I spent 12 days on the East Coast in late October and early November. I started off in DC from October 27-31, then headed up to NYC, November 1-7. I couldn’t have timed my trip better to coincide with peak fall foliage in both areas. This thread focuses on DC, as well as Arlington and Alexandria.
1 – Arriving at DCA.
2 – Capitol Hill
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7 – Library of Congress and the Supreme Court.
8 – US Capitol
9 – Capitol Riverfront
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11 – The Wharf
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13 – Colada Shop (Cuban café) at The Wharf.
14 – Smithsonian/National Mall area.
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16 – I’d never been inside the Old Post Office building despite having lived in DC for 7 years. Now that it’s no longer owned/operated by a certain criminal, I was anxious to check it out.
17 – Federal Triangle area (including the new World War 1 Memorial).
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19 – The White House and Lafayette Park.
20 – Logan Circle (during my last 1.5 years in DC I lived in a top floor condo overlooking the circle so this is very much home!)
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22 – 14th Street, Thomas Circle, and Slipstream.
23 – Always have to visit my favorite coffee shop, The Coffee Bar, in Shaw.
24 – Dupont Circle
25 – Shaw
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28 – Dupont Circle
29 – Washington Circle & Foggy Bottom Metrorail station.
30 – Arlington: Pentagon City
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32 – Amazon’s HQ2 under construction at “National Landing” (the combined Pentagon City & Crystal City areas – this being Pentagon City).
33 – And this being the Crystal City portion of “National Landing.”
34 – This was near the mile 23 marker of the Marine Corps Marathon, so these runners were nearing the end but also likely feeling quite exhausted!
35 – 23rd Street in Crystal City.
36 – Crossing the border from Arlington into Alexandria, where Metrorail’s newest infill station, Potomac Yard, is still under construction. It should open in 2023.
37 – Continuing into Alexandria: Potomac Yard Park.
38 – The best coffee option in Alexandria is M.E. Swing Coffee Roasters.
39 – Heading south along the Potomac Yard trail.
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41 – Alexandria’s waterfront along the Potomac River.
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46 – The new King Street Park, where King Street meets the Potomac River on the eastern edge of Old Town. This used to be an underutilized parking lot & boat storage just a few years ago, now it’s so much better!
47 – Scenes from Old Town Alexandria.
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58 – Old Town Alexandria Harbor.
59 – Taking the water taxi from Old Town to The Wharf.
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63 – Hains Point in East Potomac Park and the new South Capitol Street/Frederick Douglas Memorial Bridge.
64 – Southern tip of Fort McNair.
65 – Arriving at The Wharf.
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72 – Heading through Southwest up to the National Mall.
73 – Back to the National Mall & Smithsonian Sculpture Garden.
74 – Constitution Ave/Federal Triangle.
75 – CityCenter DC
76 – Thomas Circle
77 – Golden Triangle
78 – Had to duck into Call Your Mother for a bagel breakfast sandwich as a rain shower passed through.
79 – West End/Dupont Circle.
80 – P Street bridge connecting Dupont Circle to Georgetown above Rock Creek Park.
81 – Scenes from Georgetown.
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85 – Georgetown University
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90 – Seemed fitting since it was Halloween day to head down The Exorcist Steps.
91 – The Rosslyn skyline across the Potomac as seen from Georgetown.
92 – M Street in Georgetown.
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94 – C&O Canal
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96 – Continuing through Georgetown heading back east towards Foggy Bottom.
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98 – Washington Circle
99 – Western Market: a new food hall for the neighborhood with lots of local restaurants.
100 – Filter Cofffee, one of my two favorite coffee shops in DC.
101 – Farragut West Metrorail station.
102 – Arriving in Arlington: Ballston.
103 – New construction art deco done right. This is a stellar redevelopment in the heart of Ballston.
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105 – Ballston Commons area.
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108 – Heading into the Clarendon area of Arlington.
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113 – 11th Street Park & residential in Clarendon.
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115 – Now into the Courthouse area of Arlington, with several areas under construction.
116 – I’m excited for this development to finally get underway, which replaces an old drive through Wendy’s with a
new flatiron-type building (early sitework/digging has just begun).
117 – Continuing through Courthouse towards Rosslyn.
118 – New construction high rises in Rosslyn.
119 – Heading through the core of Rosslyn. South winds meant the flight path for arriving traffic at DCA was coming in along the river so there was a continuous stream of planes passing by just to the north & east of Rosslyn.
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124 – A nice new plaza built in conjunction with new high rises directly across from the Rosslyn Metrorail station entrance.
125 – Rosslyn Metrorail station
126 – Farragut North Metrorail station. Time to take the red line to Union Station to catch my Amtrak train to NYC.
127 – Union Station
128 – I always opt for the quiet car on Amtrak. So nice not to be subject to loud conversations.
About 3 hours later I arrived in NYC. I’ll have those photos posted in the next few days (photos now available
here). Hope you enjoyed these fall photos of DC, Arlington, and Alexandria!
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