NAUIAP VISITS WASHINGTON DC
ACTIVITES AFTER 5
In Washington, DC, you’ll enjoy access to fascinating, FREE attractions and historic sights. Touch a moon rock, marvel at the Hope Diamond, view Dorothy’s Ruby Red slippers or explore Native American culture at the Smithsonian Institution’s fifteen Washington, DC area facilities. Discover treasures like the Gutenberg Bible at the Library of Congress, the only da Vinci painting in North America at the National Gallery of Art and historic documents like the Declaration of Independence at the National Archives. These are only a few of the available sights I have found as I explored opportunities for the NAUIAP evenings in DC.
In addition to the celebrated federal sites, I found out Washington, DC has a fascinating network of neighborhoods filled with trendy boutiques, hip bars and restaurants, plus art galleries, other museums, historic homes and lush parks and gardens. You should start your exploration with Dupont Circle, where the city’s international character shines through with eclectic dining and nightlife and the historic center of the city’s embassy community. Dupont Circle is only steps away from our hotel. Additionally, shoppers will find store-lined streets in Georgetown, while jazz music fans won’t want to miss a trip to U Street, where Duke Ellington played his first notes.
The Tourism Bureau suggests the arrival of several new eateries has made the nation’s capital a prime destination for dining out, with many of the city’s top tables located in the downtown Penn Quarter neighborhood. DC is also earning new recognition as a thriving performing arts town, with 65 professional theatre companies based in the metropolitan area presenting edgy world premieres and celebrated Broadway musicals throughout the year.
Thanks to DC’s pedestrian-friendly streets and its safe, efficient public transportation system—including Metrorail and the new Circulator bus—it’s easy to get from your hotel to Washington, DC’s attractions, restaurants, shopping and more. For general transportation information can be found here: http://washington.org/DC-guide-to/getting-around-washington-dc.
For more information and lots of suggestions visit washington.org. The tourism site contains a list of 100 FREE or almost free things to do in Washington, DC. Visit the Washington Visitors Guide with specifics on what’s going on in DC while we are there, along with updates on restaurants and shopping.
For those interested in the Smithsonian Museums, many are open evenings during the summer.
AFTER 5 GROUP ACTIVITIES
The Board of Governors did find a few items including tours and activities we thought would be of special interest to our members. While there will not be a scheduled dinner or outing this year, your Board of Governors felt we could not compete with all the fun and opportunities offered by our Nation’s Capitol, so instead we offer the following evening suggestions. All event tickets are $40 each and can be purchased on the conference registration page. These tickets are available for a limited time only, so be sure to get yours today!
On Monday night we have the opening reception with dinner on your own. For dinner considerations be sure at look at the information the Tourism Bureau’s Show Your Badge program for great offers in local restaurants, discounts at museums and other sites and other special offers. This web site is continually updated so you want to check just before you arrive or while you are in DC and making plans for your or your family’s day and evening. Also check out DC Cool for deals and up to date information on restaurants.
On Tuesday night, there is a monument by moonlight trolley tour for those who register by May 20th. If you want to tour with our group, you may pay for tickets online when you register for the conference. If you want to tour separately, you can simply find a tour online (there are several) and register on your own.
Our tour will begin at Union Station. We will not provide transportation from the hotel, but you can reach Union Station by taking a quick trip on the Metro Red Line from Dupont Circle. The Moonlight Monument Tour is a 2.5 to 3 hours tour on an old-fashioned trolley with expert narration as you admire illuminated monuments and memorials, the Capitol Building, the White House and Georgetown. The tour stops at the FDR Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, the Korean War Memorial & the Iwo Jima Memorials. Join the professional tour guides for entertaining anecdotes and historical information along with a sprinkling of ghost stories about the spirits who haunt the Nation’s capital.
If you are not interested in a nighttime tour, or are looking for something shorter, several companies offer hop on/hop off tickets for all day bus tours, which can also be purchased on-line or when you arrive. These sound like a great way to have transportation and a city tour at the same time. Some of the companies even have a bus stop in Dupont Circle.
On Wednesday night, we are offering a great opportunity to see a live show at the Kennedy Center, “Shear Madness.” Some of our members have previously attended the show and recommend it highly. According to the show’s web page, the comedy-whodunit takes place in the Shear Madness hairstyling salon and is chock full of up-to-the-minute spontaneous humor. It sounds like it will provide our group of judges the perfect opportunity to exercise our skills in asking questions and weighing facts, but all in fun. The original script was written to use as a study of how people perceive or misperceive reality. The brief play was set in a uni-sex hair salon and revolved around the off-stage murder of a concert pianist. Subjects were asked to solve the murder based on their individual perceptions of the events and the six stereotypical characters surrounding the murder. In the current show a murder is committed and the audience gets to spot the clues, question the suspects, and solve this funny mystery. The outcome is never the same, so even if you’ve seen it before you should see it again!
On Thursday night there are several options. For the sports fans, the Washington Nationals will play home games on Wednesday and Thursday nights at 7 pm. Discount tickets are not available for the games. Or you may wish to relax with another moonlight tour. One of the recommended highlights is a moonlight cruise on the Potomac to view the monuments. This is a 45 minute cruise leaving from the Washington Harbor on K street in Georgetown. You can book your cruise directly online. And for those more adventurous, there are also a number of dinner cruise offerings you can find at Washington.org or online by searching Washington, DC river cruises.
Whatever adventures or discoveries you choose for your evenings while in Washington DC. I look forward to seeing you in Washington in June for the NAUAIP Conference.