July 4th Weekend is either the best or the worst weekend to visit Washington, D.C. Do you love fireworks? Don’t mind crowds? If so, it’s probably worth visiting D.C. on Independence Day weekend. Otherwise, you may want to avoid the droves of people who flock to D.C. this particular weekend. I personally LOVE fireworks, so we found ourselves making the drive from Jersey to D.C. for July 4th celebrations!

3-Day Itinerary In Washington, D.C. – What To Do Besides The Museums

Washington, D.C. has only recently officially “re-opened” but several museums along the National Mall remain closed to the public until later in the summer. Those that are currently open require advance-purchase (still free) timed-entry tickets that were already sold out. I’m definitely coming back to D.C. to visit more of its amazing museums and galleries, but I’m grateful that we experienced so much outside of what the museum district has to offer! We did get tickets to the National Museum of American History (which was quite fitting, given the holiday). The rest of our 3 days in Washington, D.C. were spent doing things off the well-beaten path of the usual trek from Smithsonian museum to Smithsonian museum, and I honestly absolutely loved it that way. Here’s our itinerary for 3 days in Washington, D.C. during July 4th weekend! You probably know by now that my travel memories are also primarily food memories, so get ready for some AWESOME food finds in Washington, D.C. coming your way.

Day 1- Eden Center And Crabs From The Wharf

Would this be ROXreels if our first stop (actually the first entire day…) after arriving in the area wasn’t related to food?

Eden Center: Vietnamese Food Mecca

Eden Center in Falls Church, VA has been open since 1984 and is home to >100 mostly Vietnamese restaurants, shops, cafes, and grocery stores. What struck me (in a good way) most was the abundance of central Vietnamese fare at the Eden Center. As much as I love the Vietnamese food scene in Houston and Dallas, it is admittedly relatively difficult to find my favorite memory foods from central Vietnam like banh beo and (well-made) bun bo hue. Eden Center was a welcome reprieve from these struggles– so many restaurants had these dishes and so much more! It’s wonderful driving into the Eden Center complex. The entire square is full of shops and restaurants, with several outdoor tents in the middle of the parking lot sheltering picnic tables for outdoor dining. There’s music playing in the background on someone’s old-school speakers in the corner of the plaza, and people are taking turns singing karaoke. We stuffed our bellies this time and I am definitely returning to sample more food at both the Eden Center and the surrounding complexes. The vast Eden Center deserved its own blog post entirely so go check it out to see where to eat!

Municipal Fish Market At The Wharf

1100 Maine Ave SW, Washington, DC 20024

Maybe I wanted to relive that crab roll moment from our trip to Bar Harbor, Maine— but I was quite excited to see The Wharf in Washington, D.C. I’ve always appreciated the delicate flavors of crab over lobster (but it’s close) so I was very much looking forward to the prospect of fresh crab by the water.

The Municipal Fish Market at The Wharf is super cute. It’s smaller than I expected, mostly made up of two different family owned and operated seafood markets. If you look closely at these storefronts you’ll notice that they’re actually boat-fronts, just secured right up next to the dock!

Be aware that the fish market closes at 8:00pm (as of July 2021)! A guard walks around the market space calling out warnings of the approaching closing time, and commands the vendors to stop taking orders (even from customers already in line) right at 8:00pm. We were literally the last ones to place our order just before shutdown time. I recommend splitting up your party to occupy multiple lines if you want to order from multiple vendors. Go for your oyster order early (if ordering from Jessie Taylor Seafood) because the oyster man shucks them one by one to order so that line moves less quickly. These oyster mamas are LARGE, about the size of a small hand. We also purchased a dozen live medium and large male crabs ($28.00) from Captain White Seafood to cook in our AirBnB and I highly recommend doing this if you have a kitchen wherever you’re staying!. Our homemade crab boil was prepared with garlic, onion, Cajun seasoning, lemon, and butter.

 

Day 2: A Bit Of History And A Lot Of Celebration

Union Market

1309 5th St NE Washington, D.C. 20002

July Fourth had arrived! We started our day with a quick visit to Union Market and a properly celebratory Independence Day-themed doughnut from District Doughnut.

Ben’s Chili Bowl

1001 H St NE, Washington, DC 20002

202-733-1895

Afterward we made our way to Ben’s Chili Bowl, a historic restaurant serving up chili, hot dogs, burgers, and shakes since 1958. Ben’s Chili Bowl has had a lasting presence in Washington, D.C. and is known for weathering the socially and economically tumultuous storms of D.C.’s U Street area. The “must-get” order at Ben’s Chili Bowl is the chili half smoke, a chili dog with mustard and onions. At $7.00 a pop, it is admittedly a bit pricey for what you get. I do think a better bun could elevate this chili dog so much. The chili half smoke dog part does come in spicy and non-spicy versions, but both are stopped with the same chili which is mildly spicy. All in all, not bad in flavor (a tad salty for me) but worth the history for a visit.

National Museum of American History

1300 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20560

202-633-1000

Next stop was the National Museum of American History, one of the many Smithsonian museums that D.C. is famous for. Like I mentioned above, most museums require timed-ticket entry passes reserved ahead of time, and they do sell out! Tickets for all of these museums are released daily at 8:00am, 30 days in advance, so mark your calendar and get ready to nab your spot! You can reserve up to 6 tickets per timed entry pass.

The National Museum of American History was honestly quite a cool experience. (Do you expect anything less from the Smithsonian?) I particularly enjoyed the exhibits on food culture (surprise, surprise), Lincoln’s tophat, the gigantic American flag dating back to 1814, the Bob Ross display, and Dorothy’s ruby slippers.

Chercher Ethiopian Restaurant

1334 9th St NW, Washington, DC 20001

202-299-9703

Our bellies were rumbling after wandering around the museum, and we were ready for lunch. Chercher Ethiopian Restaurant has rave reviews online and for good reason. They have some of the best injera and Ethiopian stews I’ve ever had. I recommend the vegetarian deluxe, which comes with 10 different veggie sides (examples are stewed lentils, curries, salads, and other veggies) and an order of ybeg tibs (lamb sautéed with aromatics). If I could redo the meal I’d just get two orders of the veggie deluxe as both the veggie and the lamb entrees were similar in price, but you get so much more variety and quantity with the veggie option!

Also, the coffee. Oh, the coffee. Ethiopia is thought by some to the birthplace of coffee (now that’s a reputation to stress about upholding), and coffee remains one of Ethiopia’s top exports. Thus, ordering an after-meal brew was a no-brainer. We ordered both espresso and coffee and I recommend the espresso. It’s dark and and smooth and jolting in every way you want it to be, without any acrid bitterness.

Independence Day Fireworks At The National Mall, Washington D.C.

The big event was finally here! The Washington, D.C. Independence Day fireworks show was AMAZING. It was so good it deserved its own post altogether. Find the best places to watch the D.C. Independence Day fireworks show here!

Day 3: Changing Of The Guard And Tea Time

Arlington National Cemetery

Arlington Cemetery, Arlington, VA 22211

877-907-8585

The Arlington National Cemetery is about a 10-minute drive from Washington, D.C. and is home to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the Changing of the Guard ceremony.

How to watch the Changing of the Guard:

Michael was super excited to see the Changing of the Guard ceremony. He’d been watching YouTube videos of the ceremony for weeks on end and was pumped. The first time around, the experience was marred by a baby crying the entire time, so we stuck around for a second show (and better seats). The ceremony recurs every 30 minutes from April 1 through September 30, and every hour on the hour from October 1 through March 31.

The cemetery is open daily from 8am-5pm. I recommend visiting in the morning to beat the summertime heat. The cemetery has lots of trees but not very much shade, and while waiting for the ceremony to start you’ll be sitting on unsheltered stone steps which get pretty hot. But it’s worth it!

Sit on stage left, audience right. That’s where the actual ceremonial white-glove inspection of the M-14 rifle and of the oncoming Sentinel occurs. Use the metallic stains ground into the stone floor by years of those guards’ click-ey shoes as your guide, and choose your perch on those steps accordingly. Alternatively, stand under the shade of the trees on either end of the viewing area. I recommend choosing the stage left side for the best view. You’ll see the new Sentinel approaching the tomb area from the side of the building, before turning left toward the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

After the show, you can also go inside the building behind you for a small museum The bathroom is behind the building near the guard quarters.

Ching Ching Cha

1063 Wisconsin Ave NW, Washington, DC 20007

202-333-8288

This is an ADORABLE tea house and restaurant with a slightly unfortunate name. Ching Ching Cha is located in the picturesque D.C. neighborhood of Georgetown. While they also have a food menu (they offer a tea meal set in a bento-style food tray or you can order à la carte), we came for the tea.

I love this place. Here’s how it works: Peruse the extensive tea menu and choose your tea of choice, which is then brought out to you on a bamboo tray and a variety of tea ceremony vessels depending on the type of tea selected. We tried a ginseng oolong, lapsang shouchong, monkey king green, and milky oolong. Each tea comes on its own tray with its own little steeping vessel and teacup. The hostess prepared each of our individual tea sets– rinsing and warming the vessels, washing the leaves, and performing the first steep– before leaving us with our beverages and conversation. The large teapot at the center of the table holds hot water for re-steeping (we re-steeped around 10+ times and the tea flavor was still strong) and is refilled as needed. This tea room was such a serene and enjoyable experience and I’m looking forward to trying more at home in NYC! We stayed at Ching Ching Cha for over an hour: steeping and sipping tea, nibbling on homemade pineapple pastry, and enjoying quality time and conversation.

You can also purchase tea leaves, tea pots/cups, and other accessories to replicate the experience at home.

 

What To Do Next Time in Washington, D.C.

A note to self for other things I had on my list of “Things to do in D.C.” that we just didn’t have time for this time:

• Eat fried chicken with mumbo sauce. This D.C. historic dish is interestingly served up at both soul food places and Chinese American restaurants. Mumbo sauce is said to be a mixture of ketchup, sweet & sour sauce, and barbeque sauce and has been around in D.C. since the 1960s’s.
• Attend a Nationals baseball game. My original plan was to watch the Nationals game on Saturday July 3, which is followed by its own fireworks show. (I told you I love fireworks.) Unfortunately we just couldn’t fit it into our busy schedule that weekend but we’ll go to a game on our next visit to D.C.! What’s more American than eating a hot dog in baseball stands watching The Nationals in Washington, D.C.?
• National Museum of Natural History and the National Air and Space Museum. All of the Smithsonian museums are bound to be amazing, but these are the ones we look forward to most for our next visit to D.C. Make sure you check online ahead of time to verify opening hours and get your timed ticket entry passes!