Washington DC

[cutsdean]

Hi everyone, I am in the US on business in a couple of weeks, staying near DC and will ahve some time on my hands. I have done the usual tourist haunts and was wondering if anyone could recommend anything a bit different. Does not have to be in the city as I have a car I can travel a bit.

Any recommendations welcome

Cheers!!!

Cutsdean

[wyndhy]

baltimore's only about 60kms from dc. lots of great history and local flair, and the inner harbor is fun - touristy, but fun.

of course, the museums in dc are amazing, and i'm sure you've been there, done that, but i could go back over and over. and most are free, too!

[cutsdean]

Thanks, been to Baltimore a bit as well, seen some concerts etc. Great for blues music. Also went to the cats eye pub to see a band called Naked Blue who were brilliant.

Been to that area quite a lot in recent years which is why I am looking for something unusual to do.

[PantyFanatic]

After you've been through the Smithsonian, there is a lot of it and in different place, then get as far away from the black hole of parasites as you can.

To make any suggestion, I'd need to know how long you are going to there. Are you looking for an evening out, a days interest or a weekend away? Are you a participating type person or an observer? Do the norms or the extremes catch your interest?

Bottom line is what would you like to do? :shrug:

[jseal]

cutsdean,

You may enjoy visiting Annapolis (http://www.hometownannapolis.com/tour.html), the Maryland state capitol. It is an interesting city, and is about an hour from Washington, DC. There is quite a bit to see there, as its history goes back to early Colonial America. One of the five Federal Military Academies, the U.S. Naval Academy (http://www.usna.edu///homepage.php) is located there.

For a different experience, I suggest the Maryland Renaissance Festival (http://www.rennfest.com/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1). I just returned from spending today there (hush up those cheers please!) and can vouch for the quality of entertainment. Entrance costs $18, and is good for the day. Here is the (pdf) entertainment schedule (http://www.rennfest.com/pdfs/grid.pdf). You are too early to catch the Mediæval Bæbes, but their music is not to everyone’s taste. You may see that jousting is scheduled twice each day. It is the Maryland state sport.

[wyndhy]

i thought my eyes were going wonky, then i actually had to refresh my page to make sure my puter hadn't gone wonky. groovy grapheme, jseal

[cutsdean]

Funy you should mention Annapolis, the film of that name was on last night. Sounds intresting. Thanks that would make a great day out, just the sort of thing I was looking for

[gekkogecko]

Something most tourists overlook: National Auboretum (http://www.usna.usda.gov/). If you're in the Monkey County area, there's Brookside Gardens in Wheaton (http://www.mc-mncppc.org/parks/brookside/)

Another often-overlooked touristy thing is the National Aquarium in the basement of the commerce building in DC(http://sc94.ameslab.gov/TOUR/aquarium.html), which is not to be confused with the "National Aquarium in Baltimore": they're both the "National Aquarium", but the one in B-more is larger and justly gets a lot more attention.

Two of these three are actually in DC, though, and the other is in the 'burbs, so if you're looking to get out of DC, I've steered you wrong.