One Tank Getaway: Washington, D.C.

One Tank Getaway
Washington, D.C.

by Benjy Eisen

Mr. One Tank Goes To Washington

When I was sixteen years old and barely knew how to drive, I spent six dog-day weeks of my summer vacation living out of a dorm room in Washington, D.C., where I was an intern for Sen. Arlen Specter. I learned two things that summer: the first was that I didn’t want to go into politics after all; the second was that Washington, D.C. was a great city. I suppose I learned other things that summer too, like where to get a fake ID and what bars would accept them, but those things are irrelevant to me now. The first two, however, remain pertinent. I still don’t want to be a politician, and D.C. is still great.

Washington, D.C. has the nightclubs, venues, and restaurants of New York City, the art museums of Philadelphia, and the neighborhood charm of Baltimore. It also has the Smithsonian Institute, the Pentagon, the Kennedy Center, the National Geographic Society, the National Mall, the FBI Building, Ford’s Theatre, Union Station, and, of course, all those famous monuments and memorials. As if that isn’t enough, the Washington Monument, which stands like a giant watchtower overlooking the Capitol, is open for tours again, after months of being closed in the aftermath of September 11. The truth is that Washington, D.C. isn’t a single One-Tank Getaway — it’s a Godzillian fistful of them.

On a Saturday this past November, I went into D.C. for a rock concert at D.A.R. Constitution Hall, a Daughters of the American Revolution relic and one of the country’s most prestigious concert venues. Riding the Metrorail in tunnels beneath the city, I sat next to a family from Vermont. The father talked about going to the National Museum of Natural History, and the mother reminded her kids that they were also going to visit the National Air and Space Museum, where they could eat all the astronaut ice cream they wanted. The kids were just psyched to go to the Hard Rock Café. (They had already been to the one in Boston.)

As for me, I was psyched for my concert. Afterwards, some friends of mine who recently moved to the city decided to take me to the best bars the District of Columbia has to offer. We ended up at just one, in Adams Morgan, called the Brickskeller. It was cramped and cozy and cute. Their menu offers more than 1,100 different beers. By the time we left, I think we had tried most of them. The next morning, I had barely enough time to brisk around a seat-of-the-pants flea market on some side street off Pennsylvania Avenue before my Cinderella clock ran out, turned me into a pumpkin, and had me speed-demoning home to Harrisburg. In Washington, D.C. (as in life), time is always moving quickly, and there’s never enough of it. If you’re planning a visit, don’t think there’s a chance you’ll be back earlier than you had expected. Tell the boss you might be late for that meeting on Monday, and be prepared to pay the babysitter overtime.

Also, be careful not to get lost — the streets of Washington, D.C. intentionally form a literal labyrinth. When architect Pierre L’Enfant was commissioned by President Washington to design the city in 1791, he made the roads confusing in the event of an invasion on our nation’s capital. The intruding army would have to find their targets before they could attack them. (L’Enfant was fired halfway through the job.)

Naturally, your experience of Washington, D.C. is going to be colored by what actual neighborhoods you roam and what actual attractions you manage to find. It’s ten square miles of "Choose Your Own Adventure," and, depending on which one you choose, it could go the way of the Hardy Boys or it could end up looking more like one of the Griswalds’ famous vacations.

Although it’s not connected to a Metro line, the area around Georgetown is a popular footpath. The neighborhood has an obvious college atmosphere, thanks to Georgetown University, but in addition to the shops, pubs, and cafes, there are also picture-postcard options, such as canal boat rides and house museums.

Apart from (but nearby) the roads more traveled, like Capitol Hill and the Smithsonian, there are some real treasure coves that sometimes get the once-over from day-trippers. Try merry-go-rounding Dupont Circle, where you’ll find a myriad of art galleries, museums, and mansions alongside countless charming restaurants and olde-tyme bookshops. Foggy Bottom, which hosts George Washington University and the Kennedy Center, is also worthy of exploration.

Now that it’s spring, there’s yet another reason to start thinking about a visit to D.C. From March 23 to April 8, the city hosts its 90^th Annual Cherry Blossom Festival. Do the math and you’ll figure out that the event started back in 1912. That’s when the Japanese city of Tokyo gave Washington, D.C. a gift of 3,000 cherry trees as a celebration of friendship. Perhaps the gift-card read, "From one capitol city to another." Perhaps not. Either way, the gift kept on giving and has…er…"blossomed" into a two-week festival and Washington’s largest annual tourist event. The festival spills over into the Smithsonian Institute, Union Station, and the Kennedy Center, where there are corresponding exhibits, exhibitions, and hoopla. The festival kicks off with the crowning of the Cherry Blossom Queen during opening ceremonies on Sunday, March 24. The annual Cherry Blossom Festival Parade (themed Celebrate America) marches down Constitution Avenue on Saturday, April 6.

As for seeing the actual blossoms bloom, there’s a certain amount of serendipity involved. It’s all but impossible to truly predict what day the bloom will take place, and, like all beauty, the beauty of the cherry blossom is fleeting. They remain on the trees for just over a week (provided there are no storms), and the real peak lasts only three days. Before driving down Route 15, ride the information superhighway to nps.gov/nacc/cherry for peak bloom reports, updated in Internet-time.

Again, Washington, D.C. isn’t a single One-Tank Getaway. Each neighborhood or attraction is potentially a full-blown One-Tank feature. We could run one in every issue of MODE for a year and still not be repetitive. Dare us? Please don’t. There are too many other things out there, too many nook-and-cranny destinations still in need of exploring. As for Washington, D.C. — look, it’s just such an obvious getaway for anybody living in the Harrisburg area that I’m assuming most of you are planning on going back. And whether you go during the Cherry Blossom Festival or not, you’re never going to need to pick up a paper like MODE to find things to do there. Oh well…at least we’re good at giving directions. (See side-bar.)

Washington, D.C.

If you think "city driving" means driving the block around Strawberry Square, the good news is that you don’t have to actually drive into Washington, D.C. to go there. Nor do you need to sign up for a bus trip. You can drive leisurely down Route 15, park your car miles outside of the city, and ride the Metrorail into the city limits. The Metro will get you within walking distance of most of the places you’d want to go in town; taxis will take you door-to-door.

DIRECTIONS
• From Harrisburg, take Route 15 South for about 70 miles. Merge onto I-270 South, and follow it for approximately 20 miles. Get off at the I-370 Shady Grove exit, and follow the well-marked signs straight to the Metro station. Parking is $2.25 all day and free on weekends, and there’s plenty of it.

• For a closer look at the Metro, including maps, times, and fares, click on wmata.com.

USEFUL LINKS
• Official National Cherry Blossom Festival website:
nationalcherryblossomfestival.org

• Official Tourism Website of Washington, D.C:
washington.org

• D.C. Heritage Tourism Coalition:
dcheritage.org