Expecting a three day layover in DC after my flight from Abu Dhabi and on the way back to Florida, I started looking at places to stay and things to do. I quickly noticed a very easy literary theme and made some plans. While I ended up having to change my trip and head directly to Florida to avoid a snow storm, I thought I’d share some of my ideas.
I grew up in the neighboring suburbs of Northern Virginia and worked in DC after college so I have some familiarity with the town. However, I have never stayed downtown and played tourist whole-heartedly. I have half-assed my way through a summer slog of a day trip from Fairfax, VA while dragging sweaty, complaining children. This was not that. I had hoped to really be able to commit to staying downtown and enjoying it solo or meeting up with any friends I could talk into making the trek downtown.
Along with a tour of the museums at night, I’d hoped to roam the mall area and go to the Spy Museum. I’ve done most of the other museums but could easily be convinced to wander any of them again. If you didn’t know, I love a themed bar crawl – but usually the theme is just “hey, Thursday!” or “martinis-and-french fries.”
There were some places that would fit nicely into this list but I deemed them too far out of my very narrow, 2-mile radius.
Some ways to spend your pre-bar crawl time:
- Kramerbooks. A combined bookstore/bar/restaurant, what else could you need?
- Planet Word Museum. Immersive language experience? Yes, please!
- Jenni Bick’s Custom Journals. So many notebooks and journals all perfectly clean and ready for that first sentence you are going to be anxious to write. Go flip through them and try all the pens.
- Nerds and Nibblers. Isn’t that a cute name for a sandwich shop.
- Drunk Shakespeare. If you need even more laughs: DC Improv comedy Club.
- American Women Writers National Museum. It says it’s there but I’ve never heard of it and the website looks like it pre-dates the internet.
- DC Writer’s Salon. If you need a space to work with a bunch of writers, this could be your jam.
- Folger Shakespeare Library. I feel like this place would smell like delicious paper.
- National Museum of Women in the Arts. While not super writerly, it’s a beautiful building with amazing installations. Go get inspired.
On to the bars. Here’s my starting point:
- Off The Record
- Allegory
- The Quill
- The Bottom Line
- The Looking Glass Lounge
- The Monocle
- The Raven
- The Dubliner
- Busboys and Poets