101 must sees

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.

  1. The Lincoln Memorial has a backside?
  2. The Exorcist Steps
  3. The Other Washington Monument – Alice Roosevelt
  4. See cherry blossoms views away from crowds
  5. Eat homemade pop tarts at Ted’s Bulletin
  6. Watch money come off Bureau of Engraving presses
  7. Get free tickets to the national Christmas Tree lighting
  8. Welcome the Honor Flights to the World War II Memorial
  9. Watch Changing of the Guard at Tomb of Unknowns
  10. Why the oldest house in town is a lie
  11. Visit RFK Stadium before it’s gone
  12. See where Booth shot Lincoln
  13. The authentic Italian restaurant in town – Filomena’s
  14. The national mileage stone
  15. Attend a Nats/Caps/Wiz/Redskins/Mystics/United game
  16. Watch sunset from Georgetown waterfront
  17. Watch the Marine Corps Marathon (or even enter)
  18. Attend Marine Corps sunset drill
  19. Where was the canal to rival Venice?
  20. Eat in the Proposal Booth where JFK asked Jackie
  21. Take river cruise to Mount Vernon
  22. See most popular Smithsonian exhibit – First Ladies Inaugural dresses
  23. Where Forest Gump found Jenny
  24. The hidden Lee face in Lincoln’s hair
  25. Read the Declaration of Independence at National Archives
  26. Snowball fight at DuPont Circle
  27. See the buffalos
  28. The grandest building on Embassy Row
  29. The Hope Diamond and Evalyn Walsh McLean
  30. Walk the C&O Canal
  31. Take a Georgetown garden club tour
  32. Play 9 holes at Langston Golf Course
  33. Attend the Rock Creek Tennis Tournament
  34. Visit the National Cathedral
  35. See the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
  36. Jimmy’s Place was once the happening place
  37. The Maine Lobsterman Memorial
  38. Grief and the Adams Memorial
  39. Boss Shepherd saved the capital
  40. Visit an embassy
  41. The Three Soldiers Statue
  42. Find a name on the Vietnam Wall
  43. Try George Washington’s whiskey
  44. See the Memorial to Japanese-American Patriotism in World War
  45. Carlyle House in Alexandria
  46. Who’s on the Supreme Court pediment
  47. Kilroy was here
  48. Find 56 names in Constitution Gardens
  49. Remembering Resurrection City
  50. The Eisenhower memorial
  51. Clara Barton’s office found once more
  52. Cuban Friendship Urn shows we’re still friends
  53. Boy Scout Memorial combines past and present
  54. The five guys in a memorial
  55. The cat, horse and general
  56. Why foreign generals border White House park
  57. The new life of police/fire boxes
  58. A bar bet you can always win
  59. The lady was a princess
  60. Winston Churchill – man of two worlds
  61. Visit American Veterans Disabled for Life Memorial
  62. The terrorist act on Embassy Row
  63. The most photographed statue in town – Andrew Jackson
  64. Is DeCatur House haunted?
  65. Octagon House really has six sides
  66. St. John’s – church of the presidents
  67. Why the White House looks like the Irish parliament
  68. It’s “The ugliest building in America” said Mark Twain
  69. The First Dog in bronze
  70. Who lived here first? The Patentees Memorial
  71. Baptist Alley and John Wilkes Booth
  72. Holy Rosary Church and days of Little Italy
  73. The wish tree and Yoko Ono
  74. The never-ending chess game
  75. Uncle Tom’s Cabin and Verizon Center
  76. The local version of Trevi Fountain
  77. Bully for Teddy Roosevelt Island
  78. Finding the G-Man in Congressional Cemetery
  79. The Titanic Memorial
  80. Join Christmas wreath laying at Arlington National Cemetery
  81. Why it’s RFK and not LBJ Stadium
  82. Try the lobster roll on a food truck
  83. Where Smithson, as in Smithsonian, lies in castle
  84. The killing of wife’s lover and the case of temporary insanity
  85. See daytime fireworks at Mount Vernon
  86. Visit the Frederick Douglas House
  87. Eat at Gadsby’s Tavern
  88. Walk Dumbarton Gardens in the spring
  89. Did you hear about the Volta Bureau?
  90. Check out Jefferson’s books at Library of Congress
  91. Watch the Supreme Court in session
  92. Watch the river from the Watergate Steps
  93. See an indy movie at Landmark E Theater
  94. Eat sushi at Mary Surratt’s old boarding house
  95. That little Empire State building in distance is Masonic Temple
  96. What the Puck – visit Shakespeare Library
  97. Read between the lions at Corcoran Gallery
  98. Spite Houses of Alexandria
  99. Visit the Spanish steps
  100. Woodrow Wilson-Jeff Bezos-Herbert Hoover homes side by side
  101. Sit in the Proposal Booth at Martin’s Tavern