40 Days Docked in Downtown Washington, DC – Museums & Monuments Galore!

Our sojourn up the Potomac River had a destination at the terminus – Washington, DC.

DC is quite the side trip off the official Great Loop route, but it has been a bucket list level visit for us. We’ve visited a few times in past by RV and train, but for just a couple days here and there.

For this stay – we decided to splurge on a month long stay. We were ready to be still for a bit, and DC was just the place to immerse ourselves.

We knew there was a lot to do, but I think we even surprised ourselves with how busy we stayed!

We arrived with a one-month reservation, but ended up extending to 40-nights (time period: June 19 – July 28). All and all, we ended up only having about 3 days without major adventures as ‘down days’.

As always, here’s a long rambling video recap if you prefer:

Capital Yacht Club

So where did we stay while in DC? Capital Yacht Club.

We had several recommendations for it, and after evaluating options ranging from anchoring out to staying at cheaper marinas in the area and having a longer commute to be tourists – we decided to splurge and stay right in the heart of everything.

CYC is along The Wharf – a more recently redeveloped multi-use zone. It has dozens of restaurants, bars, music venues and shops. It’s constantly bustling with activity including free concerts, outdoor movies and festivals.

There’s also the marina next door called ‘The Wharf’ which is an option too. But CYC had more consistent feedback of nicer facilities.

The location is perfect – just blocks from the National Mall, and .5 mile from two Metro stations (and a grocery store!). Right along several major bike paths for easy access to everything.

The facilities are top notch, quality floating docks with your own finger pier. In slip pump out (just flip a flag on your dock box and the dock hands take care of it!), bath suites, club house with kitchen and a bar/restaurant. And the staff and members super friendly and welcoming.

We could not recommend CYC more highly for a DC stay. And no, you don’t have to be a yacht club member to stay here, they are completely welcoming of non-yachty transients like us.

The only downside? It’s not cheap.

$3.85/ft is their daily rate. $3/ft per day for 8-30 days. And $2.20/ft per day for over 30 days. Plus electric (ours was metered at .24 cent per KWH).

That equates to $66/ft for a monthly stay. The most we’ve paid yet.

But to justify the cost, we always look at what the folks who live in the condos above us pay for us to be their view. A 700 sq ft condo (roughly the living space of Y-Not) overlooking us was for sale for $915k.

So, we still have the bargain to be in such a prime location aboard our own floating home to explore this amazing city from.

And.. we had the Washington Monument as our back view!!

Getting Around by Bike, Walking & Metro

Our marina was in a great location – just a couple blocks to the National Mall, and a 1/2 mile to two different Metro stations. We mostly got around by bike and walking, and used Metro to reach further afield.

The biking around DC is nothing short of amazing, and was our primary mode of transportation for all of our exploring and provisioning.

There is a great network of bike lanes that can get you safely to all the attractions. Biking down the center of Pennsylvania Avenue is awe inspiring – and even has bike turn lanes!

Some roads even have their lights timed to 12mph specifically optimized for cyclists.

And then there are the more recreational trails to explore. We biked the Anacostia Rivertrail, C&O canal (just a few miles on this end, we’ve done the Harper’s Ferry section in the past), Capital Crescent via Georgetown to Bethesda and the Mt. Vernon Trail (back to Washington’s mansion via Alexandria).

All and all, we put on nearly 250 miles on our bikes during our stay. We also kept up with our regularly runs three times a week, and loved exploring so many places on foot. And we even got around by paddle board, to go play mini golf.

Smithsonian Museums

The Smithsonian Institute museums – some of country’s greatest national treasures, and the largest museum complex in the world. The DC area houses 20 of them (11 right on the national mall, the others taking a bit more effort).

And they’re all FREE.

Two more are in NYC and two more are in the works. And three in the DC area are currently closed (whew).

When we came to DC, we aimed to visit as many as feasible. But never did we think it possible to hit all of the DC area ones!

But somehow.. we managed to!

DC areas Smithsonian’s we visited:

• National Museum of African American History and Culture
• National Museum of American History
• National Museum of Natural History
• Freer Gallery of Art
• Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
• National Museum of African Art
• Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
• National Air and Space Museum
• National Museum of the American Indian
• National Portrait Gallery
• American Art Museum
• National Postal Museum
• National Zoological Park (National Zoo)
• Ripley Center (although, nothing there currently)
• Smithosian Gardens
• Anacostia Community Museum
• National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

Currently Closed:
Smithsonian Institution Building (The Castle)
Arts and Industries Building (we did get inside during the Folklife Festival however!)
Renwick Gallery

Whew.

Not every museum did we feel we did to its entirety, leaving more to explore for another visit. Some were overwhelmingly huge, some much smaller.

Some took some effort to get to. Udvar-Hazy via Metro and bus, over an hour each way (combined with a visit to Wolf Trap for a concert). And Anacostia and the Zoo about 5 miles each way by bike, in opposite directions. Some were easily accessible right on the mall or nearby other attractions.

Most are walk-in, available 7 days a week 10a – 5:30pm (except Christmas). A small handful required free timed entry passes, easy to acquire online, usually same day.

We spread them out, only tackling one or two a day with non-museum day breaks (our heads would explode otherwise).

Our favorites? Of course the Air & Space Museums (we even scored a private tour by a NASA scientist friend, and extended our stay to go back second time of the grand re-opening of 5 of the galleries) and the African American History & Culture.

Most unexpected that captured our attention? African Art

But we enjoyed them all!

Our brains are filled with knowledge, inspiration and experience.

Nationally & Privately Run Stuff

Aside from 20 Smithsonian run museums in DC and countless monuments – there’s an amazing number of nationally and privately run museums to experience too!

From a 400 year old bonsai tree, amazing art, seeing money made, seeing where Lincoln died, changing of the guard at the tomb of unknown soldiers, lotus flowers, mini golf and so much more!

Here’s the ones we got to on this visit:

• US Botanic Gardens
• National Archives
• National Gallery of Art
  • Sculpture Garden
  • Modern
  • Masters
• Library of Congress
• Capitol Visitors Center
• Bureau of Printing & Engraving
• Spy Museum
• Holocaust Museum
• Ford’s Theater
• East Potomac Mini Golf
• Old Post Office Tower
• Kenilworth Gardens – Lotus Festival
• Arlington National Cemetery
• National Arboretum

Most were free, or had a small transaction fee to cover costs. The only exception was the Spy Museum, which was nearly $40 a person – and quite honestly, it was likely our least favorite. Maybe all the free museums spoiled us?

Monuments

I guess one could say.. DC is Monumental?

We try to integrate in new-to-us ones with each criss cross of the city as we make our way to various museums and tours. Or just out on our runs.

The Tidal Basin as just a couple blocks away which was a frequent 5K running path or walk for us – which regularly took us by the Jefferson, FDR and MLK monuments.

But we also got to the George Mason (the Forgotten Founder), Lincoln, Vietnam, Korea, WWI, Teddy Roosevelt Island, Eisenhower and US Marine Corps War Memorial (with a parade!)

They’re inspiring to reflect upon, and give us hope by connecting with these great heroes.

Washington Monument

And of course, the Washington Monument – it’s a center icon of DC. Almost any angle you view the city, it’s in the skyline. It’s the (mostly) center point of the National Mall.

It’s a beautiful tribute to our nation’s founder, and you even come to love it’s delineation line of stone colors from the two phases of construction.

We’ve lovingly called it ‘the Pencil’ (after hearing at least one local refer to it that way). It’s our navigation point for getting anywhere.

After several attempts at getting tickets to go up inside, we had resigned ourselves that the view we got at the top of the Old Postal Tower was good enough.

For getting tickets (which are free) requires either:

• Scoring one online the day they’re released at 10am 30-days in advance, or 24-hours in advance.
• Standing in line in the morning for when they hand out day-of tickets at 8:45a.
• Sweet talk someone who has tickets into sending you theirs.

So sitting around one morning, I saw 10am was fast approaching. I decided – why not give it another try?

I logged into our Recreation.gov account, navigating to the Washington Monument reserve ticket page. I pre-selected that I wanted 2 tickets, and had the date selector calendar up with my cursor hovered over tomorrow’s date.

And at precisely 10am (not 9:59:59 or 10:00:01) I selected the date, and then quickly clicked the first time slot I could (each slot offering only 39 tickets).

I was met with disappointment again when the page returned the slot was already sold out.

But when it returned me to the page, the next time block still had 14 tickets left. I quickly clicked the box, and bam… they were ours!

Going to the top was nothing short of amazing! The view and history incredible. And we can solidly say – the view from the Old Postal tower is incredible, but it ain’t no Pencil.

So glad we kept trying, and serendipity finally aligned in our favor!

Entertainment

As if DC isn’t full enough with museums, monuments, dining and bike trails.. we also explored the entertainment options.

While in DC we attended:

• Arena Stage – world premiere of the musical ‘A Wrinkle in Time’
• National Theater – touring broadway of ‘Harry Potter: Cursed Child’
• National’s Park – Savannah Bananas vs Firefighers – Banana Ball (this stuff is as looney as it sounds!)
• The Wharf – Romania Weekend, amazing EDM Folk Music !
• Wolf Trap – Bare Naked Ladies (first and only performing art center National Park!)
• Penn Social – Profs & Pints (educational lectures with beer??)
• And there’s so much more around we haven’t made it to – including live music venues and other stages around town.

Fourth of July

Our stay in DC coincided with the 4th of July, and we had front row seats from our slip.

We started it off by attending the dress rehearsal for the 45th PBS Capitol 4th broadcast.. which is held on July 3rd.

It’s a locals trick to enjoying the show, with less crowds (and no fireworks).

It was such a fun experience to sit on the lawn of the Capitol building, listening to the National Symphony Orchestra play (1812 Overture with 4 booming cannons!!).

And then be completely caught off guard that THE Temptations and Beach Boys were performing (well, those that are remaining) .. LIVE, right there in front of us!!! As well as tons of other performers, national bands, etc.

And as it’s a dress rehearsal for the live show the next night, there were starts and stops and do-overs. So much fun to see this live broadcast .. well.. pre-live and behind the scenes! And enjoy so much incredible talent, and an impactful backdrop. All for free!

The next day, our RVing friends Amanda & Jesse arrived by Metro to join us for the holiday celebrations and stay aboard Y-Not. We enjoyed some touring around, including attending the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, some museums & monuments. And we had an amazing view of the fireworks right from the boat.

After they headed back to their RV – we decided it was a perfect time to go reflect on the reason for the weekend , and visited the actual Declaration of Independence at the National Archives. Wow.. so inspiring!

Food

DC has quite a food scene, with so much diversity. And we honestly barely tapped into it (no energy left with all that museuming and biking!).

We did indulge in some absolutely amazing Indian food at Rasika in Penn Quarter. We had lots of more casual Indian, Ethiopian, Egyptian, Thai and Mexican around town too

But our go-tos were some of the fast casual places right on The Wharf right off our dock. Union Pie has amazing vegetarian GF pizza options, Falafel Inc. was cheap and yummy.

But our absolute favorite was Surfside Taco stand. We could place an order online, and it was ready by the time we walked around the corner. Yummy, affordable, healthy and fresh.

We also had a Saturday morning farmer’s market with a fresh pupusa vendor that we’d indulge in. And if we wanted to cook at home, we could pick up fresh off the dock fish at Jessie’s Fish Market just down the Wharf.

Navigating food restrictions around town was super easy, with most menus marked. And we definitely didn’t starve!

And then.. there’s the locally made ice cream & gelato options. Van Leeuwen, Thomas Sweet and Pitango.

Oh my.

It’s a good thing we put almost 250 miles on our bikes to keep it balanced!

Social Life

So with all that, we still found time for an abundant social life. We had three sets of friends come and visit from out of town and stay overnight aboard Y-Not (our most visitors, ever!) – including Amanda & Jesse and long time friend Barb. It was awesome to have adventure buddies for some of this exploring.

We met up with multiple blog and YouTube followers, and made friends with fellow boaters on the Wharf who we shared regular game nights and adventures with.

Not all of our friends we enjoyed time with are pictured here, as we have several who prefer to not be in social media.

An Interesting Time in DC

Without getting political (we try to avoid that in this space) .. let’s just say it was a highly surreal time to be in DC. Especially with all that has transpired since we left (we left just a couple weeks before the National Guard was called in.)

From slavery, internment camps, forced relocation and genocide – DC is full of impactful reminders that humans have a great capacity to be truly horrible to each other.

It’s a lot to unpack, but important stuff.

And incentive to be better humans and try to prevent these atrocities from happening again.

Real Time Update

It’s hard to believe it’s been almost a month since we left DC! We’ve since headed back down the Potomac, picking up a few more adventures.

We’re now cruising around the Eastern Shore of the Upper Chesepeake – exploring towns like St. Michaels, Oxford, Kent Narrows, Chestertown, Rock Hall, etc.

We don’t know how much further north we’ll get this season, as we’d love to pick either Annapolis or Baltimore for another extended stay before winter is upon us.

And of course, we’re compiling a list of possible winter storage options around these parts. We totally welcome recommendations, if you have experience to share (feel to write us – contact@technomadia.com). We’re open to both in water storage and hauling out with winterization, or indoor heated storage.