(yay – ok please pretend this post isn’t so delayed, but I’m ready to gladly finish this trip recap!)
I’m biased, because I’d easily say this was my favorite day of the trip. Partially because it was our actual birthday, but also because the weather was nice again, and we kept our itinerary open to let most of the day’s plans take us wherever.
In the morning, we walked down to Ted’s Bulletin and admired all of the pretty spring blooms and little free libraries in the neighborhoods along the way. For breakfast, Phil got his usual salmon and I had some of the best blueberry ricotta pancakes of my life. For an appetizer we ordered (and very much enjoyed!) some boozy-birthday-breakfast shakes. They’re known for their homemade pop-tarts so we knew we had to snag some to-go – the seasonal cherry blossom was divine!
We dropped a few postcards off in the mail that we’d picked up at the Smithsonian before heading off to explore more monuments!
We lucked out and spotted one cherry blossom tree that was still hanging on to a tiny cluster of blooms (um, cute!!!) so that was a sweet surprise! We walked around the Tidal Basin to see the MLK, Roosevelt and Jefferson memorials. Along the way we stumbled upon the famous Stumpy, and ended our loop with some pretty tulips really showing off the Washington monument.
Afterwards, we hopped on the metro and headed back towards our rental to check out Eastern Market along with a quick detour through Capitol Hill Books (because, duh!). There was a fun street market with vendors that was happening at the same time, and I just wish we had more time to explore that area a little longer before having to skip out early to get ready for our dinner reservations.
For our birthday dinner, we splurged for the 5 course “choose your adventure” menu at Rose’s Luxury and O-M-G was it worth it to us! I don’t think I’ll ever stop talking about our very first course of ice cream topped with caviar *in a coconut shell* no less – it was the perfect balance of sweet & salty and the vibes were just VIBIN’! Plus, any restaurant that wants to serve me dessert first is an absolute winner in my book 😉
I love sharing a birthday with you, Phil. As well as your shared love for food & adventure 🫶
And that’s a wrap!
All in all, it was a splendid celebratory weekend trip away for us!
A few places on our list that we didn’t get around to trying were Baked & Wired, Ben’s Chili Bowl, Busboys and Poets, Call Your Mother’s Deli, Colada Shop, Other Half Brewing, Tipsy Scoop, and Trusty’s – just to name a few. We also hope to visit the Arlington National Cemetery, Library of Congress, and US National Arboretum on our next trip!
One year I hope to time a visit to see those cherry blossoms in full bloom! Although, I randomly just recently read in Southern Living that Macon, Georgia hosts a springtime cherry blossom festival for their 350,000 cherry blossom trees, compared to D.C. that has less than 4,000 trees! So that’s on my trip radar too, because the food scene looks promising there as well. This should be no surprise that we will travel for good eats. Lol
Lastly, I might be late to the party, but find it worth mentioning – the free version of the Wanderlog App was amazing to use in planning this trip. Researching ideas and building an itinerary was such a breeze, and the map feature was a lifesaver. It was so helpful to see places we’d saved in relation to other things, such as dining, so we could quickly see what was nearby without having to individually map them out.
What are your favorite things to do in D.C. so we can add it to my list for next time!
p.s. here is where you can find recaps for our day one & day two.