Things of Interest in the Philadelphia - Washington DC area?

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OverTheTop

OverTheTop

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I am being sent to Delaware for work in February and was wondering what suggestions everyone has for things of interest in that area between Philadelphia and WDC. The Smithsonian at Dulles is a definite, but what other POIs do you suggest? I will have a car so transport will not be a problem.

Suggestions please :)
 
In Philadelphia

Franklin Institute https://www.fi.edu
Museum of Art https://www.philamuseum.org
The Rodin Museum https://www.philamuseum.org

In DC
The Hirshorn https://hirshhorn.si.edu

Of course -- D.C, might still be closed and shuttered in February.

Edit: Guess we should ask where in Delaware you will be? If you are in Wilmington or nearby, Philadelphia is an easy drive. The drive to D.C. or Baltimore would be a little longer, but still doable for a day trip (depending on how you feel about driving)
 
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Thank for the tips J. Work is in Wilmington, but after that I am free to explore for about three days. Don't have to go back anywhere during the exploration phase. Flying out of IAD (Dulles) currently. Nothing concrete yet.

Hopefully the funding impasse will resolve before then.
 
OverTheTop said:
Thank for the tips J. Work is in Wilmington, but after that I am free to explore for about three days. Don't have to go back anywhere during the exploration phase. Flying out of IAD (Dulles) currently. Nothing concrete yet.

Hopefully the funding impasse will resolve before then.
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It occurs to me that you might have been asking about a different kind of attraction, in which case: Dirty Frank's on South Street (in Philly) is still a going concern. You could stop in and ask if they still talk about the time that me and Vince and Big Vince got into it with Mike the Plumber and Mike pulled a knife and had to spend the night in jail. Also, you should stop at Chink's (which isn't called that anymore) for a cheese steak so that you can say "I had a philly cheese steak and I just don't see what the fuss is all about. It really wasn't that good." (and it will be one of the best steak sandwiches in the city). <smile>

You could burn three days in D.C. just hitting the attractions around the mall. The Smithsonian will wear you out.

https://www.si.edu/museums
 
if you like weird medical oddity type stuff check out the Mütter Museum https://muttermuseum.org/
Outdoor history stuff Valley Forge National Historical Park. https://www.nps.gov/vafo/index.htm
If you like Impressionist art check out the Barnes Foundation https://www.barnesfoundation.org/
Longwood Gardens is in Kennet Square not far from Wilmington https://longwoodgardens.org/
There are lots of decent restaurants in Kennet Square and West Chester.
In Wilmington is the Charcoal Pit restaurant they are a decent diner. Jimmy John's Pippin Hot is just outside of West Chester, PA, 20mins from Wilmington, they have excellent hot dogs and cool model train sets that run in the roadside hot dog stand, been there since the 1940s
If you want a cheesesteak and its normal hours get one from a decent place like Jim's on South St or Dalessandro’s. If it super late you're pretty much stuck getting one from Pat's or Geno's. either way they are in the Italian market area. In Philadelphia never call it a Philly cheesesteak, its just a cheesesteak.
 
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The Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt Maryland (just north of DC) has a very nice visitor's center and a small rocket garden. There is also a nice little aviation museum at the College Park airport, just south of Goddard. College Park is the oldest, continuously operating airport in the country.

If you decide to go into DC, I would not recommend driving. There are speed cameras and red light cameras everywhere. The parking in DC is very limited and if you think you have found a spot on the street, well, let's just say that the Parking Enforcement Division of the DC Government is the most efficient and well paying division in the District. A better bet is Metro, but while better it is not cheap and they are having problems from years of slack maintenance and upkeep. Check to make sure that the line you need is running.
 
If you go down to the Mall in DC, see if you can get to the Einstein statue over near the Vietnam Memorial. It's a long way to walk from the Capitol, but it's well worth a visit.
 
If you do end up in D.C., the Air & Space Museum is a must with exhibits about Apollo and Mercury missions and also relics from the Wright brothers. If time permits, go to the U.S. Mint and "pick up some souvenirs" to spend in trendy Georgetown where there is a plethora of good restaurants and pubs.
Have fun!!

Fred, L2
ICBM, S.C.
KG4YGP
 
There are some really great suggestions coming in. Thanks and keep them coming! I like quirky :).

I will make a definite effort towards a cheesesteak.

Bob Austin said:
If you decide to go into DC, I would not recommend driving. There are speed cameras and red light cameras everywhere.
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Situation normal here in Victoria, Australia, the Nanny State :(

Lots of great suggestions I will be definitely putting on a list. I have about three days allocated in the area.
 
People watching. About the most “interesting and peculiar” people you’ll find anywhere.
 
The National Aquarium in Baltimore.

On the subject of cheesesteaks, I've lived many places including just outside of Philly, and I tell you they are not the city's best culinary attraction. One can get a good cheesesteak anywhere, and one can get a bad one anywhere including Philly. Granted, it's easier to get a good one there, but it's not such a big deal. (The best ones I've ever had were in New Brunswick, NJ at a place called Greasy Tony's, which is [sniff] long since out of business.)

What you have to do foodwise is get into the city early one morning and get a hot soft pretzel. That's something they make there unlike anywhere else. And they're best when they're fresh, which is why you have to get there early.
 
jqavins said:
The National Aquarium in Baltimore.
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Welcome to Bal'more Hon. <g> Its nice to see Baltimore get the mention.

jqavins said:
On the subject of cheesesteaks, ... and I tell you they are not the city's best culinary attraction...
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You are correct. It is the Butterscotch Krimpet served in waxed paper, with a side of scrapple. Although a strong argument can be made for day-old powdered donuts, butterflied and fried in butter (washed down with a pint of Wawa milk).

We could send OTT on a tour of monuments to sort-of-made-up history; like the Liberty Bell and the Betsy Ross house. "I visited the house that probably stood next to the house in which lived a woman who, according to her grandson ... {continued on back} ... sewed a prototype American flag, and all I got was this stupid T-shirt"
 
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I've been to Independence Hall, and found only one really remarkable thing. Sure, it's a major historical place, and if you're into just soaking up that sort of thing then it's fine. But the only thing that really struck me is comparing it to the set for the movie version of 1776 and, damn!, the set designer did a great job.

I was on a tour of the mint probably 45 years ago. They were making pennies that day, so we got to watch a giant copper slab go back and forth through giant rollers, occasionally back into a giant oven to be reheated, until it was the right thickness to stamp out the blanks and then strike the coins. Watching sandwiches rolled out would have been even cooler. But I think today the blanks are outsourced. :(
 
Baltimore's Inner Harbor is nice. it has the aquarium (mentioned), the MD Science Center, Fort McHenry (where the Star Spangled Banner was written), several good restaurants, a Ripley's Believe It or Not museum, and shopping. You can go up to the observation deck of the World Trade Center and get a nice view of everything.
 
jlabrasca said:
Welcome to Bal'more Hon. <g> Its nice to see Baltimore get the mention.



You are correct. It is the Butterscotch Krimpet served in waxed paper, with a side of scrapple. Although a strong argument can be made for day-old powdered donuts, butterflied and fried in butter (washed down with a pint of Wawa milk).

We could send OTT on a tour of monuments to sort-of-made-up history; like the Liberty Bell and the Betsy Ross house. "I visited the house that probably stood next to the house in which lived a woman who, according to her grandson ... {continued on back} ... sewed a prototype American flag, and all I got was this stupid T-shirt"
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Is there a Pink Flamingos museum?
 
On the Mall in Washington is the Shutdown Memorial, but it may not be open.
 
Of course you have to visit Udvar-Hazy. It's incredible.

If you are in downtown Philly, the Science History Institute is surprisingly good. Lots of interesting instruments that are now obsolete, but at the time were state of the art. https://www.sciencehistory.org/museum

Here's a pic of me, my collaborator, and one of my grad students with an early NMR instrument and the classic note that was attached to it.
IMG_3828.jpg
IMG_1362.jpeg
 
:) I have seen quite a few pieces of equipment with empathy detection circuits in the past that react the same way!

Note that it was printed on a quaint dot-matrix printer. Remember those?
 
BDB said:
dents with an early NMR instrument and the classic note that was attached to it.
Click to expand...

The Critical Need Detector was a Motorola part. I worked on it, but the original IP was from Xerox PARC, intended for photocopiers and laser printers. The early version only produced fan-folded output when it detected a tax form, lease, passport application or birth certificate. Later versions could initiate orientation changes, print non-printing characters, or generate spurious low-supply errors when it detected something that looked like a thesis or a term paper.
 
I’ve done DC several times, driving isn’t terrible and you can luck into parking. But I definitely recommend parking at a station outside of the city and riding a train in. It’s easier, smoother, and lets you bounce around with a lot more freedom.
 
OverTheTop said:
...

Note that it was printed on a quaint dot-matrix printer. Remember those?
Click to expand...

They were still using a dot matrix printer in the office that I retired from 4 years ago. It still might be there. It was set up to do a very specific job and it did it better than anything else we had. Plus it was doing the job perfectly and it made no sense replacing it while it was still functional. Made a hell of a racket though. I think it was filling out some special form that had to be done in triplicate (probably a government form) and it was the only printer that could actually mark all three pages at once. And this wasn't a mom and pop company, it was a Fortune 100 aerospace firm.
 

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