24 Hours in Washington DC: Visiting 17 Attractions in One Day

washington dc is the nation's capital and is home to some of the best and most visited tourist attractions in the united states places like the washington monument lincoln memorial and white house draw visitors from all over the world and the national mall is surrounded by museums many of which are free and you could easily spend an entire day exploring my dad and i were only in town for two days and we drove the george washington memorial parkway one day which you can see in the upper right corner and then on our second day we tried our best to see some of dc's best spots so here's how we spent 24 hours exploring washington dc and seeing 17 amazing things of course stay longer if you can and let's jump into it also special thanks to alice coffee club for sponsoring this video more on them later [Music] we stayed in a hotel on the west side of the potomac that had free parking so we had to catch an uber over to start our day we headed right to founding farmers which was the top rated place for breakfast in the city founding farmers is a farmer-owned restaurant with all the food made from scratch and they have a pretty incredible menu gotta go half and half so you can get the best of both worlds only problem going half and half is he's making me eat vegetables it's not that healthy that was a pricey meal but man wasn't good be sure you get reservations if you're here on a weekend but we're gonna go explore washington dc now we're gonna see if we can walk to the viewing area for the white house i'm not sure if you can anymore from founding farmers is about a five minute walk to the white house you can't drive into this area but you can walk in and see it from the gate made it to the white house is as close as you can get if you want to tour the white house you have to request a tour through your congress person at least 21 days in advance i've been to washington dc a couple of times but i've never actually gone on a tour let me know if you have and how it is in the comments directly across the street from the white house is lafayette square which has many different statues you can see pops and i played our first game of name who that statue is and he won more to come i'm going with george washington he's got that nice cape who are you going with colonel william north who's that the one whose name's on the side ah what pops was looking at the back so i don't think this is colonel william north we're gonna go around the front though so it's general frederick william von steuben which apparently pops nose he gets wrong he was a german mercenary i think during this during the revolutionary war who helped the colonies i forgot about it i think we're going to go ahead and end the statue naming here because i don't think i'm going to be very good at it after seeing a few more statues we walked past the white house again and continued our tour of washington dc [Music] it's pretty surprising there's actually not that many people here for a summer weekend so hopefully it's a nice day exploring we're heading down to the national mall now also pops is tracking all of our steps to see how many miles we walk today so be sure to leave a guess in the comments washington dc is a really walkable city as there's so much to experience all around that walking is a great way to see it we have made it to the national christmas tree which is right there this tree has been here since 1973 and is lit each year by the president this is the view of the white house from the other area that's as close as you can get next up we headed over to the washington monument to look at it from below but we didn't have tickets to go up also fun fact it was built in two different times which is why about a third of the way up the granite changes colors we got 45 minutes left before the storm's supposed to roll in so we're gonna go walk look at the memorials first then head to the museums also i got a time ticket for tomorrow so we're not going in the washington monument today but i will show you what it looks like right here if i got a chance to go if you want to visit be sure to keep your tickets in advance they release them 30 days before the elevator is on floor 500 right now so we're just waiting for it to come down takes about five minutes to get to the top and it's narrated the whole way up the washington monument is 555 feet tall and it was actually built in two parts the first third was completed in 1854 and then the rest of it was completed in 1884 from the top there's different windows that give you views in all four directions it's much less claustrophobic than going up in the st louis arch and i loved being up here and seeing the amazing views eventually the next group made it up the elevator and i started the walk down to the floor below here there's a small museum which you can learn about the building and the history of the monument while you're waiting for the elevator to come on the way down be sure to stand next to a door so you can see the commemorative stones on the interior of the monument after leaving the washington monument we headed over to the world war ii memorial the memorial was completed in 2004 and it's designed to honor those that served in the armed forces during world war ii and those that supported them at home the memorial has 56 pillars one for each of the united states and territories one side says pacific for the pacific theater and the other says atlantic for the atlantic theater these spotlight the battles that were fought in each of the regions another interesting aspect of the memorial was sitting with your feet in the water at first i thought people weren't supposed to do that but then i saw a sign that said sitting with your feet in the water was a way to honor the veterans apparently at the end of world war ii many troops celebrated in the fountains of europe in order to honor them and reflect you can actually sit with your feet in the water here as well [Music] after leaving the world war ii memorial we made our way towards the lincoln memorial [Music] for some reason the reflecting pool isn't open so you have to walk all the way along this outside area but we're heading to the lincoln memorial now they were doing a lot of construction and much of the area was closed off so we went through the korean war veterans memorial first to me this is one of the most powerful memorials in the area with the way they have the statues walking through the grass this part was dedicated in 1995 and they're actually working on adding an entirely new area that should be dedicated this year from there it's only a two minute walk up to the lincoln memorial and some amazing views of the reflecting pool it's definitely hard to get around down here right now but not a lot of people like immortal there's not much to say about the lincoln memorial that hasn't been said already it's an incredible place to visit and a beautiful memorial to one of our best presidents the memorial was built in 1922 and it's beautiful from both the outside and the inside the statue sits 60 feet tall and 60 feet wide and surrounding it are some of his most famous public addresses and quotes what do you think about the lincoln memorial pops [Music] my favorite place it's one of your favorite places [Music] this is a great place to plan some time to just sit on the steps and look out at the views be sure to find the spot where martin luther king jr gave his i have a dream speech as well one pro tip that most people don't know is that if you go into the restroom area there's actually a small museum with a little bit of information about the memorial and how it was created plus there's photos of famous events that have happened at the memorial and more information on abraham lincoln himself right outside the memorial is a bus pickup and public transportation is fantastic in the city we jumped on the bus and rode it back to the national mall to explore some museums before moving on i just want to say thanks to atlas coffee club for sponsoring today's video you know we love coffee and i was actually already subscribed to a monthly coffee subscription from atlas before they sponsored this video atlas coffee club is like a coffee world tour with them sourcing and roasting coffee from a different country every month they curate from over 50 countries including hard to find and rare coffees they also pay above fair trade prices for all their coffees and provide a postcard from the country with more information on both the country and how to best brew the coffee their mission is to connect coffee drinkers with the world and to provide an approachable price point for people to try their specialty coffee you can pick how many bags you want to receive each month and cancel at any time thanks to alice coffee club for sponsoring this video they have a discount for my viewers which is 50 off and free shipping so you can get an entire bag of coffee for seven bucks if you're interested click the link in the description to learn more my current favorite is the honduras if you're looking for a recommendation now let's head back to the washington dc video the rain's finally moving in so we're taking the opportunity to visit a few museums in the national mall all the museums in the national mall are free but many do require timed entry tickets so be sure to check before you go we headed to the national museum of american history first no photos allowed in that exhibit but you have to see it it's incredible if you visit here you must go to the star spangled banner exhibit it features the flag that encouraged francis scott key to write the poem that would become the national anthem it's amazing to see that on display and the many other exhibits that they have in the museum honestly you could spend an entire day at any of these museums they're some of the best museums we have in the entire united states this downstairs area has a wall of inventors and their inventions which is super cool the zipper creator of the ponzi scheme charles ponzi this museum opened in 1964 and was originally a technology museum before it was renamed the museum of american history visit 100 video on route 66 that'll be listed in the comments i guess we drove the whole thing 14 days we spent about an hour walking around and exploring the museum as we wanted to make the most of our one day in dc that was another amazing exhibit in this museum that's like 2 of 12 that they have here you could spend entire days at any of these museums we're just going to see a few of them to show you what you can do we're going to walk to our lunch spot but it's raining pretty good so we're grabbing an uber and we're going to take the metro back whenever i travel i always try to find the most unique spots to eat ben's chili bowl was just that in washington dc this spot opened in 1958 and is famous for its homemade chili and its half smokes which is like a sausage since it opened it's been visited by everyone from presidents to celebrities and its wall of accolades is pretty massive the place has become so popular that you can even order their food online and have it shipped to you i forgot to press record the first time so pops is having his first second bite of chili i've never had this amazing hot dog before i wonder how it'll be chili's excellent hot dog nice skin great flavor yeah that's a winner all right my turn ben's chili bowl original smoke good sausage almost like a sweet chili wow after enjoying our amazing lunch we grabbed the metro which was right across the street and took it all the way back to the national mall the metro is also a great cheap and relatively easy way to get around when you're in washington dc when riding in the metro don't be like pops and i would put a bunch of money on one card and then you can't share cards so everybody needs their own we're back at the national mall going to the museum of natural history to see some dinosaurs the museum of natural history is free as well and often sees close to a million visitors a year it's usually in the top 15 most visited museums in the world and it's easily one of the best museums in the united states to me the must-see exhibit is the hall of fossils here they have over 700 different fossils dating back to the dinosaurs pops is so old he says he remembers when he had to run from these on the way to school yeah i surpassed this guy in the morning on the way to work they also have a fossil lab where you can see them actually working on new fossils right in front of you of course this is just one of many exhibits here and again you could spend an entire day exploring this museum i always loved seeing the mega tooth shark and going through the hall of mammals as well [Music] after an hour we headed back out into the rain and on to our last museum of the day the national gallery of art in between the two museums there's an outdoor sculpture gallery that you should walk through heading over to the museum of art and we're gonna go to the capitol and then we're gonna go chill before sunset [Music] you guys might not know but pops is a painter himself he's actually sold a few pieces of work and displayed in the southern california museum so pops actually is a fan of the arts it sounds like i'm joking but i'm not my dad does a lot of watercolor and acrylic paintings so he was excited to see this museum like the other museums this one is also free to visit and it was established in 1937 by congress for the american people according to online visitor numbers this museum is in the top 10 most visited museums in the world it features countless priceless works from famous artists like van gogh monet and rembrandt [Music] van gogh actually painted a picture of pops how did he know that you were gonna look like that i've lost a little weight it also features the only painting on display by leonardo da vinci in north america we spent a lot more time here than we thought we were going to but it is an incredible museum and we barely scratched the surface maybe we saw like five percent heading on a few more stops that's the air and space museum which i have normally have gone to but it's closed until the fall of 2022. i'm gonna walk down by the capitol and see a few more things the national mall is an amazing place for a stroll with the capitol building on one side and the washington monument on the other side all of the main museums in the city line the national mall not a great view of the capitol right now there's a lot going on to the facade and something else but still pretty cool to see [Music] you can go inside take tours things like that but it's close at like 3 30 i believe it's like five right now since the capitol was closed and there was an event going on we headed over to the u.s botanical garden instead this is another free spot in washington dc and they call themselves a living plant museum i have to say it's a pretty incredible botanical garden with a lot to see especially if you're interested in this kind of thing the highlight for me was the conservatory which had a jungle garden here you could walk along the creek right in the middle of the garden or you could take the stairs up to the upper level where you could walk around the entire thing and see it all from above this place is awesome but i thought it was humid down there it's like 10 times worse on this upper level it definitely feels like a workout to walk up the steps and to go along the top level with how humid it is it's worth it though for the views it's a beautiful spot this is one of many different gardens they have all along the property and there's some gardens outside that you can see as well we're heading back to the hotel for a few hours then we're gonna go out again and go to the thomas jefferson memorial for sunset so we'll pick back up then we're back ending our day in dc going to the jefferson memorial for sunset the last few memorials we visited on our 24 hours in dc were situated along the tidal basin the tidal basin is a man-made reservoir right next to the potomac river we parked on the east side and then walked the entire tidal basin which is 2.1 miles this is a popular workout area for locals and also a beautiful way to end your day in washington dc the first spot we visited in the title basin was the thomas jefferson memorial we got here just the wrong time there's like 150 school children doing chants and stuff in there so we're waiting until that's over to go in ourselves luckily it's a beautiful place to wait with awesome views out over the water towards the washington monument the thomas jefferson statue was built in 1943 with the original statue being plaster painted bronze then in 1947 the bronze sculpture you see today was placed inside the statue that sits in the middle is 19 feet tall and surrounding it are many different quotes that jefferson gave along with a lincoln memorial these are two of the most beautiful in the city [Music] from the steps you get a great view of both the white house and the washington monument it's pretty crazy how they removed the trees so you can perfectly see the white house from here [Music] continuing along the basin the next spot you'll get to is the franklin delano roosevelt monument [Music] this memorial is a lot bigger than i expected it to be and it sits on over seven acres there are four different areas each representing one of his presidential terms fdr was the only president we've ever had that served four terms and presidential term limits were established after that as you walk through the memorial there's many different water features quotes and statues if you don't know a lot about this era of our country you can learn a lot through this exhibit there are many information plaques that help you learn more but a lot of it is told through symbolism here i found the last quote to be one of the most amazing that they showcased and be sure to pause the video if you want to read it continuing our walk along the tidal basin it was about seven more minutes to get to our last spot on the trip the martin luther king jr memorial this was the only memorial i had never seen before as it opened in 2011. i can easily say that it was incredibly moving and my dad and i spent a good hour just sitting here taking it all in as you enter from the center it's a large stone wall and there's a rock that's been pushed right out of the middle with martin luther king jr on it the quote on the center of the rocks is out of a mountain of despair a stone of hope all along the outside walls are great quotes from his life many of which are still applicable today it was a great way to end our day and my dad and i just sat there for a while watching people interact with the memorial and reflecting on our time in washington dc we were just sitting reflecting at the martin luther king memorial and pops is like look at the sunset and i rushed out here and this is so cool what a way to end our day the sunset colors reflecting off the tidal basin with the washington monument and the jefferson memorial was just absolutely perfect it was an exhausting day but we couldn't have asked for a better way to end it there's lightning bugs going off around pops so fun that's it for our time in dc pops how many miles do we do today we're going with 10.2 that we walked that was a really awesome day we had a great time in the city let us know what your favorite spot is and we'll see you on the next one [Music]

Channel: Through My Lens

Views: 36,507

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Id: ZYzOgGahqZM

Length: 20min 47sec (1247 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 21 2022