Free Recession Buster Getaway: Washington, D.C.

We know you love Milwaukee. We do, too. Sometimes, though, it's good to get on plane and head out of town.

And we're happy to help. This summer and fall, OnMilwaukee.com is teaming up with AirTran Airways to offer six free "Recession Buster Getaways." Every two weeks, we'll preview a great destination, report on some of the bars, restaurants, shops and events that make them unique.

All you have to do is read our guide, then write your own Readers Blog about why you deserve a trip. If we pick your submission as the best, we'll give you a pair of roundtrip tickets, a brand new netbook and a little cash to buy in-flight Wi-Fi.

The complete rules are here, but for this third contest, you can blog between now and Sunday, Aug. 30.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Penning an article about visiting the nation's capital is either the easiest or most difficult assignment a travel writer can take. Of the six cities OnMilwaukee.com is showcasing for this series, Washington sports the biggest tourist infrastructure, and subsequently, the most diverse options for how to enjoy a long weekend.

Of course, that means that volumes upon volumes have already been written about what to see and do in three days in D.C., and having lived there from 1992-96, in many ways, I could write this preview on recollection alone. After all, if you've never been to Washington, you should see the Smithsonian Museums, tour the Capitol and get your picture taken in front of the White House. But writing that article and doing the things that I did with every friend who visited me back in college would be too easy -- and it wouldn't offer anything you couldn't find in a $9.95 guidebook.

So, for my recent trip to Washington, I leaned heavily on four of my friends who still call the D.C. area their home; guys who get a kick out of being tourists in their own town, but also have sniffed out some off-the-beaten track spots inside and outside the Beltway to have a good time and grab a great meal. And that's what this article is: a look at the lesser-known attractions and some of the newer draws that go beyond a Samantha Brown weekend getaway show on the Travel Channel.

When you're in D.C., do hit those A-List attractions, but if you have time, take a look at these highlights, too.

Different, but the Same

Wandering the streets of downtown Washington feels a little like a dream to me. It's been a surprising 13 years since I left Pierre L'Enfant's Baroque-inspired planned city and moved to Milwaukee -- but so much in the heart of the District looks exactly the same. Sure, there are more Starbucks than when I left, but Union Station to Foggy Bottom to Georgetown (now easier to traverse with a $1 bus called the Circulator) feels eerily familiar. What's different is the upscale creep and sprawl that has blossomed out of the downtown core.

Yes, you can still accidentally wander into bad neighborhoods, but you'll have to walk much farther now to find them. For example, an area on the edge of Capitol Hill, where I once interned and felt uncomfortable walking after dark, is now yet another well-to-do neighborhood. New developments like National Harbor, which is D.C.'s equivalent of Bayshore Town Center, have sprung up on the other side of the Potomac River. It's safe to say that 15 years ago, there would be no chance that Disney would've picked this location for a small, planned theme park.

A New Neighbor

Even though I was forewarned, I found myself surprised the most by the area the city turned into Nationals Park, the stadium that hosts the worst-in-baseball Nats. Apparently, the District claimed eminent domain over an entire neighborhood on the banks of the Anacostia River, razed it and built a ballpark in its place that's actually a green-certified building. Surrounding the stadium are condos ("Get in now for the low $600s!") and a planned entertainment zone like what you see an hour away at Camden Yards in Baltimore.

Interestingly, none of these bars and restaurants is built yet, so for now, all the outside-the-park fun is housed at a tented parking lot beyond center field called "The Bullpen." It's pretty neat, actually, with live bands warming up the fans and a free cornhole "court" providing a diversion from the attached Budweiser beer garden (no Miller products here, unfortunately, but the ballpark serves Miller and Bud).

The stadium itself is somewhat different than Milwaukee's Miller Park -- above and beyond the lack of an unnecessary retractable roof in steamy D.C. It's quite spacious, actually, with more open views of the field from the concourse than what we're used to. It's not an especially pretty building, cast in grays and whites designed to reflect Washington's official buildings, and unless you're in the upper deck, the view from the seats is primarily of parking garages and office buildings. From up top, though, you can see the Capitol in the distance, and the field is boxed in in a way that makes it feel small and intimate even though it really isn't.

I also noticed the park's amazing scoreboard, which broadcast replays in crystal-clear HD. Apparently, Miller Park will get something like this soon; trust me, fans will love it. What few Brewers fans in attendance -- I saw Yount, Braun and Sheets jerseys -- won't be as amused by is the team's ripoff of the racing sausages: the racing presidents. Fans get into it -- for some reason, Teddy Roosevelt never wins -- but it feels cheap and artificial, sadly, like most of the aspects of this new park and the relocated Expos team that has yet to build any real traditions (aside from losing).

You can get to the park a number of different ways. We took a free shuttle that leaves from the parking lot of dilapidated RFK Stadium (now home only to the local MLS franchise, D.C. United). For all the rigmarole, the bus still left us quite far from Nationals Park.

Oddly, the parking structures and lots remain empty, and for all the many benefits of a downtown stadium, I was reminded of the incredible convenience you get by having a stadium located in a place like Miller Park. Getting to the game by Metro, D.C.'s subway system, is probably the better bet -- the city built a new entrance to the Navy Yard subway station just a block from the center field gate.

Food options are plenty at the ballpark, with expensive D.C. prices making a Nationals game a more costly destination than a Brewers outing -- though, shoot me for saying this, the Nats offer much more diverse cuisine choices than the Brewers.

Local vendors also have a presence, which was a great excuse for me to order my first "half smoke, all the way" from famed chili dog restaurant, Ben's Chili Bowl. Time constraints prevented me from visiting the actual restaurant, which recently hosted President Obama, but this D.C. tradition is the real deal: a grilled sausage -- half pork and half beef -- smothered in onions, shredded cheese, chili and nacho cheese sauce. Believe it or not, it's even better than it sounds.

Culinary Cliches and Delicious Diversions

Speaking of meals, we made a point to visit a few restaurants that tourists would have a hard time spotting without the help of a local. But first, we dined at Georgetown's Martin's Tavern, 1264 Wisconsin Ave. NW, a classic bar and grill that Kennedy used to frequent. In a sea of high-priced pubs and retail shops, Martin's was actually reasonable, with solid comfort food and a mix of locals and tourists. It was crowded on a Friday night, yet we were still seated quickly in a restaurant that could rest on its laurels -- but doesn't.

For lunch on Saturday, we drove out to the Balkan Grill, 5902 N. Kings Hwy. in Alexandria (across the street from the Huntington Metro stop). Any legit travel article about D.C. must allow for visits to its entire metropolitan area -- National Airport, itself, is in Arlington -- so I felt no shame in wandering beyond the District for some great food. And great food is exactly what I had, just as soon as I got past the fact that I was eating lunch in a strip mall with a restaurant attached to a tiny, European market.

I ordered the Bosnian Burger, a huge hamburger resting on a unique, homemade bun, topped with a dollop of a sour cream-like sauce, onions and peppers. While we waited for our food to be prepared, we wandered through the aisles of the market, noticing that we were the only English speakers in the restaurant. I knew at once this place was legit, but eating this great lunch is what really nailed it.

A Taste of Wisconsin

After a all-too-big lunch, I hardly needed more food, but my friends insisted we drive to the shopping district of Alexandria's Del Ray neighborhood to visit the Dairy Godmother, 2310 Mount Vernon Ave., an honest-to-goodness frozen custard shop on the East Coast. The owners come from Waukesha and sell Sprecher root beer and a few other Wisconsin specialties, in addition to custard.

The cafe is extremely popular, with a line frequently running out the door -- President Obama has dined here, too, I'm told. On this day, we got lucky; it wasn't too crowded, and I ordered a simple cone of chocolate custard. It tasted pretty legit, but was so runny and melty that much of cone made it onto my hands and shirt and not into my mouth.

No, the Dairy Godmother won't put Kopp's out of business; but considering it's 800 miles from Milwaukee, it's a decent and reasonable facsimile.

Sightseeing: A Primer and Beyond

I know I said early on that other than the Nationals game, I skipped the mainstream tourist attractions for this visit, but if you've never been to D.C., there are a handful of must-see spots. In terms of Smithsonian Museums, my favorites have always been the Museum of American History, the National Air and Space Museum and the Holocaust Memorial Museum (it's too important to skip).

You should visit the Capitol and the Washington Monument and make time to visit the Jefferson Memorial, particularly at night. And, go a little farther out to the secluded Roosevelt Memorial, nestled on a wooded island that is inaccessible by car (not to be confused with the FDR memorial that's right on the Mall).

Nerds like myself will also enjoy visiting the National Press Club, Ford's Theater and the Mint. Again, I could go on and on, but if you want this type of trip to Washington, better guides than myself are plentiful and available.

So, this time around, I saw none of these attractions. Instead, I visited a few spots that have always intrigued me, but for some reason, I never visited when I lived in Washington. The George Washington National Masonic Memorial in Alexandria, for example, is huge angular tower overlooking the Potomac (you'll see it as your plane lands at National), but I had never seen the inside.

For all of the mystery surrounding Freemasons, most of which I don't care to learn, this memorial to George Washington is an impressive Depression Era-piece of architecture with an enormous statue of our first president. Beyond that, it contains some funky, old displays and dioramas, and the tour takes you to the observation deck at the top of the tower for the best view of D.C. that you can imagine. It's a quick walk from the King Street Metro station.

Interestingly, the Masonic Temple tour can give you some reference for reading Dan Brown's new book, which is set in D.C. and is supposed to be about Masonic conspiracy theories. And, speaking of new conspiracy theories, if you drive by the Pentagon at all, you'll notice the new Air Force memorial, which looks a little like a fork jutting from the ground -- locals are buzzing that it's some sort of missile silo to protect the Pentagon (but it's not).

Even a bit farther afield from the well-worn tourist track on the National Mall is a branch of the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum with big birds (like the space shuttle Enterprise) that are just too gigantic to display in the museum's downtown space.

The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington Dulles International Airport, opened in 2003, is a gigantic hangar that museum officials describe as 10 stories high with floor space of more than three football fields. It's a bit of a drive from downtown, but just a few minutes from the Dulles airport terminal. Admission is free, but it costs $15 to park.

Like its counterpart on the Mall, the Udvar-Hazy Center holds quite a "wow" factor when you walk into the hangar and see literally hundreds of aircraft and spacecraft all around you. The Enterprise shuttle is a full-sized aerodynamic model used to test gliding, sans engines.

And there's plenty more cool stuff for aviation buffs like the SR-71 Blackbird spy jet, which made its final flight from Los Angeles to Washington in just a couple of hours to be displayed at the museum. Imagine yourself an international jet-setter at the Air France Concorde supersonic passenger jet on display, and feel the goosebumps on your arms at the display of the Enola Gay, the bomber that unleashed an atomic fury on Hiroshima in 1945.

The center also boast family-friendly activities like the Imax theater, which shows the occasional blockbuster in addition to the usual flight-themed educational films.

A Nightlife Sampler

Back in college, our nightlife options were fairly homogeneous until our senior year: basically, any bar that would let us in (and, during the Marion Barry era, that was a big list). So, for old times' sake, we did visit a few of these old haunts, including the Black Rooster, 1919 L St. NW, and Lindy's Red Lion, 2040 I St. NW, which is basically on the campus of my alma mater, George Washington University.

These little holes-in-the-wall have barely changed, but I can't wholeheartedly recommend them to visitors who don't have a personal connection to them. I can, however, endorse my favorite D.C. watering hole, the Brickskeller, 1523 22nd St. NW, a dank yet awesome tavern in Dupont Circle that boasts a selection of more than 1,000 bottled beers. If you can only go to one bar during your trip, make it the Brick, which is a couple blocks from the Dupont Metro station.

Mind you, 13 years after entering the real world, we had neither the tolerance nor inclination to visit every jam-packed bar in the D.C. area. Instead, we settled for just "slightly crowded" at the historic Mr. Smith's, 3104 M St. NW, and a nightcap at the sleepy pub, Marshall's, 2524 L St. NW. Saturday night, we again cabbed it to Virginia to settle in and see a great live band at Crystal City's Tortoise and the Hare, 567 S. 23rd St.

As my friend and tour guide Paul said, "We didn't exactly go to the coolest bars in town." But at 35, I'll occasionally sacrifice cool for a stool at the bar. Plus, as a former White House intern, I've seen enough Capitol Hill pages to last me a lifetime.

"A Land of Contrasts"

All weekend long, my friends and I joked about how Bart Simpson would begin and end a Washington, D.C. preview story: "Webster's defines Washington, D.C. as a District of Columbia ... In conclusion, Washington is a land of contrasts."

Ironically, the part about the contrasts is actually true. When I lived in D.C., it was a surprisingly gritty place. Dilapidated highways led nowhere in particular, apartments that were mostly roach-free could still be rented for $450 a month, and a lot of the people who actually lived in the District were college kids, homeless people and elderly lifers still pushing their walkers to the Safeway in the basement of the Watergate.

That much has changed. Washington has been given a good scrubbing, the sketchy neighborhoods have been pushed farther to the fringe, and there's now a Starbucks inside my college library. Chinatown is Chinese in name only -- there's an Urban Outfitters there now -- and the $600,000 condos in the "Disneyfied," newly invented neighborhood near the ballpark are apparently a good bargain, relatively speaking.

For all the wealth that has moved from Montgomery County into the city and has subsequently stripped it of some of its anachronistic character, Washington still remains a beautiful, majestic, if a little bit unlivable city -- where it's so easy to get around and explore but complicated to call home.

The pricey food and drinks are mitigated by the dozens of free museums and galleries, as well as the copious amount of green space on our treasured National Mall. Slight hints of Southern charm, a waft of politics that permeates every tavern and cafe, as well as the actual poverty and problems of a city without Congressional representation that exists just beyond the grasps of the average visitor and resident -- all this mixes together in a magical blend of Americana that you will find nowhere else.

Every time, soaking in Washington, D.C. becomes a trip that I'll cherish forever, whether it's 13 or 30 years since I've left town. Honestly, I'm happy I don't live there. But I'm always ready to go back for another visit.