Wintertain Me D.C.

I'm a few days from heading to Washington D.C. for the first time and really can't wait to experience what our Capitol has in store!  I've got my agenda of what I definitely need to see along with some MUST tours that I'm hoping live up to my interest.



Going to be spending a few days at a conference there and will be seeing a friend that I haven't seen in about 3 years.  Hopefully, we'll be able to hang for an evening that we are both there together.  I'm sure we will meet up, but not sure on how long.  Either way, it should be a good time!

I've arranged for a few days of vacation after the conference to do the whole "tourist" thing.  Hoping to not completely look like an out-of-towner, oh well, we'll see!  I've arranged to stay in a sublet room by someone in the Arlington area.  It will be a good base location as it's close to the Metro system which I'll be taking daily to get around.  Some may know that I've stayed in Hostels, Guesthouses, and now a Sublet room which will be a new experience as its a shared space with the owner and possibly another person.  I will have my own room at a good price with a great location. Those were really my 3 main points since I'll really be checking out the town all day & night, so not needing something expensive. I do like my own privacy, so the room should be fine, while also allowing some social interaction with those in the house.

One of the great things is that the majority of all of the tours & attractions are free to the public, AWESOME!!!  I'll be doing my own exploring of D.C. and the surrounding areas and skip the paid tours.  I was able to pre-arrange (required) a few tours that my exploring will be focused around. I'll be checking out The White House and US Capitol tours first which were my first 2 MUSTS.  I was a little worried about The White House due to the upcoming Inauguration, but was able to get approved.  I've also heard the US Capitol is actually one of the better tours to check out.  I will finish those main attractions by visiting the US Supreme Court and getting a tour there.  This one is not pre-arranged as its first-come, first-served; we'll see how this goes!

Two other sites that are close to my base of operations is the Pentagon & Arlington National Cemetery.  Turns out the Pentagon actually has a tour, so I reserved time for that already and will then check out the cemetery after the tour.  The Cemetery does offer a paid tour that is reasonable and I may take advantage of it as there likely is a lot to see.  The Changing of the Guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier got my interest so we'll see how it goes.

Sounds like a lot, but there will be even more sites to see.  Luckily, most of these attractions are in the National Mall area that I'll be checking out.  Of course I'll be seeing the memorials and museums during this time and I figure there won't be enough time seeing everything.  I am going to try and see some of the sites at night as well when its lights are on.  Heard its quite awesome!

I'll re-post how my 5+2 travel day trip went to our Nations Capitol along with pictures.  Guess we'll see how well the iphone 4S does.  Looking forward to the Panorama pictures I'll try and take!

Happy New Year to All!