Hello and welcome to my first blog post of 2023! I recently traveled to Washington DC for a work trip and it was surprisingly my first time visiting. I can’t believe it was my first time visiting our nation’s capitol and I’m so glad I got to finally go. In this post, I will be sharing where we stayed, ate, and explored – I am shocked at how much we did in such a short amount of time. We flew direct from Phoenix to Ronald Reagan National Airport, which was conveniently less than a 20 minute drive from our hotel.
Where we stayed:
My work booked us at Courtyard by Marriott Washington, DC Dupont Circle and it was in such a quaint spot. I really liked how the hotel was located in more of a residential area instead of the loud city and it was convenient/safe to walk around. The rooms were very clean, updated, and comfortable, along with friendly staff.
Where we explored:
- The White House
- Museum of Natural History – no ticket needed for entry
- National Archives Museum – $2 tickets needed for timed entry, reserved in advance
- United States Capitol
- City Center DC
- Washington Monument
- Lincoln Memorial
- Vietnam Veterans Memorial
- Korean War Veterans Memorial
- Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial
- The Wharf
Where we ate/drank:
Dinner Saturday: Le Diplomate – such an amazing ambiance, delicious food (I got the Steak Frites), great service, and yummy drinks
Breakfast Sunday: Tatte Bakery – loved this cute bakery! I got a vanilla latte and breakfast sandwich, both were delicious. They also had a wide variety of pastries, which we didn’t try, but everything looked delicious and the bakery had a great ambiance.
Lunch Sunday: The Smith – We randomly stumbled across this spot and we ended up loving it! We sat in the bar area and the atmosphere was so fun. They had a great brunch menu, Charlie and I ended up splitting a burger and mac & cheese – the mac & cheese was homestyle and SO good.
Dinner Sunday: We were so tired from site seeing so we just picked up Chipotle on our way back to the hotel – no explanation needed for Chipotle haha.
Breakfast Monday: Gregory’s Coffee – I got a vanilla latte, chocolate croissant, and yogurt parfait before work and my coffee and croissant were delicious. The parfait was just okay, but the coffee shop was so cute.
Lunch Monday: Work catered lunch.
Dinner Monday: Whiskey Charlie and Hank’s Oyster Bar – we went to the wharf and made it just in time for a beautiful sunset over the water. We first went to Whiskey Charlie for a drink and the views from this rooftop bar were amazing! We then went to Hank’s Oyster Bar for dinner and it was probably my least favorite meal while we were in DC. It wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t as great as our other meals. I thought the fish & chips were breaded too heavy and just didn’t love it as much as I thought I would.
Breakfast Monday: Joe & The Juice – another quick breakfast stop before work. I got the Power Shake & a vanilla latte. I actually tried Joe & The Juice for the first time last year in London and LOVED the latter I got, it was one of the best ones I ever had. Sadly, the latte I had in DC wasn’t as good as that one, but still did the trick. 🙂
Lunch Monday: Work catered lunch.
Dinner Monday: The Hamilton – We absolutely loved this restaurant! It was very close to The White House and we loved the ambiance of the restaurant. I got the Italian sausage rigatoni and it was delicious. We had great service and definitely recommend this spot.
How we got around:
We honestly mainly got around by walking. The city is very walkable, depending on where you stay. Our location was very central to many locations and took us 15-20 minutes to walk to a majority of the museums and monuments. My work was also a five minute walk from where we stayed, which was very convenient. It did rain for most of the day on Sunday so we opted to Uber and also used Uber to and from the airport. We also heard public transportation is very convenient and easy to use in the city, we just didn’t have a need for it since we were in walking distance to everything we wanted to explore.
After visiting DC, I would definitely go back and visit again! Everyone was very friendly, overall good food, overall clean city from what we encountered, and there was so much to do and see. We easily could have spent an entire week visiting all of the museums we wanted to see and would love to go back and visit more of them next time.
Shop my DC looks here:
Xoxo,
Jonica