washington dc – The Sol Compass

Monday with Mac: Spring Weekend in D.C.

It is my opinion that everybody needs to go to Washington, DC at some point in their lifetime. Besides being our Nation’s capital, it holds an immense amount of historical information and knowledge. Beyond that, it is one of the most beautiful cities on the East Coast.

Now, being someone that grew up 30 miles outside of Boston and who was constantly visiting family in NYC this takes a lot for me to say, but it’s true: DC is an awesome city.

Even though I’m just a 7 hour car ride away, my gal pal and I decided to fly. The flights were cheap on Southwest and we wanted to maximize our time. Ronald Reagan Airport is very easy and it’s a short drive (or metro ride) away from the “downtown” area if you will.

I highly recommend everyone go in the springtime and if you can, catch the beautiful cherry blossom festival. It was an absolute dream come true to see this amazing plethora of cherry blossoms! Spring is the perfect time to go for a long weekend, even though you could spend a month in DC and probably still not do everything. Here’s what we could manage in about 4 days:

Smithsonian National Zoo:

The zoo is located in Woodley Park which happened to be right up the street from our hotel. If you are staying downtown, there is a Metro Stop right down the street from the Zoo, so it is very easy to get to!

The main attraction here has to be the pandas, but they have other highlighted animals like elephants, zebras, cheetahs, gorillas and tigers; plus a lot of cool indoor exhibits for reptiles, small mammals, and Amazonia. This is definitely a great place for kids, but also for adults too. Who doesn’t love animals?

American History Museum:

For me, this one was a no-brainer. To be in the nation’s capital where there is so much history, it was so exciting to go see more highlights from America’s past. Here, we were able to see an amazing exhibit on food- including Julia Child’s kitchen- as well as a transportation exhibit and an exhibit on the First Ladies which was a personal favorite! (All of the beautiful inauguration gowns were there *heart eyes*)

National Air & Space Museum:

This museum is so cool. It takes you through the history of flight, with different exhibits at different times of the amazing evolution of air travel. Amelia Earhart, the Wright Brothers, the Tuskegee Airmen, along with some other amazing pilots. They also had some very cool exhibits on space travel, the planets, and time and navigation. This museum was very educational, and very fun. Who doesn’t love giant planes and rocket ships hanging from the ceiling??

U.S. Botanic Garden:

Absolutely stunning. This was such a cool stop and I am so glad we decided to go in, as it wasn’t on our original list. Walking in, I was mainly just happy that the building was warm, as it was a little windy out. But they had the most beautiful gardens to walk through. There were different rooms for different climates. Watch out! Some of the rooms mist the plants every few minutes so you may get a little wet!

Tidal Basin and the CHERRY BLOSSOMS:

The tidal basin is already a beautiful location to walk around, and see the Jefferson Monument and the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. I highly suggest it. BUT WITH THE CHERRY BLOSSOMS ITS EVEN MORE AMAZING!!

The cherry blossoms are one of the most incredible sights on the East Coast. The amount of cherry trees alone is purely jaw-dropping. So if you have the flexibility and can plan your trip around the forecast for the year, you definitely should because this is not to be missed! (The peak bloom is usually only a few days, but the festival goes on for a few weeks and the cherry trees are still beautiful!)

Monuments/Memorials:

All of the monuments and memorials in Washington DC are amazing. Unfortunately, we were not able to see all of them, but here are the ones we saw that I highly recommend:

Washington
Lincoln
(Reflecting pool)
Martin Luther King Jr.
Jefferson
World War II

And of course, you must see the Capitol Building! We didn’t go inside, but we hung out on the lawn for a bit and took some pictures- it is stunning!

Cool Neighborhoods:

Woodley Park
DuPont Circle
Georgetown

The Metro:

This is going to sound so silly, but the metro was one of my favorite parts of this trip. We stayed in Woodley Park, which meant that we needed to take the Metro a lot, but it was SO easy! The stations were beautiful and clean, and the trains were as well! It’s very easy to navigate and definitely cheaper than ubering everywhere. You also do enough walking in DC as it is, so sometimes it’s nice to just grab the metro back. I highly recommend it!

BONUS! As some of you may know, I have celiac disease, so I eat completely gluten free. Below are a few gems I found with gluten free options in DC!

District of Pi Pizzeria – Gluten Free Pizza!
Wicked Waffle – Gluten Free Beligan style Waffles!
Rise Bakery – Everything is gluten free- bagels, croissants, cookies, etc! Some things are dairy/egg free as well depending!
Plan B Burger Bar – Gluten free burger buns!
Rosa Mexicano – Gluten free chips/ taco shells and other options! (the guac is amazing!)

Thanks for reading! Caitlin and our dad went to DC for the Cherry Blossom Festival also a few years ago! You can read her posts about it here and here!

DC Food

Quick recap: my dad and I went to DC about a month ago for the Cherry Blossom festival and a quick whirlwind history lesson. Our unofficial family motto is “food over fellowship” so needless to say we weren’t popping into a chain restaurant whenever we could find one. Sometimes this results in a lot of hanger as we try to find the right place, but it is almost always worth it to experience something we don’t have at home.

One thing I have heard my dad say on vacations time and time again is “there is nothing near *insert tourist destination here* that resembles a restaurant!” While we were in D.C. this statement was proving to be true. It was mid-afternoon at the National Mall and we were both well past hungry, fearing we would be reduced to eating at the Boston Market inside the Air & Space Museum, when I noticed a sign outside the National Museum of the American Indian advertising native cuisine. We had prioritized other museums, so we may not have even gone inside to uncover this little gem had the sign not been there! The cafe, Mitsitam, was totally worth it, and may have been the best museum food I have ever eaten. If you’re spending a day popping in and out of museums, there really is no other logical food option in the National Mall without venturing out towards Penn Quarter. We went late afternoon, so there were hardly any other patrons there, and the staff was unbelievably friendly and incredibly knowledgeable about the cuisine and the flavors of each region. The owners actually went to reservations to do research for the authenticity of the menu! It’s definitely more expensive than some other cafeteria options may be, but when you aren’t paying for museums it’s hard to complain too much, especially when the flavors are so worth it. I had buffalo chili cheese fries (because I am a child) and fry bread with prickly pear agua fresca, while my dad had the five region sampler (sold by the salmon) and said the octopus salad and tres leches were his favorites. A lot of the food are options you just can’t find up near us, so if that’s the case for you (even if it isn’t) I’d say this is a can’t miss based on location alone.

If you go to DC, there is no reason to not go to Farmers Fishers Bakers. None at all. It has everything Papa Hum loves (fresh seasonal ingredients farm to table style, house-made bread) combined with everything I love (environmentally friendly and sustainable, rustic chic interior design with intimate table settings). Every employee we encountered was knowledgeable, friendly, and genuinely passionate about the restaurant. The location was prime-right on the Washington Harbour in Georgetown, just a quick walk away from the shops of M Street. We ordered the pretzels and kettle corn for appetizers. The pretzels were pretty good, but the kettle corn was absolutely out of this world. I’ve thought about driving down to DC just for that kettle corn about 19 times since I got back. It’s homemade, and you can actually walk over to the kitchen to watch it being made in the whirley pot, and it’s delivered to your table hot and fresh. So good. Seriously my mouth is watering as I write this. For my meal I ordered the roasted vegetable, avocado, and brie sandwich on homemade apple walnut raisin bread, and it was way more delicious than any sandwich has a right to be. By the time the two of us crushed that pot of kettle corn we were way too full for dessert, but the table next to us certainly seemed to be enjoying theirs! The only thing is the secret is definitely out, and you can definitely anticipate quite a long wait without reservations, so definitely plan ahead!

When I’m traveling, I find myself most often snacking on small meals and grab and go style items during the day, and just fueling up on hotel breakfasts and big dinners, because there is always just so much I want to do I wind up constantly moving from one sight to the next. Luckily I found two local places that were perfect for this: Wicked Waffle and GCDC! As someone who has multiple celiac family members, it’s important to note that both of them have gluten free options!

Wicked Waffle is a tiny little place you cannot expect to snag a seat at (although luckily we did grab one of the few outdoor tables thanks to good timing). The waffles are not at all like the waffles you have at the hotel buffet (oof). They are light and crispy, made without butter or syrup, and the perfect sweet tooth craving. I got the strawberry and nutella, my dad got the roasted fuji apples and cinnamon waffle; both were extraordinary. The best part was definitely eating a waffle without that feeling of having a brick in your stomach afterwards!

Shameless snapchat picture from the trip. Follow along @chummer17!

GCDC, or Grilled Cheese DC, is an upscale grilled cheese bar in the shadow of the White House. All the ingredients are fresh and local, and who doesn’t love grilled cheese?! I made my own creation (jalapeños, avocados, pepper jack, and the gcdc sauce on sourdough) and my dad got the mediterranean (feta, mozzarella, roasted red peppers, and artichoke hearts on olive bread). They also have cocktails, wine, and beer available after 4pm, and an evening menu which looks absolutely out of this world-I wish we had the chance to try it!

There were a few other places we ate at while we were there, but they weren’t anything special or noteworthy. Other places I had wanted to try but never got to included District Taco and Olivia Macaron.

What are your strategies for dining on vacation? Sound off in the comment section! Thanks for reading!

xo, C

Cherry Blossom Festival

It’s a tad overdue, but today I’m finally sharing pictures from my trip to Washington, D.C.! I have so much to share with you all over the next few weeks, I’m going to try ramping up my game to five posts a week (Monday-Friday, still at 6AM EST). We’ll see if I’m able to keep up with it, but for now I’m excited to be able to share more content every week.

Seeing the magnitude of the Cherry Blossoms in peak bloom around the Tidal Basin is an astounding experience, and one that I’ve hoped to have the pleasure of seeing for quite some time now. Homaro Cantu once said that the cherry blossoms represent the fragility and the beauty of life. They are a reminder that life is almost overwhelmingly beautiful but that it is also tragically short. Seeing how quickly peak bloom comes and goes is the epitome of this sentence, and I feel so fortunate that I was able to be there the day before peak bloom when the trees were so very beautiful and full of life.

I’m a naturally early riser, and chasing sunrises is one of my favorite hobbies. However I’m not sure I’ve ever had such an experience that was as rewarding as the sunrises I saw in DC. We got up extra early every day we were there to make sure we could get down to the Tidal Basin or the Lincoln Memorial to find parking and prime sunrising viewing spots. It was 100% worth it.

I had an unfortunate incident involving dropping my DSLR lens while trying to get the perfect shot, which resulted in a broken lens and a mini panic attack on my part. Luckily my iPhone came to the rescue and managed to snap a few shots while I was trying to capture the fleeting sunrise at its prime (the two photos below).

This J.Crew Factory dress was perfect for a spring day. I love the attention to detail in the laser cut floral print, and the bright pink was perfect for both DC sightseeing and an Easter mass with a quick swap of accessories!

Outfit Details – Dress: J.Crew Factory | Jacket: Express | Sneakers: Vans | Necklaces: Bauble Bar (here and here) | Purse: Coach Factory (old, similar here and here)

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great week!
xo, C