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On Saturday, Joe and I took a day trip to Washington DC for the Cherry Blossom Festival.
I thought it would be helpful to breakdown our day in case you are interested in making a day trip to DC [especially if you are located in New York City].
TIMELINE
5AM: We used Gett to get from the Upper East Side to Penn Station
6AM: Our Amtrak train departed for DC
9:30AM: We arrived in DC
10AM: We checked out the Cherry Blossom Festival Parade
10:30AM: We wandered through the National Mall towards the Washington Monument, Reflecting Pool, and Lincoln Memorial
12PM: We met Joe’s cousin for lunch at the Old Abbitt Grill [and snapped a picture of the White House on the way]
1:30PM: We picked up Astro Doughnuts & headed to Tidal Basin
We took our time walking around and enjoying Tidal Basin.
We even recreated one of our engagement photos [with the addition of some gorgeous cherry blossoms].
The majority of the cherry blossoms were damaged due to unexpected snow and rain but we still found a few beautiful trees.
4PM: We headed to the Smithsonian National Museum of American History [free!]. The line to check bags [required] took about 30 minutes. We mainly went to check out Julia Child’s kitchen. There are a number of different Smithsonian museums and most are free.
5PM: We walked to Oyamel for dinner. I have mixed feelings about this spot. This Mexican restaurant has delicious food but the hosts were horrible and we had to wait forever for a table.
6:30PM: We walked back to Union Station to catch our 7:20 train back to New York City
All in all–the day went smoothly and we saw everything we really wanted to see.
Transportation: We walked everywhere [13+ miles!] with the exception of one metro ride from Union Station to Metro Center [Red Line] for the Cherry Blossom Festival Parade.
DC does have Lyft if you want a faster/easier way to get around.
Cost: We are on a tight budget and needed to make this trip affordable. We only ended up paying for Amtrak tickets [they do offer student and AAA discounts], food, one Metro ride, and one Gett ride. Overall the cost was reasonable for us.
Next Visit: We obviously couldn’t see everything in one day. Next time we want to check out Capital Hill, Holocaust Museum, and Georgetown.
Did I miss anything? Please leave a comment if there are other spots I need to check out in Washington DC.
Looking for more cherry blossom content?
I loved your day excursion! I was wondering how you did it since I took the bus and was a 4-hour ride with the most strange fellow commuters 😉 If you have the time and can stay for one night, don't miss the Smithsonian Museums. My favorite was the American History Museum, but all of them are noteworthy. Will you be going to the Sakura Matsuri in New York?
Aw thank you! We took Amtrak 🙂 It's a little more expensive than the bus but only took 3.5 hours and was much more spacious! YES I definitely want to see more Smithsonian Museums! I'm planning to visit the Brooklyn Botanic Garden sometime this week because I'll be out of town during the official festival. Are you going?!