One of the things I love about DC is that there’s.so.much.to.do. Monuments!
Memorials! Museums! Oh my! It’s definitely too much to cover in one trip.
However, when a favorite aunt comes to town for only a few days, that’s when ya
make it hap’n, cap’n.
DC in two days? BRING IT.
Having done a fair amount of traveling, I intimately
understand the sadness of not being able to do all the things you’d like to do
in a destination city. (London, I will return to you.) Thus, here are some quick tips to help you out:
Condense your city
into a concise list of priorities.
Don’t feel badly about the things you leave out – it’s tourist season,
Jefferson won’t even notice that you stood him up for Lincoln. He’ll be too
busy fending off about a quadrillion 8th grade tour groups.
It’s ok to fudge the
numbers a little. You want to see the Smithsonian. Awesome. Me too. But the
Smithsonian consists of no fewer than 19 museums and 9 different research
centers, and each of those museums has multiple floors and multiple wings, with
rotating exhibits and 3-D movies and fancy gift shops. Is it physically
possible to see all this stuff? Erm, no. Soooo…pick one. Bam. You saw the
Smithsonian. (I recommend the Air and Space Museum – it hits a lot of cool
stuff you don’t necessarily get in school.)
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| Wentelteefjes: Belgian “French” toast. |
Go with some
city-savvy locals. (Ahem, I’m city-savvy now, my blog says so in the
title!) Locals will show you how to navigate the metro system quickly and
efficiently (escalators: stand on the right, walk on the left!), tell you
what’s worth seeing and what’s not, and introduce you to cool little
holes-in-the-wall that the guidebook didn’t mention (Belga Café – my favorite
brunch spot!).
Never.stop.walking. If
you do, you’re done. You’ll never get started again. Just ignore your aching
limbs and bruised feet – pain is weakness leaving the body.
Refuel with mango
margaritas. Okay fine, it’s ok to stop for alcohol.
Be spontaneous. I
like to think of The Plan as more of The Suggestion. Sometimes adhering so
strictly to The Plan actually just makes us miserable. So, if you get the
sudden urge to walk barefoot through the grass at Arlington Cemetery, or dip
your toes in the pool at the Sculpture Garden, or run naked around the
Washington Monument, do it.
Okay, maybe don’t do that last one. Let someone else do
that, and then you can gawk and get pictures as they get dragged away by police.
And finally, enjoy your exhaustion
at the end of the day. You earned it.
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| Do we look related, or what? |
you do look alike!
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