I’m often asked about enhanced experiences outside the National Mall. I’ve done everything on the list, but then I’ve lived here more than 60 years. Many of these are discussed on my MonumentalThoughts.com blog and many are on my tours. Feel free to reach out MonumentalThoughts@gmail.com.
- The Lincoln Memorial has a backside?
- The Exorcist Steps
- The Other Washington Monument – Alice Roosevelt
- See cherry blossoms views away from crowds
- Eat homemade pop tarts at Ted’s Bulletin
- Watch money come off Bureau of Engraving presses
- Get free tickets to the national Christmas Tree lighting
- Welcome the Honor Flights to the World War II Memorial
- Watch Changing of the Guard at Tomb of Unknowns
- Why the oldest house in town is a lie
- Visit RFK Stadium before it’s gone
- See where Booth shot Lincoln
- The authentic Italian restaurant in town – Filomena’s
- The national mileage stone
- Attend a Nats/Caps/Wiz/Redskins/Mystics/United game
- Watch sunset from Georgetown waterfront
- Watch the Marine Corps Marathon (or even enter)
- Attend Marine Corps sunset drill
- Where was the canal to rival Venice?
- Eat in the Proposal Booth where JFK asked Jackie
- Take river cruise to Mount Vernon
- See most popular Smithsonian exhibit – First Ladies Inaugural dresses
- Where Forest Gump found Jenny
- The hidden Lee face in Lincoln’s hair
- Read the Declaration of Independence at National Archives
- Snowball fight at DuPont Circle
- See the buffalos
- The grandest building on Embassy Row
- The Hope Diamond and Evalyn Walsh McLean
- Walk the C&O Canal
- Take a Georgetown garden club tour
- Play 9 holes at Langston Golf Course
- Attend the Rock Creek Tennis Tournament
- Visit the National Cathedral
- See the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
- Jimmy’s Place was once the happening place
- The Maine Lobsterman Memorial
- Grief and the Adams Memorial
- Boss Shepherd saved the capital
- Visit an embassy
- The Three Soldiers Statue
- Find a name on the Vietnam Wall
- Try George Washington’s whiskey
- See the Memorial to Japanese-American Patriotism in World War
- Carlyle House in Alexandria
- Who’s on the Supreme Court pediment
- Kilroy was here
- Find 56 names in Constitution Gardens
- Remembering Resurrection City
- The Eisenhower memorial
- Clara Barton’s office found once more
- Cuban Friendship Urn shows we’re still friends
- Boy Scout Memorial combines past and present
- The five guys in a memorial
- The cat, horse and general
- Why foreign generals border White House park
- The new life of police/fire boxes
- A bar bet you can always win
- The lady was a princess
- Winston Churchill – man of two worlds
- Visit American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial
- The terrorist act on Embassy Row
- The most photographed statue in town – Andrew Jackson
- Is DeCatur House haunted?
- Octagon House really has six sides
- St. John’s – church of the presidents
- Why the White House looks like the Irish parliament
- It’s “The ugliest building in America” said Mark Twain
- The First Dog in bronze
- Who lived here first? The Patentees Memorial
- Baptist Alley and John Wilkes Booth
- Holy Rosary Church and days of Little Italy
- The wish tree and Yoko Ono
- The never-ending chess game
- Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Verizon Center
- The local version of Trevi Fountain
- Bully for Teddy Roosevelt Island
- Finding the G-Man in Congressional Cemetery
- The Titanic Memorial
- Join Christmas wreath laying at Arlington National Cemetery
- Why it’s RFK and not LBJ Stadium
- Try the lobster roll on a food truck
- Where Smithson, as in Smithsonian, lies in castle
- The killing of wife’s lover and the case of temporary insanity
- See daytime fireworks at Mount Vernon
- Visit the Frederick Douglas House
- Eat at Gadsby’s Tavern
- Walk Dumbarton Gardens in the spring
- Did you hear about the Volta Bureau?
- Check out Jefferson’s books at Library of Congress
- Watch the Supreme Court in session
- Watch the river from the Watergate Steps
- See an indy movie at Landmark E Theater
- Eat sushi at Mary Surratt’s old boarding house
- That little Empire State building in distance is Masonic Temple
- What the Puck – visit Shakespeare Library
- Read between the lions at Corcoran Gallery
- Spite Houses of Alexandria
- Visit the Spanish steps
- Woodrow Wilson-Jeff Bezos-Herbert Hoover homes side by side
- Sit in the Proposal Booth at Martin’s Tavern