Posted on 02/02/2012 8:16:00 PM PST by West Texas Chuck
I proposed to She Who Must Be Obeyed on Christmas Day, in front of all the usual suspects. So now the marriage machine is in full stroke and I am planning our honeymoon. I think we have settled on a roadtrip through the Appalachians up to Arlington. Probably come back through the FL panhandle, over to Nawlins and back home to Dallas.
I have a few thoughts and many questions ...
You must visit the NRA museum. It is incredible. Not far from the Dulles Air museum.
If I might I would suggest the Marine Corps Musuem at Quantico for your list. Figure on a half day more or less.
Mrs alfa 6 and I did Gettysburg, Antietam and Harpers Ferry a few years back. You could probably do them in a day and a half but two days is probably a better time frame.
FWIW we stayed in Thurmont, Md which is about 30 minutes from Gettysburg, and 45 minutes from Harper Ferry and maybe 30 minutes from Antietam. Also the room was way cheaper than almost anyplace else, it was a Super 8. And you are maybe an hour from Washington DC, depends on the traffic, ha ha
Good Luck on the future nuptials
Best Regards
alfa6 ;>}
If you’re planning to visit George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate, which I recommend, be sure to have lunch in the sit-down restaurant. The food’s quite good, as opposed to the passable, but mediocre food court.
Visiting the Capitol has sucked ever since 9/11. The White House tour is still excellent. Contact your congressman for tickets to the Capitol or the Washington Monument if you want to go.
The most overlooked site in DC is easily the absolutely gloriously beautiful National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception Basilica, up by Catholic University. Truly the most beautiful Church in America, combining both Western and Eastern Catholic traditions. I guess most tourists figure, “Eh, Catholics...” The National Cathedral, which is Episcopal, as beautiful grounds and a classic, European, Gothic architecture.
The forgotten war now has a forgotten monument... The Korean War Memorial is easy to overlook, but moving.
I found the FDR Monument both impressive in how pleasurable it was, but also how banal FDR’s endless quotes are compared to Jefferson’s and Lincoln’s. Lincoln and Jefferson spoke eternal truths, by comparison, some of FDR’s seem like weather reports.
Find some way of visiting the Pentagon, if you can. I had a great tour, but it was because I was subcontracting for the Office of the Secretary of Defense. 9/11 monument is touching, but it’s also fascinating if you can see the concentric nature of the five separate pentagons, and how 9/11 happened the way it did.
DC area has highly unrelated natural wonders. Drive up Skyline Drive, no matter what time of year. Then stop in Harper’s Ferry on a weekend. (I loved in on a weekend in the Summer, but returned on a weekday in October, to find it mostly closed.) Go to Great Falls and walk down towards Mather Gorge for an excellent nature hike. Great Falls is a unique canyon along the Potomac, where every few years the meltwater enters faster than it can drain, causing the river to back up and inundate the entire valley.
They’ve utterly destroyed the American History Museum; the Native American Museum is surprisingly good for a quick stop on the way to the Capital.
If you can get in, the House Office Buildings have some very fun, moderately priced cafeterias. If you can’t get in there, Bullfeathers is a classic.
Of course, the drive TO the skyline drive, in southern Virginia is also fun. Charlottesville is very nice; there’s Natural Bridge, defaced by our first president, and silly, yet entertaining attractions, such as Foamhenge.
Ha! I made a typo on underrated, and it got corrected to unrelated.
DC FReepers: Can you help West Texas Chuck with DC-area travel plans?
Just curious... What has happened to the American History Museum? (Haven't been there in awhile)
A second on Gettysburg and Antietam.... I guess i was thinking of no further north than DC, but Harper’s Ferry puts you in the neighborhood... Thurmont’s also a very nice area, but I doubt it was a Super 8 I stayed in... Gettysburg is real near the whole Pennsylvania Dutch region... For super-cheap, I stayed in Hotel Americana before I moved here. It was very cheap, and decent, but it’s been years. Crystal City moved North to swallow it, where it once had been on the Northern Edge of the built-up neighborhood... Now, Crystal City is mostly dead, but Hotel Americana is lost among towering apartment buildings.
If you happen to be Catholic, and you happen to be in Thurmont, you should also check out the shrine in Emmitsburg. But, whereas I’d recommend the Basilica in DC to absolutely anyone, Emmitsburg is a Catholic thing. IF there’s cold weather, Ski Liberty is right nearby; it also has some fun snow tubing. Aspen, it’s not, but if you’re from West Texas, I don’t imagine you’re ready for Aspen anyway?
Really? I live here and I haven’t been! I’ll give it a try!
Go here for a preview:
http://www.nramuseum.com/the-guns.aspx
It is FREE and no one will bother you to join the NRA. I spent 2 hours here and would have spent 2 more except I had to catch a plane.
You and her, of course.
I fully agree about Vicksburg! In a driving trip from DFW to Florida in 1986, we spent so much of the day there (unplanned) that we had to get a room for the night before continuing our trip! Great battleground site.
On your way back, through the Florida part, you must stop at the Flora Bama and chill. And if it’s a few weeks after you started your adventure, the Frank Brown International Songwriters Festival might be going on, and there isn’t much more fun than that!
In Baltimore the aquarium is a world class facility located at the inner harbor and well worth a visit. The shopping and local restaurants are also very good and little italy ~2 blocks east of the power plant is a great place for dinner. I was not as impressed with the science museum there.
In DC one can spend an entire day in the Air and space museum, and perhaps another at the annex that someone else mentioned.
I can very highly recommend the Holocaust museum in DC. Take your time to view and read and see the videos scattered throughout. Be prepared for a very emotional experience. It is not pleasant but it is important.
If you want to feel connected to American history I would recommend the basement museum of Ford’s Theater to see personal items of Lincoln and Booth (then sneak up the back elevator and go up to the balcony of the theater itself to get an overview of the theater stage and the presidential box). Next stroll over to the Smithsonian Portrait gallery and go to the Presidential portraits section (the rest of the museum is excellent as well if you enjoy portraits). I would then finish up the history tour by getting in line at the National Archives to see the original founding documents. You must do this at least once in your life and think about the courage of the men who founded our country. It will be crowded, but the last time I went it was all conservatives standing in line.
Penn. is very treed and the colors might just be spectacular....Valley Forge and Gettysburg really are nice quiet places....worth it to see them...
now for me, I would just drive straight up into NY, head towards Albany,pass thru Grandma Moses territory, maybe stop in Stockbridge, then across Mass and up the coast to Bar Harbor....thats where we spent on our honey moon....about 37 yrs ago....except we continued on up into Canada, to Quebec, where we rode in a horse drawn carriage with a moose blanket on our laps...we ate at a fancy French restaurant that cost us $30 back then!!!!
Here’s some advice from a female: Most brides want to go to a sunny destination where they can RELAX, let the husband golf, take walks on the beach, eat romantic dinners, and do some local site-seeing and shopping (easy, simple, uncomplicated things) after a busy week of wedding activities. I don’t think going to Civil War sites and museums is on the top of many brides’ lists for their dream honeymoon. But, maybe your fiance isn’t like most brides......
Also: I used to like to visit famous landmarks when I was younger, but now I don’t have the desire—it’s easier to look at a picture of it on a postcard. And Graceland? Why give money to Lisa Marie Presley, who has never worked a day in her life, so she can give it away to the Scientologists?
Don't hard plan anything and relaaaaaax as you take what God puts before you each day.
Good luck and have fun.
Good advice, but only if the happy couple haven’t already been playing house (and other games).
Chuck,
I lived in D.C. for two years.
4 days on 4 days off so I had loads of time to play and investigate.
Right on the Mall in D.C. close to the Capitol is the National Art Museum.
You go in and room after room is some of the worlds best art by many of the greats. And right across the Mall from that is the Air and Sopace Museum.
Skyline Drive is the part of the Appalachian Trail that is closest to D.C. and it too is well worth driving.
GOD bless and have fun.
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