along Rock Creek Parkway for longer than I expected (Cameron tried to tell me that it was too far, but I didn’t believe him😆). We arrived at Rose Park so the kids could play at the playground.

• Afterward, we got sandwiches from Stachowski’s Deli. They took forever, and then the bus right next door was going to be another 20 minutes. So we just ended up walking all the way back home.

• Last minute, we decided to take a bus down to the National Mall to see the Lincoln Memorial at night. WORTH IT. We saw the Vietnam Memorial as well as the Reflecting Pool. It was spontaneous and exciting, and it was really a perfect end to the trip.

Tuesday May 2

• Quiche for one last time🥲 I couldn’t eat much because I was nauseous / anxious about flying.

• Headed to DCA for our flight, which left at around 1:00pm

Typing it all out, it looks like it wasn’t that much. But when you’ve got little kids, and you’re walking so much (the kids hit 20,000 steps most days), it’s just exhausting! If it were only me and Cameron, we’d have just kept going even if we were tired.

I’m happy with what we did, and there’s so much more we’ll get to do next time.

Conclusion

If you’ve got any questions at all about DC, traveling, lodging, food, budgets, anything, send them my way! I’m happy to help. ❤️

Bethany