Tour Guide: Part 1

My parents are visiting this weekend, so I'm trying my hand at being a tour guide.

Ebbitt's = A+
We ate dinner on Friday at Old Ebbitt's Grill. It's a longtime Washington place that used to be very popular with political types. We found it simply had delicious food — and ate a lot of it. I can eat a lot but was stuffed after eating: raw oysters, a trout entree (which ended up partially in a to-go box) and chocolate chip bread pudding (shared among us). I need to go back to try their crab and artichoke dip — and more oysters.



Neighborhood jaunts
We started Saturday with a stop at Eastern Market (above), a farmers, craft and flea market near Capitol Hill. Before hitting the touristy spots, we ate lunch at a restaurant on Eighth Street/ Barracks Row. Dad now realizes D.C. has more than just the Mall — neighborhoods too!

Monuments and memorials
We hit up most of them: World War II, Korean, Lincoln, Vietnam. We didn't go out of the way to see FDR or Jefferson. They'll just have to wait.


Seeing Obama
Well, we pretty much saw Obama. As we approached the White House from the Ellipse, we realized we couldn't cross past it. So we stopped where they had gates up right at the edge ... just in time to watch Marine One (the helicopter) fly off the lawn and over our heads. It turns out, Barack was taking Michelle to New York for a date night. Once they were gone, we took the obligatory shots of the White House — from all sides. (See the helicopter next to the Washington Monument above. By the time I realized what was going on, it had zoomed past us.)


Downtown stop
Before heading back to Silver Spring, we spent a couple hours in the National Portrait Gallery and walking around Chinatown ... followed by a beer and food at RFD. Most importantly, we stopped by Five Guys burgers to check out the joint that was all the rage Friday when Obama ate a burger there. (Sadly, he went to the Navy Yard location, NOT the one in Chinatown. ... though this would have been closer for him.)

Check out more photos from the day here.