If you’re planning to visit George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate, which I recommend, be sure to have lunch in the sit-down restaurant. The food’s quite good, as opposed to the passable, but mediocre food court.
Visiting the Capitol has sucked ever since 9/11. The White House tour is still excellent. Contact your congressman for tickets to the Capitol or the Washington Monument if you want to go.
The most overlooked site in DC is easily the absolutely gloriously beautiful National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception Basilica, up by Catholic University. Truly the most beautiful Church in America, combining both Western and Eastern Catholic traditions. I guess most tourists figure, “Eh, Catholics...” The National Cathedral, which is Episcopal, as beautiful grounds and a classic, European, Gothic architecture.
The forgotten war now has a forgotten monument... The Korean War Memorial is easy to overlook, but moving.
I found the FDR Monument both impressive in how pleasurable it was, but also how banal FDR’s endless quotes are compared to Jefferson’s and Lincoln’s. Lincoln and Jefferson spoke eternal truths, by comparison, some of FDR’s seem like weather reports.
Find some way of visiting the Pentagon, if you can. I had a great tour, but it was because I was subcontracting for the Office of the Secretary of Defense. 9/11 monument is touching, but it’s also fascinating if you can see the concentric nature of the five separate pentagons, and how 9/11 happened the way it did.
DC area has highly unrelated natural wonders. Drive up Skyline Drive, no matter what time of year. Then stop in Harper’s Ferry on a weekend. (I loved in on a weekend in the Summer, but returned on a weekday in October, to find it mostly closed.) Go to Great Falls and walk down towards Mather Gorge for an excellent nature hike. Great Falls is a unique canyon along the Potomac, where every few years the meltwater enters faster than it can drain, causing the river to back up and inundate the entire valley.
They’ve utterly destroyed the American History Museum; the Native American Museum is surprisingly good for a quick stop on the way to the Capital.
If you can get in, the House Office Buildings have some very fun, moderately priced cafeterias. If you can’t get in there, Bullfeathers is a classic.
Of course, the drive TO the skyline drive, in southern Virginia is also fun. Charlottesville is very nice; there’s Natural Bridge, defaced by our first president, and silly, yet entertaining attractions, such as Foamhenge.
Ha! I made a typo on underrated, and it got corrected to unrelated.
Just curious... What has happened to the American History Museum? (Haven't been there in awhile)