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.

DC Like a Dork

A new perspective on visiting Washington, DC by subject matter expert, David Brunton. On a side note, I assume David is using the more modern, colloquial meaning for "dork", rather than the traditional meaning.

by David Brunton

There were some responses to my previous post that intimated I am insufficiently local to comment on finer points of touring DC. Well, at 28 minutes away, I may be insufficiently local. I am not, however, insufficiently dorky to write a post titled "DC Like a Dork." I'm such a dork that other dorks don't even get what I'm talking about most the time.

But enough bragging. If you're interested in a dork's-eye view of Washington DC, look no further. Or, rather, look a little bit further, but don't keep looking elsewhere. I've got what you need.

To begin, if you are a dork, you should make sure your visit coincides with a Dorkbot, where other dorks like you have soldering parties. Haven't had enough? Wander over to the hackerspace at HacDC for a little programming and robotics on the side. Make some stuff, set it on fire, create some robot overlords, whatever.

So, that's how you time your visit: to coincide with some dorking. But seriously, who am I kidding? You're probably here for a W3C conference, and you didn't get to pick when you would come. Not that it matters. Here's what else you should do while you're here.

Visit Natural History. Visit Air and Space. Visit the Koshland. Visit the Botanic Gardens, and get the rest of your A-List dorking out of the way. Depending upon what kind of dork you are (e.g. you might be an art dork or a history dork like Tim), the Arboretum might be cool, or any of the nine thousand or so art museums. Once you've done all the A-List dorking, settle down to the real business of having something amazing to tell your dork children.

Block off a whole day. Go get your library card from the Library of Congress. Yes, they have library cards, and yes, you need one for any serious dorking. Once you've got that, pick something awesomely obscure, and go find the right reading room to ask for it. Ask for Box 6 of the collected papers of John von Neumann. Ask for something by Francis Bacon or Blaise Pascal or Gottfried Leibniz. See if you can find something that Kurt Gödel wrote. Go crazy with your dork self. Spend a whole day in the Science and Business reading room, just glorying in a room that has the word "usufruct" on the wall and actual encyclopedias lining the walls.

After that, check out the calendars at the various institutions run and populated by dorks like us:

• Smithsonian
• Library of Congress
• Koshland Science Museum
• National Arboreteum

Now, go take a class. Attend a lecture. Broaden your mind. Meet other dorks.

Last, but not least, if you find you need to get a fix, and you are tired of walking around, go to Reiter's. There, you will dork to your dork heart's content.