Keeping with our tradition of seeing a new city at Christmas time for our anniversary, Tom and I headed to Washington DC to celebrate 2 years.
We woke up early in the morning on December 9th and drove the 4 1/2 hours to DC, only stopping once to fill our bellies with Burger King.
We arrived early afternoon at the Fairmont Hotel in the beautiful Georgetown area of DC. The hotel was currently under construction, so we got a room that usually goes for $900 a night for $181 a night. What a steal!
After getting settled, we headed over to the Smithsonian Museums and the National Mall. It was a freezing, cold day, but we managed to hop around from museum to museum.
Here we saw beautiful diamonds, presidential artifacts, dinosaurs, and spaceships. It was truly a fun and educational experience.
After our tour through American history, we stopped at a local bar for a beer before heading to our dinner reservation.
Dinner was at China Chilcano, a fabulous Jose Andres creation that couples Chinese and Peruvian cuisine.
We began with cocktails. I ordered the signature Chilcano (Pisco 99, lime, Amargo Chuncho bitters, Fever-Tree Ginger Ale) and a 5-Spice Old Fashioned (Rye, Chinese five spice, Angostura bitters) for Tom. We shared an order of the traditional SIU MAI, then each ordered our own entrees. I had the Yaki Udon (Udon noodle, seasonal vegetable, wood ear mushroom, sweet soy, ají amarillo) and Tom ordered the Lomo Saltado (Beef filet, tomato, soy sauce, ají amarillo peppers, shoestring potato, rice).
I’m a huge fan of Jose Andres and I was so excited to try this place. It definitely lived up to my expectations.
Once we finished up our food, we headed back to the hotel for a good nights sleep.
On Saturday, we woke early for a very important thing.. Donuts! For some reason, there was only one thing I wanted to find for breakfast on this trip and that was donuts. After much Instagram searching, I discovered District Doughnuts and I could not wait to get my hands on one.
Picking out which doughnut to have was a difficult task, but finally decided on a vanilla creme brûlée doughnut that they torch in front of you. Tom ordered a bacon nutella. We washed them down with lattes and headed on our way.
We decided to spend our morning exploring the shops in Georgetown before heading to Right Proper Brewing for craft beer and lunch.
Early afternoon, we hopped on the metro and headed to Right Proper Production House. We only planned on staying for a couple of hours, but that quickly extended into several.
The people who work there are awesome to hang out with and talk to. We took a tour of the brewery and waited for a food truck to arrive for lunch.
Their beer is unique and full of flavor. They even let us try a secret brew that they don’t list of the menu. If you ever visit, ask what they don’t list on tap.
We had dinner reservations at Ristorante La Perla. The second we walked in, we could tell we were at a special place. It had that old school Italian feel where everyone is like family.
The food was rich and decadent. I ordered a creamy seafood lasagna and I can’t remember what Tom ordered. Once we were done eating, the owner came out and spoke with us. It was really special experience.
Our last stop for the night was the National Christmas Tree. This was a little anti-climatic considering we have Rockefeller Center so close, but it was still cool to see.
On our last day, we had brunch with my cousin Jeff and his wife Katie. They made the most incredible berry crumb cake and quiche. We enjoyed every bite just as much as the company. It was really nice being able to see them.
After brunch, Jeff dropped us off at the Newseum. As we were entering, a kind family leaving gave us their tickets, so we got in for free. It seems like the tickets are good all day so this could be a pro-tip for you if you ever go.
This was really cool and interesting experience. If you have never been, we highly recommend it. There were exhibits of every huge news story that ever happened and the medium that was used to break the news (TV, Web, Magazine, Newspaper). It was fascinating.
We left the Newseum and headed to the car to go home. Before reaching Astoria we stopped a Nathan’s for my favorite fast food item… Hot Dog Nuggets!
It was an incredible trip and we cannot wait to go back.
The Cocho Life 