dc

Two Saturdays ago was a particularly rough day for Ryan making it a particularly rough day for me. Since he was still on the ventilator I decided to leave the hospital for a little food and fresh air. After lunch I wasn’t ready to head back so I drove through the streets of DC taking in all our old familiar haunts and enjoying the hustle and bustle of the city. Yes, I actually enjoyed it. I may have even laughed out loud as a multitude of horns barked their warnings across a city that’s always in a hurry and never on time (something you hardly hear in our new polite and patient city). Everywhere I looked I saw 15 years of making memories with Henry and even more years of making memories as a child.

Asking me my favorite place in DC is like asking me my favorite book – impossible to narrow down. However, since I enjoy a challenge, I put together a list of a few of my favorite things off the beaten track. This is in no way a comprehensive list of my favorite things since I purposefully tried to steer away from the typical “Top Tourist” list you might find elsewhere. Here goes:

1) Ford’s Theater:
The National Park Service runs scheduled tours giving the history of the museum and story of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. It’s one of the few places in DC where I get the same goosebumps I get standing in historic places of Europe.  There are a limited number of free tickets per day. Additional tours are available for $2.50 per person. Ford’s Theater is located off the Mall area at 511 Tenth Street NW. It’s walking distance from The Mall. At the National History Museum, cross over Constitution Ave. and follow10th street away from The Mall. Or utilize one of the parking garages near Ford’s Theater and walk to the Mall for your sightseeing after doing a morning tour.

2) Meridian Hill Park
This beautiful European-inspired park is a bit off the beaten path in a more residential part of the city. However, it’s a great place to take a picnic lunch and rest after a morning of sight-seeing. You can find it on the corner of 16th and Euclid NW.

5) Paul Bakery
Recently I was looking for a bakery that serves more than muffins, danishes, and the ever-present, somewhat popular cupcake. I needed real desserts – the kind worth using calories on. I called my dad, a DC resident, who promptly introduced me to the Paul Bakery in Georgetown. The cafe menu includes soups, salads, savory crepes, and warm sandwiches. I had a ham and cheese croquette with a side salad that were very good. However, what I came for was the desserts which are handcrafted daily and out-of-this world. We tried the macaroons (good enough to make you swoon), the blueberry tart, the raspberry tart, and the rum-soaked crepes crowns (they have a formal name I can’t remember). The only one I wasn’t fond of was the rum-soaked crepes crowns. I’m still thinking about the macaroons a week and a half later!The great thing is they have three locations in the city: 801 Pennsylvania Ave NW, 1078 Wisconsin Ave NW (Georgetown), and 1000 Connecticut Ave NW (opening June 4).

6) Dr. Granville Moore’s
Henry and I discovered this place thanks to Bobby Flay and the Food Network. After the chef here beat Bobby Flay by cooking the better moules and frittes (mussels and fries) we knew we had to give the place a try. It’s now one of our favorite stops when we’re in DC. Way off the beaten track on 1238 H Street NE, it’s a great place to grab a Belgian beer and munch on pub fare. Be sure to try the mussels and dipping sauces that come special with the frittes. If you’re going on a weekend night, please be aware the wait can be up to 3 hours if you aren’t willing to sit at the bar. Get there early or plan on waiting around awhile for a table to open up.

7) The Natural Geographic Museum
This museum can be hit or miss depending on your interests. It’s worth taking a look at their website if you’re planning a visit since they tend to have some exclusive items come through their doors. Our family was lucky enough to see the Terra Cotta Warriors on their travels through the United States. It’s located at 1145 17th Street NW.

8) Sticky Fingers
Totally off the main trek, Stinky Fingers is a vegan cafe and bakery in the Columbia Heights neighborhood. (where you can also find a Target and Giant food store if you need something in a pinch) They make a wicked salty sweet cookie and a spin off of an oatmeal cookie sandwich called a Cowvin. They can be found at 1370 Park Road NW.

9) Farrah Olivia in Crystal City
I’m going out on a limb here, but I just spent 2 hours looking for the name of the restaurant Henry and I stumbled upon years ago when either Natalie or Ainsley was a baby and I’m positive this is it. My mother-in-law was watching our child(ren) so Henry and I could connect for a few days. We spent the afternoon at Mount Vernon stopping in Old Town Alexandria for lunch at the original location of Farrah Olivia. Chef Morou is now a local DC celebrity having since won an Iron Chef episode.  He has a new fancy-smancy location in Crystal City. The reason I’m out on this limb not having eaten in the new place or having eaten there at all for most likely five years is because our first experience with this chef was amazing. Having grown up in Africa with a French-influenced mother,  “he has described his cooking as similar to his speaking voice, ‘American with an accent,” according to a press release on his website. The new location is still somewhat on the way to Mount Vernon, but is no longer open for lunch. Check the website for location and dining times and let me know if it’s as good as I remember!

A Tip for Getting Around:
If you are looking down on a map of DC you see a big green space from the Capitol Building all the way to the Lincoln Memorial with the Washington Monument in the middle. Many of DC’s monuments and museums are found in this area, however a number of other attractions lie throughout the city. Numbered streets come off the mall perpendicular in sequence starting at 1st Street. Lettered Streets run parallel to the mall starting with C Street. Working from that grid, the streets above the mall on the Constitution Ave. side where the National Art Museum and Natural History Museums are is the Northwest section of the city up to the Capitol Building. Beyond the Capitol Building, but above the mall is the Southwest section of the city.  Below The Mall on the Independence Ave side beyond the Air and Space Museum, the Botanical Gardens, and the Smithsonian Castle is the Northeast section of the city. Then again, past the Capitol Building but on the same side is the Southeast section of the city. If you are lost, you want to work your way toward 1st street and the beginning letters of each section to return to the Capitol Building. If you want to be at the other side of the mall, over toward the Lincoln Memorial and Arlington Cemetery, you want to be around 23rd street. You can always get back to the Smithsonian Museums and the mall if you remember this. Because there are different quadrants and two sets of letters and numbers with four suffixes, you need to pay attention in the address to if it’s NE, NW, SW, or SE. There are states thrown into the mix and a grid of streets named alphabetically starting with one syllable and working up to three (I think). But focus on the letters and numbers if you’re trying to move toward or away from the Mall. Other than that, use your GPS!

If I were you: