My husband and I experienced a “stars aligned” series of events. Due to a postponement of previously planned occasion, we realized if I took off Friday, we’d have a four-day weekend together.
Of course we thought about a stay-cation. After all it’s the end of the year, Christmas is a few days away. We’re gearing up for a busy holiday season. Then an equally busy January with several birthdays on both sides of the family. Work at the moment is simultaneously hectic and stagnant for us both. And we’ve had quite a year. As the kids say, life has been life-ing. So I thought we could use a little getaway. And surprisingly hubby agreed.
When we first started dating we learned we both love museums. We even got married at one! For two years we’ve been talking about going to the Smithsonian museums in our nation’s capital. And this week we were finally able to make it happen.
Thanks to my husband’s job, getting there was virtually free. And thanks to hotel points we were able to book our three night stay at an amazing rate.
We’ve been there several times before, but never together. So I wanted to curate a unique experience with an emphasis on the museums.
Thursday
Thursday was our travel day, so nothing spectacular to recap. We arrived in DC around 2:00pm and tried to check in to the hotel, Holiday Inn Washington Capitol National Mall, right away. Unfortunately for us and a handful of other guests, their systems were down indefinitely. Not to worry, we were hungry anyway and walked half a block to the plethora of food trucks by the hotel. We settled on a halal truck. I got a chicken shawarma bowl and Ray got a Philly chicken sandwich. After eating we went back to the hotel to see if their systems had been restored. Still no luck. By now it was a little after 3:00pm, the official check in time. Shortly thereafter management announced they’d have to manually check us in. Thankfully they could still make key cards. After a nap we scoped out the gym and then went to dinner in the hotel restaurant.
Friday
Friday we got a later start than I would’ve liked. But alas, this wasn’t a try to cram everything into four days trip. This was meant to be an impromptu romantic getaway. Around noon we grabbed another food truck lunch to the tune of $34 and then headed to what I thought would be the first of a few museums for the day. We took the approximately 20 minute picturesque walk to the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture. For years I’d been raving about this museum to Ray. My parents and I visited it for the first time on Black Friday 2016. The museum was so expansive and riveting, we didn’t get a chance to tour the whole thing. So this time I was determined to see the portions of the museum I didn’t get to tour last time.
As I anticipated, Ray was entirely captivated and engulfed by the museum. To the point where we had to spilt up so that I could experience new portions of the museum this time around.
As an African American woman, a descendent of slaves and grandchild of women who were raised in the Jim Crow south, this museum is HEAVY. And that’s putting it mildly. I truly do not have the words to express the gravity of it all. But it does something special for my soul to see my ancestral history on display. The excellent, the ugly, the exceptional, the triumphs, the downfalls, the pain and struggles. But regardless of your ancestral background, this museum is a must if you’re coming to DC.
We spent four hours in that museum, right up until they closed. Which was when all the museums closed. I’d planned on going to at least on other museum on Friday but we ran out of time.
We headed back to the hotel. Ray walked, but I’d been wanting to try those Lime electric scooters since my last visit here in 2019. Finally I was able to successfully ride one.
We met up down the block from the hotel. Where Ray told me he’d try riding one another time.
One thing I realized about DC is that it’s pretty expensive. If a food truck meal of 2 gyro wraps and 1 bottle of water set us back $34, imagine what a sit down restaurant would cost. Though we saved majorly on transportation and our accommodations, we were still on a budget. Prior to arriving I’d reached out to my best friend Howard for restaurant recommendations. He’d attended Howard University there and visits about once each year. So I knew he’d have great food recommendations.
But it was the hotel’s concierge who ended up recommending our Friday night dinner restaurant. He even called in our reservation for us.
We ended up at Georgia Brown’s. This is a black owned soul food restaurant. The entrees are around $30-45. We ordered the calamari to start. I ordered their gumbo and Ray ordered their fried chicken with a double side of macaroni and cheese. The food was just fine. Nothing spectacular, but not bad at all.
We called it a night after dinner. It was a long day of walking and emotional highs and lows at the museum.
Saturday
Saturday we got an earlier start. We had our leftovers from dinner for breakfast. Then we were off for the day. My goal for Saturday was to get into at least 2 museums.
We started at The Capitol because the weather was absolutely gorgeous. We took several pictures and videos there. Which my husband, the photo guy, absolutely loved.
I think I got some good shots of him. And he snapped a couple good ones of me.
By this time I really needed a coffee. The nearest coffee shop was about a mile away. And on the way there was the Library of Congress. We had plenty of daylight to spare, so we popped right in.
Full disclosure, I wasn’t exactly sure how desirable a destination this would be to visit. I knew the library contained many old books, newspapers, photos, historic artifacts, etc. But I wasn’t sure how much if any of it would be accessible to the general public.
Turns out not very much. But if you wanted to conduct some research in the library you could make an appointment to do so.
The library itself, like many of the buildings in the heart of DC, was an architectural marvel. As someone who gawks at the architecture in Europe, this was wildly impressive. Marble and plaster and wood and stained glass galore. I was in awe.
Apart from the architecture, the most interesting thing to see in the library was the temporary exhibit. On display they had Thomas Jefferson’s personal library. Some of the books were the actual ones from his collection and others were replicas. They even had a virtual docent in the exhibit to answer questions. She startled me when I walked by the screen and she said hello. She was calling in via zoom. I thought she was just a prerecorded video.
Back on the atrium level they had a Gutenberg Bible on display.
Lastly we went over to the balcony overlooking the portion of the building where they keep all the books. It was quite a sight to see.
From the library it was a short walk to the coffee shop. Ray who is the biggest health nut even treated himself to a decadent looking chocolate chip cookie from the display case.
Our next stop was the United States Botanical Garden. I’d been there once before in 2012, also during the winter season. So both visits I’ve missed out on what I’m certain during the spring and summer months is a lush oasis in the outside courts of the building.
Luckily much of the gardens are encased in the multi faceted greenhouse. Though crowded inside that day, we were able to enjoy walking through the different areas. My favorite part is experiencing how the temperature and humidity change in each area depending on the plants within the room.
This of all places I would suggest visiting on a weekday when it’s less crowded. Because even when relatively empty, the walkways are narrow.
Knowing we only had time to tour one final museum, or last stop was the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. This was another museum my parents and I visited back in 2016. So I knew Ray would enjoy himself there.
This is the perfect museum for families. Especially if you have a kid who’s an animal lover.
They have dinosaurs bones, fossils, taxidermic animals, preserved animals, gems, stones, global artifacts and more on display. This is another museum you could easily spend four hours in. I think we spent around two or three there.
My favorite item on display there is the Hope Diamond. It’s a remarkable forty-five carat blue diamond. If you like fine jewelry, it’s really quite something to see.
We stayed at this museum nearly until it closed. By then we were famished. I referred to my list of local restaurants I researched. And one of the closest was Han Palace Barracks Row. This is your typical Chinese restaurant that has a mix of traditional and Americanized dishes. For appetizers we ordered the scallion pancake, egg rolls and soup dumplings. For entrees we had general tso chicken and Mongolian beef. The food was good quality and delicious. I wanted to try their all you can eat menu which offered unlimited “tastings” of more traditional dishes like congee and Peking duck. But Ray was set on his general tso chicken. And their policy is the whole table has to order the all you can eat menu.
This was the end of the night for us. We went back to the hotel and had a little movie night.
Sunday we slept in and checked out at noon. It was a rainy day so we weren’t pushing to cram in another museum. We headed home and got back in time for an early dinner.
For an impromptu trip, this wasn’t bad at all. We spent some quality time together doing something we both enjoy. And with the exception of Sunday, the weather was gorgeous. With no little ones yet, it was so nice to be able to be spontaneous with my husband like this. And I have to shout out my parents for watching our pup while we were gone. In fact they encouraged us to take advantage of our time and go. We couldn’t have asked for a better last minute getaway.
So far for 2024 we only have one trip planned. We’re still narrowing down the destination, but we’ve already allocated the time off. And this is going to be a big trip. Our last hurrah before diving deep into family planning. At least that’s our intention, you never know what God has in store.
Until next time, have a great year end.
Cheers!
Diary of a PTO Vacationer 