Washington DC Area Recreation for Residents

Every search on line, guide book, and article about activities in the Washington DC area bring you tourist activities. Yet so many of us that live here want to play but not visit the monuments or museums. So what is there for us to do? To avoid the tourist traps, some creative and low-key thinking is required. Are you thinking of a hidden spot to dine? Physical activity? Small and specialized museums? Each of these exists tucked away from high-traffic touristy areas. You just have to know where to look! Here are some examples.

Outdoor Dining

I bet you don’t know about the restaurant on the Potomac River that sits just south of National Airport, Indigo Landing (http://www.indigolanding.com/). This restaurant does not have fine dining in the strictest sense, but it does sit right on the river with indoor/outdoor seating, where you can watch people who use the marina sail, watch planes land, or watch the geese swim around. This is a great spot in the summer, and is almost never crowded.

Physical activity

Who among us doesn’t know about every outdoor biking/running path? There are a ton of these, some which are designed for neighborhood use while others go for miles and miles between many different neighborhoods. There are good books for this, here are a few –

25 Bicycle Tours in and Around Washington D.C.: From the Capitol Steps to Country Roads

Road Biking in Washington DC

Museums

What are you into? Contemporary art? Women’s art? Famous people? Architecture? There is a museum for every interest; you just have to find it. Away from the stretch of Smithsonian museums near the Mall there is the Phillips Museum (http://www.phillipscollection.org/), the National Museum of Women in the Arts (http://www.nmwa.org/facility/), the National Portrait Gallery (http://www.npg.si.edu/), and the Pope-Leighey House (http://popeleighey1940.org/). The National Portrait Gallery has portraits of famous people, and the Pope-Leighey House is a house that Frank Lloyd Wright build for the average man of his time, who shared Wright’s architectural values.

Alternative Fun

When was the last time you stopped to look around where you work or live? Sometimes just a walk around the area will reveal things worth seeing that tourists will never get around to. For example, my working area has the Chinatown arch, the Artwalk, and old churches. My old gym has the fun Crystal City airplanes and an outdoor eating area to eat next to fountains.

Next time you, resident, want to see something new and different, think small. Think outside the tourist box. Think about that little place that you and the tourists drive by every day. You might just find a gem!