You Don't Have To Eat Chinese! Christmas Day in DC

So, you are in DC on Christmas Day and everything is oh so silent (during the day too--not just at night), but do not despair, we at DC Like a Local have some suggestions for you.

If you have a car, enjoy the free and abundant parking downtown.  Yeah, Christmas is the one day of the year the Smithsonian is closed—which might account for the abundant parking—but enjoy parking without having to have a roll of quarters ever present or paying for parking via those annoying ticket machines.  Ugh!

We are going to assume that you are reading this because you do not want to do the religion thing.  If you wanted to do the religion thing, you would just go to church.  Here we look for things you could do that do not involve church services.

First of all, the monuments do not close.  No, neither the Tourmobile nor any of the other tour companies running tours to the monuments will be operating, but get yourself a good pair of shoes and walk it.  Don’t tell anyone, but you could be standing in front of Lincoln without the maddening hordes just gazing up at Daniel Chester French’s statue by your lonesome.  In the evening, check out the National Christmas Tree on the South Side of the White House (the side that faces Constitution Avenue, NW, behind the Treasury).  Unfortunately, the seasonal entertainment wraps up(pdf) on the evening of December 23^rd, but the tree will still be up and lit for you to enjoy.  You could even take your photo among all the Christmas lights.

If you’ve done the monuments and/or don’t fancy walking all over the Mall, Arlington Cemetery is open 365 days a year.  The Tourmobile will not be running, but the guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns will still change every hour on the hour and walking up there is not so bad if you take your time.  The Tomb Guards do that 24/7. Christmas does not stop the show.  Before or after the Changing of the Guard, stop by the Kennedy graves.  You will see where Edward Kennedy was recently buried next to his brothers John and Robert.  It is recommended that you take the Metro; the subway will be on a holiday schedule, so allow extra time.

Hands down favorite for me, however, on Christmas Day is Mount Vernon.  Yes, Mount Vernon is open 365 days a year.  For some families a Christmas Day visit there is annual tradition.  According to the website, the National Treasure tour should even be up and running for Christmas Day (you see areas where the popular film was made).  As usual during the holidays, the rarely seen third floor of the mansion will be open to visitors.  Unlike The Smithsonian (where you don’t have to pay to get in because you’ve already paid on April 15^th), Mount Vernon is privately run and you must pay an admission fee. Mount Vernon is open 9:00am to 4:00pm Christmas Day on its regular winter schedule. 

If you want to have a more relaxing day, there is always the “Jewish” solution to Christmas—eat Chinese and see a film—you can do that as well. DC has a small Chinatown on H Street, NW, between 5^th and 8^th Streets, NW, and H and I Streets, NW.  No, it is nothing like Chinatown in San Francisco, but DC does have the world’s largest Chinese Arch.  Have the kids count the dragons on the arch; there are 272 of them.  So what if they get the number wrong, the purpose is to amuse them, right? Then go get a bite to eat in one of the area’s many Chinese restaurants.

At 604 H Street, NW, in Chinatown take a look at the plaque outside the building.  In the 19th century it was the Mary Surrat boarding house--where the Lincoln assassination was planned.  Yes, it's open to the public, but only if you want Chinese food.  It has morphed into a Chinese carry out called the Wok 'n' Roll.  Great name!

Before or after your Chinese meal, drop into Landmark E Street Cinema, 555 11^th Street, NW (despite the address actually on E Street between 10^th and 11^th Street, NW).  The Landmark shows a lot of independent and foreign films.

Of course, there is nothing to prevent you from spending a nice relaxing day at home on Christmas preparing for the sales on the day after Christmas!

The Day After Tomorrow

Some months ago, I had a reader request on what to do with family on the day after Thanksgiving, or National Throw Your Relatives Out of the House Day, as my associate Lauren Kahn refers to it. I posted a few ideas at the time, and I've since reached out to DC Like a Local's Facebook Fans for some more

But first off, why is this even an issue? I thought you said that Fall was a great time to come? Well, it is, but the Smithsonians, National Zoo, and the other popular sites will be mobbed the day after Thanksgiving. Year after year I fall for it, to the point where I almost want to go visit an actual mall to avoid the crowds. So let's look at a few options. Many of these require a car, but overall traffic should be fairly light as no one will be working. Or almost no one.

• Great Falls - A wonderful place to explore about a half hour drive up the Potomac from Washington, DC. While no Grand Canyon or Niagara Falls, its a great place to bring a picnic and spend some time.
• Theodore Roosevelt Island - In the Potomac between Georgetown and Virginia, Teddy Roosevelt' official memorial in Washington. Fittingly for the man who started the National Park Service, it's an 88 acre island with a couple of miles of walking trails and a statue of TR. This is accessible on foot from the Rosslyn Metro station on the Blue and Orange Lines.
• National Arboreteum - The U.S. National Arboretum is perhaps my favorite off the beaten path place to explore. In Northeast DC, it is accessible by mass transit, but you'll have to take a bus (it's doable, trust me). I know of no greater place to take kids to run off steam.
• Mt. Vernon - If you're looking to do more than just walk around the woods, visit George Washington's home just south of DC. More than just a plantation house, it hosts a top notch museum and educational center as well as a demonstration farm with heirloom animals and period interpreters. Mass tranist options are available, if difficult to use.

There's dozens of more places to visit on Black Friday, feel free to post more in the comments. But whatever you do, stay away from Natural History and Air and Space unless you've lost a bet.

Getting Around Town - Mt. Vernon

Some time ago, during the crazy spring tourist season, a reader asked me to discuss options for making it to Mt. Vernon, George Washington's home on the Potomac, a short 16 miles from his namesake city.

Mt. Vernon may be the most popular excursion for DC visitors, and it's certainly worth the trip if you have time in DC. Besides the obvious attraction of being GW's home and final resting place, Mt. Vernon is also a faithfully recreated 19th Century Plantation, with both the "big house" section and replicas of the working farm areas open for visiting. The Ladies of Mt. Vernon, the non-profit group that owns the site, has done an excellent job of recreating it's appearance to General Washington's final year, 1799. While traditionally they may have strayed towards a bit of hero worship, the site does an excellent job of bringing the real, and perhaps more fascinating, historical figure of GW into focus.

But that's all fine, but how do you get there? If you have access to a car, then great, just head over the 14th ST Bridge and head south on the aptly named George Washington Parkway. But what are your options sans auto?

Let's lay out a few:

1. By boat: This is one of the more inventive options. Spirit Cruise offers a daily excursion that leaves at 8:30 every morning and returns at 3. It runs $45.43 (I'd love to know why it ends at 43 cents!) and includes tickets to Mt. Vernon. The boat leaves from Southwest DC, a few blocks from the Waterfront Metro stop on the Green Line. Check their calendar, but the boat runs most days except Mondays during the busy season. The Potomac Riverboat Company offers similar trips from Old Town Alexandria and National Harbor if you are not leaving from DC.

2. Tour bus from DC: Grey Line bus tours leave from Union Station and cost $55. They are daily, and leave at 8 am and last six hours. Tourmobile has one leaving from Arlington National Cemetery from June 15th until Labor Day. It costs $35 and leaves at 11 am. These have the advantage of being direct shots, and you see a bit of Old Town Alexandria on the way, worthy of a post of its own.

3. Mass Transit: While Mt. Vernon is very much on the outskirts of the Washington area, it is possible to take a Metro/bus combination here. Take the Yellow line to its terminus at the Huntington Station. From there, a Fairfax Connector bus leaves every 20 minutes. It sounds daunting, but quite simple in practice. I would use Metro's trip planner to help you out(it includes the Fairfax Connector), at least until Metro lurches forward and gets fully onboard with Google Transit. A word of caution, Metro's trip planner keeps wanting to direct you to Mt. Vernon Square, which is not near Mt. Vernon. Make sure you don't fall for it. Best of all, this option, depending on where you are leaving from, should run under 5 bucks per person. Be sure to have $1.35 per person in exact change for the Connector if you don't have a SmartTrip Card.

So what to take? It depends on how much time and what your plans are, of course, but I'd say the Metro/Bus option has the most flexibility and the best value. It will take longer to get there, but you won't have an artificial time line to meet, either. It doesn't come with the guided tour of the other options, but use the money you save to buy a good guidebook and read it on the bus. Heck, on Grey Line, the "tour" is prerecorded anyway.

That being said, seeing Washington, Alexandria, and Mt. Vernon from the water is fun too, and probably how crazy George would have done it. Taking the return boat is a great break in mid-afternoon, and they're usually fairly good about fishing kids that fall in out, as well.