For his 11th birthday, L wanted two things: a cellphone and to see the Constitution. (What 11 year old asks to see the Constitution for his birthday?) And so began an extensive planning process for 36 short hours worth of trip to Washington, D.C. so that L could lay his eyes on this living document.
When we travel with the boy(s), we like to have some extra space, so we usually opt for a suite or a suite hotel. Hubby and I have stayed at the Embassy Suites in Alexandria, Virginia and we liked it, so we decided to stay there for this trip too. We love staying at Embassy Suites, because there is always plenty of space, free drinks, and cooked to order omelets for breakfast. What’s not to love about that? (I said FREE DRINKS!!!)
Alexandria, Virginia is about 15-20 minutes outside of D.C. and it could be a destination in itself. For this trip, it was just our “home base.” I loved exploring D.C. from Alexandria and I would do it this way again. However, if I had a young child, I would probably choose to stay in D.C. because of the transportation costs in and out of the city and coordinating rests and naps. Luckily, we don’t have that issue anymore! It’s about a $15 Uber ride, which is our preferred method of transportation, but the King Street Metro Station is conveniently located right across the street from the Embassy Suites, if you prefer. Between parking in Alexandria and four Uber rides, we paid a total of $75 for transportation. We would have paid at least that to park in D.C. and traverse around the city and we didn’t have the headache of driving in D.C. From home and back, we were gone a total of 36 hours. This was our itinerary:
Hard Times Café – Alexandria (the Original)
We arrived in Alexandria at around 11:00 a.m. and we were all starving. So, after locating parking (for only $8 per day!), we walked over to King Street to grab a bite. Being L’s birthday trip, he chose the spot – Hard Times Café. This is a local chain, but the Alexandria location is the original, and the décor hasn’t been updated since it opened in 1980. Their specialty is chili and every meal starts with a free chili sampler and corn bread. The chili sampler is a few bites of their four types of chili – Texas, Cincinnati, Terlingua, and Vegetarian. L quickly declared Terlingua the best chili he’s ever eaten (my vegetarian bean chili used to be his favorite). We each got our favorite style in the preparation of our choice. L had Terlingua as Frito pie – Fritos are placed in the bottom of the bowl and smothered in chili. I had the Vegetarian chili over tater tots, which was delicious. And, Hubby had a plain old bowl of Terlingua (and a nice portion of the Vegetarian over tater tots that I couldn’t eat). L liked it so much that he asked to go back the next day and plans to go back every time we visit D.C. He hasn’t stopped talking about how great it would be to get one in our area.
National Archives – Washington, D.C.
After lunch, it was time for the featured event! We took a quick Uber across the Potomac and were delivered right to the front door of the National Archives. There is a lot more to the National Archives than I realized, but our focus was the Constitution, so we headed right for the Rotunda. We viewed the Bill of Rights, Declaration of Independence, Constitution, and other related documents. Upon entering the Rotunda, L was so excited that it looked exactly like the movie, National Treasure. We spent about an hour in the Archives, but could have easily spent more or less time.
National Mall – Washington, D.C.
We couldn’t let the beautiful day go to waste, so we set off to the National Mall, which is right across the street from the Archives building. To get there, we wandered through the sculpture garden, which I suggest checking out. We walked the entire Mall, which stretches from the Capitol Building to the Lincoln Memorial. Many of the (FREE) Smithsonian museums are also located along the Mall, but we just wanted to be outside in the sunshine! We enjoyed the Washington Monument, WWII Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, and Korean War Memorial. You can clearly see the White House from the north side of the Washington Monument. During my planning, I noted that there aren’t many restaurants along the Mall, with the exception of the museum cafes, but we found the streets lined with food trucks, which was a great alternative!
King Street – Alexandria, VA
We were exhausted from walking, so back to the hotel we Ubered. We arrived just in time for the Manager’s Reception and enjoyed some drinks and snacks while we relaxed. See my post on Embassy Suites for more on the Manager’s Reception – coming soon. Before the trip, I gave L the choice of 3 Alexandria Restaurants for dinner and much to my pleasure, he chose Chadwick’s, which has been recommended to me by friends numerous times. Alexandria offers a free trolley that runs from King Street Station to the Alexandria waterfront, where Chadwick’s is located. So, we hopped on the Trolley and rode to the waterfront, where we took a short walk before dinner. Chadwick’s was not disappointing in the least. I had a delicious nitro cold brew coffee and Hubby got a beer that is usually only available out west. The décor and ambiance were laid back and welcoming. It’s the type of place I could imagine being our go-to dinner hangout if it were closer. Hubby and L went all out, getting buttermilk fried chicken (L) and ribs (Hubby). I got my standard salad with salmon. The ribs and the chicken were both highly recommended by the guys. All was delicious and we left stuffed. Another little walk around King Street and we hopped the trolley back to the hotel. It was a long day, so L crashed in the bedroom, while hubby and I stayed up in the living room and watched the White House Correspondent’s Dinner, which was cool to see, knowing we were so close.
Smithsonian Museums – Washington, D.C.
We started Day 2 with a delicious free breakfast at the hotel and Ubered back to the National Mall for some museums. We spent HOURS at the Air and Space Museum and didn’t even see it all. Admittedly, Hubby takes a long time in museums, because he likes to read every. single. thing. At the Air and Space Museum, don’t miss the gift shop – it’s three levels full of science and adventure fun!
For lunch, we opted to head to Penn Quarter rather than hit the food trucks. It’s a short walk from the mall, with plenty of great restaurant choices. Hubby and I wanted to go to b, but there was a short wait and L just couldn’t wait. So, we went to Gordon Biersch instead. The Washington, D.C. Gordon Biersch is located in an old bank with incredible architecture. This in itself is a reason to eat here. I have to say, this particular experience was severely underwhelming. Service was extraordinarily slow, in part due to the fact that there was one bartender servicing the entire restaurant and wrap around bar. It took us 30 minutes to get a beer. The food service was also slow, and our appetizers came out with no plates or silverware. We waited about 10 minutes until we saw our server and then had another long wait while she went and hunted down silverware, which should have been provided when we were seated. We all enjoyed the food we ordered, though. If this visit had been my first, I probably wouldn’t be back, but we have had much better experiences in the past, so I won’t write it off just yet.
Lunch ended up taking much longer than expected, so we were short on time for the second museum of the day – the Natural History Museum. We have not visited in a few years and there have been a lot of improvements. We got to see the animals, the sea exhibit, the Hope Diamond, and the Mummies. While we would have loved about two more hours, but we had a great time exploring in the limited time we had.
On this trip, we only checked out the Air and Space Museum and the Natural History Museum, but there are lots of free Smithsonian Museums in D.C. to explore:
National Museum of African American History and Culture
National Museum of American History
National Zoo (this is not located along/near the National Mall)
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center (Chantilly, VA – a sibling to the Air and Space Museum)
American Art Museum and Renwick Gallery
Freer and Sackler Galleries (art)
Hirshorn Museum and Sculpture Garden (art)
National Museum of the American Indian
National Museum of African Art
That was our 36-hour trip to Washington, D.C., but one could easily spend a whole week exploring. The best part is that nearly everything (we did) is free!
The Blooming Trouvaille 
Casey! I love reading your blog. If you’re doing Alexandria, Old Towne is awesome. However, there’s a hidden gem (in our opinion) just down Rt. 1. You’ve probably passed the Target a million times going in to the city. To the left is an awesome little neighborhood for eating. We lived there two years and still miss it. We love Del Ray Pizza, Stomping Ground (breakfast – yum), Poblano’s (rumritas or margaritas, take your pick), Dairy Godmother and Live Oak. Oh, and Pork Barrell BBQ. Plus, there’s a tiny little outdoor farmers market on Saturday mornings (I think) and a Papuseria. Anyway, as you can tell- we adore the food and the neighborhood. Fair warning- I don’t know what’s still there or what new places have moved in but it’s so walkable that you can just stroll around!
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