Georgetown
The National Gallery of Art (and other Smithsonian Museums)
Your tax payer dollars are hard at work here in the capital, so definitely take advantage of the museums here which are nice and cool away from the humid sun! Right now Cezanne’s portraits and Jackson Pollack’s Mural are on exhibit, but there is a breadth of artwork here including many impressionist paintings and also for the foodies there’s Wayne Thiebaud’s cake paintings as well.
Frederick, Maryland
We took a day trip to this historic town which was briefly the capital of Maryland in the late 1800’s. If you have kids, they’ll love the railroad museums. We had a great meal at Sabor de Cuba (try the arroz con pollo with sweet plaintains!) and also loved the record store Vinyl Acres. There’s a ton of antique shopping as well as cool boutiques like Relish Decor. We found a neat vintage music box disc from the 1800’s.
Ethiopian Food
D.C. has incredible Ethiopian food so even though it was super warm outside close to 100 degrees Fahrenheit, we were craving Ethiopian food. This time around we tried an amazing place called Ghion where they served home-cooked food that was not greasy or oily at all and was made fresh to order. They have chicken, veggie, and meat options. You definitely had to wait a bit for the food to be prepared, but we know they started it from scratch and the waiters were also the chefs! Cannot be missed but go early.
Blueberry Picking
Right near Frederick, we found this orchard which was a little gimmicky, but we really enjoyed Butler’s Orchard. The blueberry picking was in full force, and after a tractor ride we were treated to rows of full bushes of berries. They also had black raspberries and english peas and an awesome store full of local treats and yummy produce like pickled squash. Next trip we definitely want to do Harper’s Ferry and go river tubing! See picture for delicious blueberry pancakes made the next day.
Eastern Market
We always love a trip to Eastern Market on Sundays. This time we took a food tour with DC Metro Food Tours for their Eastern Market Food Tour and got to experience a number of stalls. Our favorites include (with and without the tour) a Peruvian limeade with ginger and mint, korean bulgogi, yummy cheeses, and beautiful flowers. Outside of the market there are also incredible restaurants including a Mexican-El Salvadorean place called Tortilla Cafe which had absolutely incredible pupusas and tamales and chips and burritos – yum!
Our food tours of Boston run year-round in vibrant neighborhoods of Somerville, Cambridge, Boston, and beyond! Check our tour calendar for more information. See you soon!
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