Capital Culture: Washington DC, Virginia, Pennsylvania and Nashville (Part 1 of 2)
After an early morning flight from Belfast City to Heathrow I met the rest of my group at Terminal 5 at the start of our action-packed itinerary. After checking in for my British Airways flight to Washington Dulles, I was delighted to discover that the whole group and I had been upgraded to fly out Club World. I had one of the rear facing seats on the BA 747, with lots of room and great service and it seems like it was no time before I was arriving into Washington DC. I wish I could always fly with this level of comfort.
On arrival we were transferred by shuttle to our hotel the Intercontinental Washington DC – The Wharf. This brand-new hotel which only opened in October is at the new District Wharf area. This is a great area to stay when visiting DC, with bars and restaurants overlooking a marina on the Potomac River. After a busy day sightseeing in Washington DC you do not have to travel far for a relaxing evening. We were however straight out (after checking into our rooms) to a pre-arranged dinner in the Georgetown area.
The following morning, we were up early and off to visit the Trump International Hotel – Washington DC for breakfast and a tour. This hotel housed in the old Post Office building has been tastefully restored and converted into a beautiful five-star hotel. After an excellent breakfast it was time to tour Washington DC and we did this from an open-top bus. We saw loads of the iconic sights before leaving our bus at the Lincoln Memorial. From there we then walked to The White House (where Angela Merkel was visiting the President) before heading on to our lunch at Hill Country BBQ. After lunch it was time for more sightseeing and I was lucky enough to visit the Air and Space Museum where our expert guide Joe, took us around the history of flight and space in a couple of hours. A short walk took us back to our hotel to get ready for our evening at a ball game. We were off to the baseball to see the Washington Nationals (or Nats) against the Arizona Diamondbacks. The atmosphere in the stadium was great and even though the Nats lost 5-4 you would not have thought so from the bands and dancing in the streets after the game. A great evening of entertainment and one I suggest you try if you get the chance.
The next morning, we said goodbye to Washington DC and headed off towards Richmond, Virginia via the charming town of Fredericksburg which is about halfway. On arrival at Fredericksburg we had a super lunch at the wonderful Billikens Smokehouse before visiting some of the local attractions. This small town is full of history and character. The main street has an eclectic choice of stores, with no chain stores. We also visited George Washington’s Ferry Farm which is a reconstruction of the first Presidents’ boyhood home and the award-winning A. Smith Bowman Distillery for a tasting and a tour. This is a charming town and well worth a visit on a fly-drive itinerary.
Soon we were on our way towards Richmond where we stayed at the Graduate Hotel Richmond. This is a super hip hotel which is famous for its roof bar and great views over the city. As soon as we arrived it was time for us to go on a walking food tour of the Scott’s Addition part of the city, which included a cider tasting, dinner at ZZQ for our BBQ dinner and then a visit to Gelati Celesti for ice-cream. After dinner I visited the hotels rooftop bar – The Byrd House for a nightcap.
We were up early the next morning for one of the highlights of the trip – a Segway tour from the historic Shockoe Slip area to Carytown seeing Richmond’s growing street art as well as some of its history. Carytown is a lovely neighbourhood with lots of unique stores (similar in some ways to Fredericksburg) as well as great eating places. We had lunch at East Coast Provisions which was great. Then it was time to leave Richmond after a far too short visit and head towards the Shenandoah National Park.
This beautiful park is quite rightly regarded as a national treasure and includes 105 miles of skyline drive covering the crest of the Blue Ridge Mountains. There are more than 500 miles of hiking trails within the park including 101 miles of the Appalachian Trail. We stayed at Skyland Resort which at 3,680ft is Skyline Drive’s highest point. The next morning, we had an early start as we had a lot to pack in this day. After breakfast we were met by a Park Ranger who took us on a short hike on the Stony Man Trail to a super lookout over the town off Luray below. This was our next destination to visit the famous Luray Caverns. This great attraction is well worth a visit to see the amazing stalagmites and stalactites reflected in clear shallow pools. After lunch at the beautiful Mimslyn Inn we were off to Philadelphia (via Baltimore) a drive that would take us through five different states (Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware and Pennsylvania). We had a brief stop in Baltimore to visit the beautiful Sagamore Pendry Baltimore, this hotel on a restored pier is a wonderful boutique hotel for anyone visiting Baltimore.