Wonderful Washington

I recently traveled to Washington D.C. with my parents to visit several colleges.  While I value the observations and opinions of others, there is nothing like experiencing something in person.  You learn so much more when you can see it, touch it, smell it and EXPERIENCE it for yourself. 

During our first day of travel, I was amazed at the number of forms of transportation we encountered.  We drove our car to the airport and rode on a shuttle bus from the parking lot.  While in Washington, we took taxis, the Metro, a trolley tour and we walked, and walked and walked.  Even if we had not seen anything, I enjoyed experiencing all of the different modes of transportation.

I recommend doing some research before visiting any new location, but I especially recommend doing your homework before visiting Washington.  Washington offers so many FREE things to do.  However, it is helpful (and sometimes necessary) to sign up for many of these free tours before you arrive.   For example, we went online and made reservations to tour the Washington monument.  I didn’t realize how great this was until we actually went to the monument and I saw a long line of people standing in the scorching heat at the ticket booth.  Since we already had our tickets, we walked past them and straight up to the monument for our reserved time.  We also called our Congressman (ahead of time) and made reservations to tour the Capitol.  The one free thing that did not work out for us was the tour of the White House.  We did not realize you need to call your congressman nearly six months in advance to schedule this tour.  But now we know.

While I recommend researching your destinations before you go, I also believe you need to keep your eyes open and be spontaneous, for you never know what you might see.

My first example of this took place after dinner our first night in Washington.  We came out of the restaurant and saw a large crowd gathered across the street.  We also saw several Police cars and black SUVs parked in front of a men’s clothing store.  We asked those around us and they said they thought it was somebody famous.  As we tried to get closer, VP Joe Biden (and about 10 Secret Service agents) came out of the store.  Once the VP was in his car, the guys in suits scrambled into their SUVs and they drove away.  How often do you get to see the Vice President in person?

We had been hearing about a new show on TLC called DC Cupcakes.  Being spontaneous, we decided to take a chance and see if we could find it.  So, we grabbed a cab.  The cab driver knew exactly where it was located and warned us in his broken English, “always long line.”  He was right.  There was a long line, but it was worth the wait.  Once we entered the store, the aroma of freshly baked cupcakes smelled like heaven.  After much deliberation, we placed our order for a dozen assorted cupcakes and took them back to our hotel.  That night was the actual debut of the new show and we saw some of the people on the show that we had just seen while at the store.  And oh yes, we were eating actual cupcakes from the store while watching the show.  How cool is that?

I could tell you more, but why depend on what I say?  Instead, I recommend you travel to Washington D.C. and experience it for yourself.