Exploring Our Nations Capital - Washington, D.C. April 26-27, 2017

16-million tourists each year visit Washington D.C., but what not all of them know is that the best way to explore this incredible city is by foot. As with most of my trips these days, I had about 36 hours to get in, get out, and get on my way. But that didn’t stop me from making the most of my trip.

I opted for a 5:45am flight to DC which had be waking up at the crack of dawn, but got me into the city around 9:30am which would give me plenty of time to get out and explore. The next flight got me into the city at 2p so I figured, why not make the most of it. Flying into Regan airport drops you right in the heart of the city. I hopped onto the METRO and was on my way. I was meeting a client at the new Trump International Hotel & Tower (a gorgeous new hotel that just opened earlier this year in the historic Old Post Office) so opted to get off the METRO a couple of blocks from my stop so I could get out and stretch my legs. I got off at the L’Enfant Plaza stop and made my way north across the Mall where I got 360 views of all that DC has to offer. After soaking it all in I kept working my way to the Trump Hotel, but first I needed to search out one of DCs best coffee shops – Compass Coffee.

Compass is a craft coffee shop created by a couple of Marine buddies that decided they needed to bring some serious semper fi dedication to the craft. The coffee was delicious but what caught my attention was their cylinder tin packaging and the affordable pricing. If my travel bag hadn’t already been packed to the brim (cramming a change of clothes and my work files and laptop), you could have bet I would have been coming home with several of these. After killing some time at Compass, I made my way over to the Trump Hotel, which led me past the Fords Theatre and the house where Abraham Lincoln was shot and died, and some other tourists traps.

I have had the privilege of staying at five other Trump Hotels and experienced some of the best hotels in the world, but this place was absolutely stunning.

The way the transformed a 100+ year old building into a luxury hotel was second to none. And the way they were able to keep a number of the architectural significant design elements was appreciated. My favorite touch was how the postmaster general’s personal office and the postal service safe were both found within the master bathroom of the presidential suite. The same suite our current President slept in the night of his

inauguration. But that wasn’t all I loved about this hotel. There were lots of fabulous amenities that caught my attention including the design of the elevators, the Himalayan Salt Room in the Spa,

the meticulously designed guestrooms where several included uniquely designed turrets, the Macallan Scotch tasting room, a lounge and bar that was chock full of power lobbyist trying to grab a minute with a member of Congress, and my favorite the $20,000 a night townhouse apartment available for rent. All in all this was one of the neatest hotels I have ever been in.

The next stop on my agenda was making my way back to the METRO so I could catch the train to Bethesda. I had a couple of hours to get there for my next meeting, so hit the trail again and started making my way back towards the mall and the capital. But first, I thought I would swing by the White House and see if DJT was there….after all he was a former client of mine.

The White House was under extra security this particular day due to all the members of the Senate coming over later that afternoon for a meeting...but I did spend some time making my way around the perimeter of the White House. And this long journey paid off, because who did I see zipping by with his 20+ car motorcade, but the

President himself. I waved…but he didn’t recognize me.

So I called my mom to tell her the good news, and than went on with my walk around The Ellipse to Constitution Ave and back down towards the mall.

This really was a fantastic walk, as I got great views of the Washington Monument, and started passing one by one the 10+ Smithsonian Museums which are all free to visit. I wish I would have time to just pop in and out but had to choose wisely. I forgot to do my research, as I walked past quite a few museums that could have been fun to pop into to see a handful of items and than get out. I decided to check out two museums along the way. The first was the National Archives. I have a soft spot for this one given that National Treasure is one of my favorite movies where they steal the Declaration of Independence. I was only in there for about 15 mins but was able to see The Big Three Docs - The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution and The Bill of Rights, but also saw the Magna Carta, and walked past countless documents that formed the basis for what our great country is all about.

I continued down Constitution but now started making my way across the mall where I enjoyed great views again of the Capital and Washington Monument. My next stop was the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum which was the most visited museum in the country, with over 8 million visitors. I am a total space nut, so this was a destination not to be missed. There are hundreds of amazing and historically relevant aircraft, spaceships, missiles and other aviation wonders situated throughout this building. Some of my favorites were the Apollo 11 Command Module which was the first spaceship that took a human to the moon and brought them back, The Wright Brothers Flyer – the first airplane, Charles Lindberg’s Spirit of St Louis and countless rockets, fighter jets and more. I can’t wait to come back to DC and take my boys here.

Realizing that I hadn’t yet eaten, I made my way out of the museum and started checking the landscape for a restaurant. To be honest, there wasn’t much around, but did see a line of food trucks, so thought I would give it a try. Always a stickler for free samples, the burrito truck was able to draw me in. I chose a chicken burrito and a coke and made my way down the street where I found a bench right in front of the Department of Education where I decided to dig into my 2 pound burrito. I was a super excited about this meal until I took that first bite and the entire thing fell apart. Having only been given two paper thin napkins, I did the best I could but quickly gave up and decided to move onto my next adventure. Because all of Congress was supposedly out and about today and getting ready to make the journey down the street to the White House, I made my way over towards the Capital to see if there was any action going on.

This also was on my way to Union Station where I would be able to catch my train to Bethesda. Besides tour groups, there really wasn’t much action around the Capital. So I worked my way towards the train station which actually took me past quite a few Senate offices which had a lot of buzz and people running around. As I made my way into Union Station, it was hard to not be reminded of Grand Central Station or even Union Station in Kansas City. Designed by Daniel Burnham ( a son of Chicago), this place was one of the countries first great rail terminals. From the open great hall, to the detail in the ceiling to the massive marble pillars this was a great marvel of transportation. Finding my train was easy, and within minutes I was on my way north to Bethesda.

Bethesda was a lovely city, but unfortunately there wasn’t much to write home about. It felt like Anycity USA and we stayed the night at the Marriott Suites which for being next door to the Marriott Hotels Global Headquarters, you would have thought they might have upped their game a bit. But it was a typical Marriott.

I did have the chance to try some delicious beers from Jailbreak Brewing Company where I read their beers were designed to help you escape from whatever drama was present in your life. I chose their Poor Righteous IPA which was delicious. If I hadn’t been with Clients and had a major presentation the next day, I might have knocked out 3 or 4 of these. For dinner we went to the Wildwood Kitchen, a cute 30 or so seat restaurant down the street. Wildwood was a new concept from award winning chef Robert Wiedmaier which was focused on delivering modern cuisine influenced by the 23 countries surrounding the Mediterranean. Now I did not see this at all during my culinary journey. But his food was tasty. Wanting to try something different, the best I could do were the Braised Lamb Meatballs and the Mediterranean Sea Bass. I always try to eat and drink local, but this was as local as I could get. So instead of eating local, I decided to have another beer, and this time I tried the Jailbreak Feed the Monkey, a Hefeweizen.

When I booked my flight, I complained that I needed to fly out of Dulles instead of Reagan Airport. But while I was in my UBER, I saw a sign for the National Air and Space Museum – Steven F Udvar-Hazy Center. What in the world was this…went through my mind and than I remembered. I quickly had my driver detour and drop me off at the museum. My meeting had ended about an hour early, so I had time, and would much rather be spending it in the museum than sitting at the airport.

As I walked into this huge airline hanger, my eyes met what I had come here to see. The Space Shuttle Discovery – the most accomplished orbiter in history. This was the only shuttle I saw launch during my tenure living in Florida and got hooked when I saw the Endeavour when I was in Los Angeles (located at the California Science Center). Also housed within the hangers at Dulles, is The Enola Gay which was the B-29 bomber that dropped the first atomic weapon on Hiroshima, the SR-71 Blackbird

which speed at Mach 3+ from LA to DC in a little over an hour, an Air France Concorde, and countless other historically significant aircraft.

Washington DC is a fantastic place to just get out and explore. Whether for business or fun, this is definitely a place where you can get out and feel like you are living in a history book.