Ok, technically Arlington, Virginia. My latest business trip that just happened to coincide with the cherry blossom festival.
Next, the actual travel part:
Airline: US Airways (MHT to DCA by way of PHL on the outbound and LGA returning)
Hotel: Hyatt Regency, Crystal City
Rental Car: None, used Metro
Touristy Things: Freer and Sackler Galleries, Museum of American History, Tidal Basin, Jefferson Memorial, FDR Memorial
Restaurants: Charlie Chang's, Italian Cafe, Chilis
I love DC because it has great public transportation, it's very walkable and (when your coworkers are agreeable) it has a great selection of restaurants. Sadly, I only managed to convince them not to eat at a chain one night in three. Oh, and there is a museum basically on every corner, most of which are free and almost all of which are interesting.
On the air travel side of things, it's definitely nice to be able to get an inflight water again. Legroom would be nice, but at least I'm not hobbled and thirsty anymore. In fairness, I did rate an upgrade from DCA to LaGuardia (always nice) and the little puddle-jumping Saab to Manchester was so empty that I could have stretched out in the back row and taken a nap if the flight were slightly longer. The LaGuardia terminal has improved (of course, I was there at noon on Thursday, so I was seeing it at basically its best), but Philadelphia really is beyond helping. Scary bathrooms, poor layout, people hocking credit cards (sky high rate and an annual fee, and I somehow managed to pass that opportunity up) when you're running for a connection and, my personal favorite, the 45 minute wait on the tarmac. Oy.
Hotel was great, though. The Hyatt is about two blocks from the Crystal City shops and it features shuttle service to both the airport and the Crystal City metro station. I noticed that this year the shuttles are more frequent, always a plus. The staff is still great and the rooms have been recently renovated. Think Asian fusion, very modern with a particularly nice bathroom setup. Best of all, the in-room coffee is Starbucks...great for those of us who need real coffee in the morning.
The Sackler gallery (generally a favorite of mine) was in the midst of preparing for the cherry blossom festival, so the main exhibit area was not open. For that matter, the main gift shop wasn't open. Also, most of the Smithsonian museums close at 5 pm. I would think they would get more visitors (and more eager purchasers of souveneirs and thus more revenue) if they stayed open an hour or so later. There are a few museums (I believe one is the portrait gallery) that are open until 7.
In a vaguely related aside, our Republican friends announced today they want to move for more tax cuts. So, here's an Independent perspective. The national debt is in the trillions. Pay down your debt then cut the taxes. So long as your solution to every problem is to endlessly quack "tax cuts" the way the advertising duck quacks "Aflac!" you will continue to lose support. Real, innovative solutions that are fiscally responsible (that's responsible, not dogmatic, knee jerk reactions) will go farther and with more people than the same old, same old. One would think you'd have gotten that memo before now. And for goodness sake, be quick about it because we're about one poorly thought out bailout away from anarchy.
