Washington DC: rubber chickens, chocolate body paint and hot sauces... my type of place

The Smithsonian. The Washington Monument. The White House. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The Lincoln Memorial.

All of the above are things commonly thought of and visited when someone goes to Washington D.C. And rightfully so. They are an important part of our nation’s history and instill a sense of pride and patriotism in all of us when we step foot in them.

Not to undermine the significance of these places, but I’ve been there and done that. Between class trips and a week long trip with my mom in third grade, I’ve gotten my fill of these for the time being. I’d like to head to D.C. to check out the path less traveled.

D.C. is home to Georgetown University. I’m a sucker for the architecture of the college campuses on the east coast. As much as I love the lannon stone look of my alma mater’s buildings, I’m guessing they won’t compare to the buildings at Georgetown, which was established back in the 1700s. Who knows, maybe I’ll run into some famous Hoyas… like Bill Clinton or Paul Tagliabue. A girls gotta dream.

In a large metropolis like D.C., you wouldn’t expect to see a lot of parks. It’s kind of like New York City and Central Park or Chicago and Grant Park. With so many people and so many buildings, it seems out of place to have green parks and trees. But apparently almost 20% of D.C. is made up of parks. One that I would like to check out is the Great Falls of the Potomac River. While not specifically a park, it’s supposedly beautiful in the summer or wintertime. In a city based on history, these falls fit right in, having been carved out over 35,000 years.

Of course, no trip for me would be complete without a trip to a local brewery. My choice for the a good ale would be to hop (pun intended) up the road to Hyattsville, MD to Franklin’s Restaurant and Brewery. With 10 of their own microbrews on tap, a full lunch and dinner menu, and a general store (the building the restaurant is in was built in the 1880’s and was a hardware store up until 1992) complete with rubber chickens, chocolate body paint and hot sauces… it sounds like my type of place.

So count me in for a non-traditional historic trip to our nations capital. I promise to do it justice.