Sharing our getaway weekend in the capital.
Travel day! My motto for flights is to wear your bulkiest/heaviest pieces to save space in your suitcase. So I tossed on these boots and made sure to wear my leather jacket.
A few other packing tips include:
- Only bring a single set of jewelry. (I wear mine on the plane to avoid losing it/having to untangle it later.)
- Streamline your makeup to one look that can be intensified for evening. (For me it was a classic deep brown eyeshadow that I could wear for day as a liner with mascara and then amp up to a smokey eye at night)
- Limit your shoes. (I know, I knowa€“ so hard but honestly, do you ever end up wearing all seven pairs?!)
We landed in DC and headed to the hotel (the Sofitel in Lafayette Square) and did a little freshening up before meeting our friend, Thao, for dinner + drinks.
We started off at a Japanese place in Adam’s Morgan called Don Buri. Thao swore it was some of the best food in the citya€“ and he wasn’t wrong. Don Buri bills their menu as “Japanese comfort food”, which is a great description. Hot bowls of fresh rice with curry gravy, homemade buckwheat noodles, and Panko-fried shrimp all served to you at a small wooden bar. It’s cozy and casual, and the food is really good.
With full bellies, it was time for drinks. We popped into Black Jack a few doors downa€“ a quirky, moody space with loud (but fun!) music and lots of leather couches to lounge on. Plenty of groups celebrating the end of the workweek over shots and dance-offs, so the people-watching was quite good.
My drink of choice for a long night out is tequila and soda with lime. Low sugar (which cuts the calories? and the hangover chances), bright and citrusy, but with a bite. Tequila is my favorite!
After Black Jack, we grabbed an Uber and headed to U Street, a part of the city with a super busy nightlife scene. Felt like a more hyped-up Mass Street (if you’re KU/Lawrence-familiar). We hit Takoda, where we gathered on the rooftop, drinks in hand. The weather was gorgeousa€“ low 70s and no humiditya€“ so we wanted to take advantage and sit out in the fresh air.
It was a really sweet spot, but at one point we looked around and realized we were clearly the oldest people in the bar. Tons of college kids (and young ones, at that). Immediate laughs and jokes about arthritis before we slammed our drinks and peeled out.
The final stop of the night was a place called Provision 14 in the 14th Corridor. Apparently quite the spot for dinner, it also stays open until 3 a.m. and throws quite the rager on the second level bar. Another fun spot where people were letting loose and blowing off steam; you get the feeling that DC works so hard during the week and then just? lets loose over the weekend. (I’m sure this is the same in every big city, and I’m just used to that south KC suburban life, ha.)
P14 did offer a nice little photo op. This was taken at approximately 1:30 a.m. and after several tequila and sodas. But, you know, anything for the shot.
Dave and I slept in a bit the next morninga€“ that wasn’t exactly the plan, but we needed the extra zzz’s after crawling into bed around 3:00 a.m. We may hang with the college kids (for a time), but we do not bounce back like the college kids.
On the docket for day two: the National Air and Space Museum at the Smithsonian and then catching an Uber across the river to Virginia to see the Cirque du Soleil Volta show.
We walked from our hotel in Lafayette Square down to the National Mall, where about half of the Smithsonian museums are located. (There are 20 total Smithsonians!) It was a sunny day and the walk there was so pretty.
We walked from our hotel in Lafayette Square down to the National Mall, where about half of the Smithsonian museums are located. (There are 20 total Smithsonians!) It was a sunny day and the walk there was so pretty.
After wolfing down a few hot dogs from one of the food trucks lining the National Mall (I mean, what’s? more American than that?), we finally headed into the National Air and Space Museum.? So many of the museums in DC are freea€“ which is amazing! We were able to pop right in and start exploring.
After wandering around the museum for a few hours, we caught an Uber to Tyson’s Corner for the Cirque show. But first, a mango Moscow mule with Thao at Earl’s.
The Cirque show was such a fun way to spend the afternoona€“ I’ve never seen anything like it! Seriously, those athletes + performers are beyond talented. The show was set up in this temporary (but super fancy) tent in Tyson’s Corner. It was totally like going to an old-school circus (except with beer options and air conditioning, bless).
Post-Cirque, we took a train (DC has a really amazing public transit system; KC would do well to take some notes!) back to the hotel so we could change for dinner and (another, ha) night on the town.
We had a few drinks on the patio of the Sofitel, enjoying the evening before the night really got started. Again, the gorgeous weather was just too good to pass up. All outdoors, all the time please!
