Cheap Megabus tickets and our willingness to sit through what some would call excruciating bus trips have really opened up our weekend getaway possibilities. Next in our series of 24-48 hour adventures is our mini-trip to Washington, DC!
Now, Sarah and I have both been to DC before, so we weren't too set on seeing all of the typical sites. When we first arrived, we figured we'd get the big ones out of the way right off the bat. We walked to the Capitol, down the National Mall to the Washington Monument, and over to The White House. Quite frankly, you don't need someone to tell you to visit these types of things in DC, you already know what they are and where to find them. I'm much more interested in the "regular" parts of a city - bars, restaurants, neighborhoods, etc.
If you watched the Who is Surznick? video, you know that I'm definitely a bit of an architecture geek. I know absolutely nothing about it, but looking at buildings and drooling over how they look is definitely one of my favorite past times. When we're in a new city, my favorite thing to do is just wander around and take in the all the buildings. To me, it is one of the best ways to see how I feel about a particular place or neighborhood. Of course, because of how short this trip was, we were only able to see a tiny glimpse of it, but much of what we saw was pretty awesome. There is certainly no shortage of beautiful buildings and cute neighborhoods in DC!
With the typical sites seen and some preliminary exploring out of the way, it was time to get some grub in our bellies. We got so many awesome food recommendations from friends, and it was hard to choose, but we decided on Right Proper Brewing Company. (Something about the word "brewing" in the name of a restaurant tends to sell me pretty quickly.) Stellar vegetarian friendly food, great beer served in wine glasses, awesome atmosphere, and a dessert special to celebrate Kristen Wiig's birthday? We definitely made the right choice for our first meal in DC.
After supper, it was time to hurry over to Sixth & I synagogue to see the show that brought us to DC in the first place, Gilmore Guys! If you're a fan of Gilmore Girls like Sarah and I are, you absolutely MUST listen to the Gilmore Guys podcast. We've been a fan for some time now, and when we saw that they were doing a tour of live shows, we knew we had to go. It was an absolutely hilarious time. If we did nothing else on our trip but see this show and head back home, it still would have been well worth it.
Day 2 started off early with breakfast, coffee (duh) at Bakers and Baristas, strapping on our backpacks, and hitting the pavement to cram as much exploring in as we could before our bus pulls out at 4:05 PM.
Over morning coffee, Sarah and I quickly decided that we were going to do our last few hours in DC right and bar hop until our time was up. We were able to hit a couple (or five) and here's what we discovered:
1. District Chophouse and Brewery is a very nice place, where the bartenders are in suits and "proper attire" is required. All beer is brewed in house and is pretty good, but if you have on cutoff jean shorts and a backpack, maybe skip this one until you're ready for a nice night out!
2. Penn Social is absolutely huge. Part craft beer house, part night club, part arcade, part sports bar, this place has everything. Luckily for us, the fact that we were the only ones in the entire place at 1:00 PM, and the manager is a huge Steelers fan meant that we drank in that bar FO FREE!
And just like that, after a whirlwind 28 hours, it was time to board the bus and head back to good old Pittsburgh. We had an absolute blast in DC, and I'm already eager to get back down there and explore some more!
Sarah & Nick