Washington Travel Blogs | Travelogues | Travel Journals

Bhutan: Land of the Thunder Dragon was the theme of the 2008 Smthsonian Folklife Festival. Every summer, the Smithsonian Instiution sponsors the festival on the National Mall to explore the culture and traditions of one country and one US state. The country featured this year was Bhutan. A range of outdoor exhibits told of Bhutan's arts, beliefs, foods, music, architecture, and traditional medicine. More 100 Bhutanese came to Washington to participate in the festival and present t...

D.C. is a beautiful place for people that like history and big monuments. haha Walking around and getting to all of the monuments and memorials is no joke. Try not to pick the hottest day of the year to do this trip because you will be hot!! I showed my friends around D.C. at the end of March which was perfect because the weather was great and not to hot and the cherry blossom trees had just started blooming. They are scattered along the Potomac river and make the city just so much prettier. ...

I have been to DC 5 times now, with the first time being back in 1990 with my government class.   I have always loved this city because of the history and the amount of activities you can do.  My daughter loves to travel and has been curious about DC.  She also loves to fly, so a few days ago I decided I would take her on a day trip to Washington while mom was working.   My daughter had wanted to see some of the monuments, especially the Lincoln Memorial. W...

Today's agenda: Navy Band Concert at DAR Constitution Hall Visit the National Christmas Tree Dinner at That's Amore   After lunch, we piled into the family minivan.  The weather was cloudy, and I had traveled this road many times before, so I decided to grab a little nap before we got into the city.  Luckily I wasn't driving (lol).  We live in the Eastern Panhandle of West Virginia, so the drive to DC usually takes about 1.5 - 2 hours, depending on traffic.  We e...

June 28, 2008     This was a blog I pretty much didn’t expect to write. I have personal reasons, as I am sure everyone does, for writing these things. But among those reasons is not to document my travels for work. I don’t travel in that capacity often. But, when I do it the company likes to keep me busy, to justify the expenses. You can’t blame them, and it is strictly voluntary. The point being, when I travel, unless I want to tell you about the ins and outs of Inventory ...

To celebrate Father's Day this year, Michael and I invited our dads to a Major League baseball game in Washington, DC.  The Nationals have a new stadium this season, so it was a perfect opportunity to see the new venue and to spend quality time with our dads.  My dad had to drive from the central part of WV, and he arrived around noon.  We spent some time chatting, then Michael and his dad picked us up, and we headed to DC.  We stopped in Frederick for a late lunch, t...

Man, DC was one of my favorite places. There were about a million things to see (and lick). I tried hanging out around the White House and getting a shot of Bush, but he never showed up. Man, I don’t even think he lives there! I never saw him. Eventually, I got bored though and did something crazy. You see, my best friend always dares me to do stupid things…(run naked through McDonalds, climb up on the roof of our school and take a piss, steal a car, etc). So, he dared me to jump the Whit...

Monday Well, today I got an unexpected package from the US embassy in Madrid.  It contained the entire contents of my stolen wallet, except the cash and the actual wallet! I don't have to go to DMV to replace my drivers license!! That is a great way to start a week.  :)

Spent most of my day at the National Gallery of Art and the National Portrait Museum.  The National Portrait Museum has paintings of all the Presidents that used to hang in the White House, VERY cool.  The National Gallery of Art has the only DaVinci in the States and tons of Van Gogh, Manet, Monet and Cezane.  I was also able to get in the National Archives to see the Constitution, Declaration and Bill of Rights.  They just got an original of the Magna Carta which was pre...

This was our first time to go downtown to see the Japanese cherry blossoms in full bloom in Washington, DC.  There were also many people flying kites and one boy who thought he was Indiana Jones in a Raider's of the Lost Arc movie.  The area around the Tidal Basin has litterally hundreds of Japanese cherry trees of different types, shades and colors.  This is by far the best time of the year to visit Washington, DC if you can time it right.  The best and most experien...

Today's plan: National Portrait Gallery and then heading north.Dan and I headed over to the District Chophouse for lunch then walked to the National Portrait Gallery. We'd heard this place was worth the trip just to look at the architecture of the building and boy was that an understatement. It took eight years to finish this place and I could definitely see why. The portraits and sculptures inside were almost overshadowed by the building. If you're in DC I would highly reccomend a stop here....

We took the Metro into the city and came up at the Smithsonian station just before 10 AM which allowed us to time our arrival at the Sackler just as it opened.  Located behind the Castle--the original Smithsonian building--the Sackler is usually accessed by wandering through a small garden named after Enid Haupt (who was nearly 100 when she passed away).  Inside the Sackler the only level above ground has a large floral display in honor of Enid Haupt and the start of the sculpture M...

With a 50% chance of rain, Josh and I set off for the Metro station on Saturday morning.  The trip went smoothly; we switched to the red line easily at Chinatown.  The walk up from the Woodley stop was a little uphill but easy to navigate. Once in the zoo, we first walked along the Asia trail, the newest addition to the park.  While the first bear was hard to see behind the frosted glass, the red pandas were definite crowd pleasers since it was feeding time.  They climbed...

My dear friend Noah had asked me to keep a few days open in the beginning of April for a surprise he had prepared for my birthday.  I figured we would be enjoying some local sites around New York City, but Noah doesn’t roll that way, oh no. So that Wednesday morning he asked me to pack my bag, feed the cat and bring something to read.  Of course my reaction was to ask why, but Noah is a man of mystery and refused to say what we were doing.   After arguing for 15 minutes whi...

After some time haggling, Becky, Ken, and I headed into DC on the Green line Metro to see the Ansel Adams exhibit at the Corcoran Art Museum.  The 17th St exit was closed at Farragut North, so we took the long route to get the museum.  Once there, we headed upstairs towards the special exhibit.  At the landing Loop, a unique exhibit with colored lights and music centered around a statue of Venus, diverted our attention for a few minutes before continuing up the steps. I loved ...