USVI-On-Line

I wanted to post a mini trip report from our weekend in DC to let everyone know how helpful your suggestions were when I inquired about restaurant recommendations.

We stayed at the Grand Hyatt, which was a great hotel in a convenient location, only a few blocks from the Mall. I was astounded at how much walking was involved overall. I had heard everyone tell us to be prepared to walk a lot, but never really believed how much walking there really was, but we survived. While looking for a place to eat lunch on our first day there, we kept seeing many restaurants that were only open for dinner, not lunch. Anyway, we finally spotted a restaurant that looked open and headed in that direction. Lo and behold...it was Chef Geoff's!! I immediately recognized it as one of the recommendations from the forum. We walked in with confidence and enjoyed a great lunch.

We ate dinner at Gordon Biersch that night. Food was yummy, it was a perfect atmosphere where the kids were concerned, and was an easy walk from our hotel. The only problem we had was when the fire alarm went off shortly after we were served our food. This totally freaked our girls out and they sat on our laps for the remainder of our meal. Apparently, someone in the connecting Marriott hotel had set off the alarm accidentally. Other than that, we really enjoyed the restaurant.

We also at a dinner at Matchbox, another forum recommendation. We loved that as well. The food and wine were terrific, the pizzas were to die for! It was a great place to take our kids, we had a table on the 3rd floor, kind of out of the way from the other younger, hipper, crowd hanging out by the bar!

We did a lot of sightseeing, checking out most of the museums and all of the monuments. We even rented a limo to see the monuments at night. It was truly breathtaking (and we didn't have to walk much!) A highlight of the weekend was doing the "garden tour" of the White House. The NPS told us they only did this tour 5 days per year, and we were able to walk up the circular driveway that led up to the awning at the door of the White House and were only 50 feet away from the Oval Office, so close we could actually see inside. Pretty cool.

Just want to say thanks for all of your suggestions. My husband and the other family we travel with continue to be amazed at the wealth of information I obtain from this forum. They couldn't believe I had all of these recommendations for Washington from the STJ forum! Thanks again! Here are a few pictures from the weekend.


White House garden tour


National Archives Building


Lincoln Memorial at night

very cool about the garden tour. would love to do that! sounds like a great time! thanks for sharing.

Glad you had a nice time, thanks for sharing the report and pics!

Seeing this report reminds me of how STJ Ruth must feel. When you live in or near a major tourist destination, you forget that people actual take the time to travel there and visit!

One time I was at Dulles airport and heading to Vegas on business. Sitting at the gate were two guys who were Vegas natives recounting their first trip to DC. They kept rambling on about how interesting DC was and how OLD everything was!

So glad you enjoyed your trip!

Glad you enjoyed DC and Chef Geoff's. I grew up in DC. I've never managed to leave the area except for undergrad. I came runnning back.

Thanks for the report. That is a place my husband keeps begging us to go to.

Thank you for the OT trip report. Pete and I have had many fine long weekends in DC. I always come back with blisters on my feet from walking. We love that city.

Hmmmm...I could use a Rueben from Old Ebbitt Grill right about now...or wait, maybe a steak and martini at Billy Martin's in G'Town. Yummm.

I'm happy you made it to Matchbox. There are so many great restaurants in DC, but we always make it back there for one meal. My daughter has recently relocated to Chicago, but you could see Matchbox from her apartment window.