I always have trouble staying at home over a long holiday weekend, so for MLK weekend, my friend and I headed up to Washington DC to take in the sights and eat some good Greek food.

The Hotel

Taking trips for both business and pleasure, I’ve been to at least half a dozen Marriott branded hotels in the Northern Virginia area over the last few years. All the hotels I’ve stayed at tend to be pretty competitive with their features, and while they all have pretty high business traveler rates during the week, they tend to have pretty good deals on the weekends.

I’d stayed at the Falls Church Marriott Fairview Park before and found a fantastic deal at $66-68 a night for the holiday weekend. It’s located relatively close to the Dunn Loring Metro station, has the updated Marriott rooms, a pool/hot tub, and has a pretty sumptuous breakfast buffet. In addition, if you’re a Marriott Gold or Platinum member, they comp your breakfast buffet for you and a guest when the lounge is closed on the weekend.

The Pure room they upgraded us to was pretty good, but I definitely missed the non-hypoallergenic down pillows in the regular rooms.

Kellari Taverna

We checked in early and made our way into the city for brunch at Kellari Taverna, located between the Farragut West and Farragut North Metro stations.  The prix fixe brunch with bottomless champagne, mimosas, bellinis, and bloody marys is a pretty good deal, but it’s a no-brainer if you can score a Groupon for the place.

Most of the items on the brunch menu aren’t Greek, but the spanakopita was pretty darn tasty. I have a bit of Greek in me myself, so I’ve definitely tried my fair share over the years.

Exploring the Metro

After brunch, we explored part of the Metro and made it all the way to the Wheaton station near the end of the red line. There, we rode the tallest escalator in the Western Hemisphere.

National Air and Space Museum

The next day, we made our way over to the National Air and Space Museum to check out the new exhibits and admire the old aircraft on display.

We quickly made it over to my favorite exhibit, a nose section of a Northwest Airlines Boeing 747-100. So far, that’s the only time I’ve been on the upper deck of a 747, but I hope to change that soon.

Also on display was a Rolls Royce RB211-22 engine off of a Lockheed L1011

Another great exhibit was the Skylab Orbital Workshop. It’s set up so you can walk through it. This was one of two examples built from the Saturn V rocket. The other one was sent into orbit for six years.

The National Postal Museum

During all my visits to DC, I’d never heard of, much less been to the National Postal Museum. It’s definitely a hidden gem and I recommend checking it out if you’ve never been before. They have exhibits on the history of the U.S. mail system, postal delivery vehicles, the United States Postal inspection service, a model of a railway post office, and a few exhibits on stamps.

It was a great place to spend a few hours and it was very informative. The railway post office was especially fascinating. They would catch a bag of outgoing mail with a hook as the train was traveling through a city and then push the bag of incoming mail out the side of the train car while the train was traveling along at speed. Then they would sort the mail as the train moved across the countryside.

Medaterra Restaurant

After checking out a few museums, we headed to Medaterra to eat dinner and watch the game. It’s located right outside the Woodley Park Metro station and has what is quite possibly one of the best happy hours in the DC area. On special they have $1 margaritas, $2 tequila shots, $4 wings and fries, and $5 hamburgers all day on the weekends.

They also have $9 gyros on the lunch menu that you can get for dinner. They pack on a ton of meat, but their tzatziki sauce isn’t as good as some of the gyros I’ve had in my time.

 

Overall, it was a great way to spend a weekend and it didn’t break the bank either. Every time I’ve visited DC, I’ve been able to find something new and this time was definitely no exception.

Hoped you liked the post.

Happy travels!

Matt