Perfect Little DC Weekend

A couple of weekends ago, we took a quick trip to one of our favorite vacation spots - Washington, DC - to celebrate our second anniversary.  Washington, DC has quickly become one of our favorite cities in the world and each time we visit, we fall more and more in love with it.  I wish we had taken pictures, but we were so relaxed and content just walking around looking at everything...we didn't take a single one.  If you are considering booking a trip to DC and making it one of your new favorite vacation spots, here is a perfect little non-touristy DC weekend.

First, stay at Hotel Madera on Dupont Circle. This is the perfect hotel for this trip because of its location.  You are just a few steps away from shops, restaurants, and bars and the blocks surrounding you are filled with trees, historic buildings, and gorgeous row houses.  It's also far away enough from the more touristy sites such as the monuments, mall, and museums that you won't be bunking with a lot of tourists and noisy kids.  (Does that make me sound like a snob?  Too bad!)

Second, have breakfast at Firefly, the restaurant attached to Hotel Madera. I did a restaurant review of their breakfast over at my food blog which you can check out here.  It's obviously super convenient since you don't even need to leave your hotel, it's really cute, and super delicious.

Third, take a walk to the Smithsonian Zoo.  It was a pretty good walk, maybe 15 to 20 minutes, but completely worth it.  First of all, like all walks in this area of DC, it was gorgeous.  The row houses and mansions on the way are breathtaking.  Take a minute to step aside while passing over the bridge on the way and look down and the huge expanse of trees and parks below.  It's gorgeous.  Secondly, the zoo is free and is set up, as described by our concierge, like Central Park, but with animals.  It's really casual and spread out and treated by a lot of people like a regular park as evidenced by the large numbers of joggers running by you.  It's definitely a great way to kill a couple of hours for free in DC.

(Does anyone else think pandas look like humans with weird makeup on?  The ones at this zoo FREAKED ME OUT they looked so much like people)

You've got two options on how to end your perfect little DC day.  If you are willing to spend a lot of money, have dinner at Komi.  Seriously.......seriously...so good.  Ridiculously good.  Worth every penny.  And, of course, a short and pretty little walk from Hotel Madera.  Make reservations and come starving!  

If you want to save some money but still eat really well, go over to Estadio which is also a pretty close walk to the hotel.  Estadio is delicious and amazingly priced and if you go for nothing else, get a gin and tonic and a cheesecake.  Two of the best things I've ever eaten.

While there are of course a million things to do and eat in DC, if you do the above, I promise you'll have a perfect, relaxing, and delicious little DC trip.  (And next time I'll take pictures of ours!)