Washington DC Sites-To-See List

I just had a terrifically fun visit with the parents and Grandpa, and had the same realization I always have when folks visit: there's so much in DC to see, yet, when they arrive, I never seem to have any fresh ideas to offer them.

So, now, I'm going to start planning ahead. I'm going to use this blog post to catalog sites in and around DC that I'd like to eventually see. When folks come to visit, we can check out this list for ideas. When I hear about new things, I can add it to the list. (Like how I say the past few sentences like I'm actually going to live up to this? Hope so.)

This page will be like my a gift wishlist, only for places to see.

Oh, and won't you help me out by putting up your own suggestions? The more obscure and wacky, the better! Remember, you could be the next visitor to the Simon household, and you wouldn't want to be stuck just driving around and looking at the same old monuments.

Always Enjoyable Stuff To Do

• Take a hike around Theodore Roosevelt Island
• Have a picnic while watching the airplanes take off at Gravelly Point
• Schlep out to the Udvar Hazy National Air and Space Museum to see all sorts of very cool airplanes
• Watch a movie and drink beer at the Arlington Draft House
• See the DC Monuments at night. Freezing cold weather is optional for this one.
• Tour the Newseum. The Pulitzer Photo Exhibit alone is worth the price of admission.
• Shop local artists at the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria. It's shopping you can feel good about.
• Find fresh goodness and terrific people watching at Eastern Market.
• Take a walk along the Georgetown Waterfront for some excellent scenery and people watching.
• Tour the National Building Museum
• Walk around the US Botanic Garden (which becomes even better when it's chilly outside)
• Take the tram and picnic at the US National Arboretum.

Stuff Yet To Be Done

• Take the Pentagon tour - Careful: this one requires 15 days notice to get in

• Catch a show at the Kennedy Center
• See the Arlington Historical Museum - it's small, but just up the street and is our local history.
• Visit the US Marine Corps Museum
• Take in the DEA Museum.
• Tour the Voice of America
• Take a historic walk through Washington, D.C.
• Visit the small, but interesting National Museum of American Jewish Military History. I have it on good authority that this is an interesting one.
• Check out the very impressive looking George Washington Masonic Memorial in Alexandria. Anything that imposing, has to be cool.
• Drop in on the NSA at the National Cryptologic Museum.
• Get a tour of the Phillips Collection of Impressionist and Modern Art. Not free, but highly recommended.
• Be a captain of a pedal boat on the Tidal Basin.
• Visit the Library of Congress
• See the monuments at Sunrise
• Climb up to the top of the Netherlands Carillon - especially near Memorial Day, when all the graves at Arlington Cemetery have flags.
• Eat lunch at the National Museum of the American Indian.
• Go to a show at the 9:30 Club. Or listen to bluegrass at the Birchmere, which has this weird dinner theater vibe.
• Embassy hopping near Dupont Circle
• People-watch in Georgetown.
• Catch a movie at the Uptown Theater
• Catch Smithsonian Folklife Festival. The night concerts are usually the best part by far.
• Visit Freedom Park in Rosslyn. See a ballot box from South African elections, a piece of the Berlin Wall, and a replica of a boat used by Cuban refugees.
• Visit the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and watch cash being made.
• Visit the Reston Zoo for a more intimate zoo experience
• Visit the NRA Gun Museum

OK, this list is woefully incomplete. Please, what can you suggest as a must do in DC that I should add to it?