How often do you go to D.C. for reasons other than work? (Arlington: 2015, neighborhood)

[spencgr]

Originally Posted by Annandale_Man

Why would residents of Virginia go "slumming" down in DC??? It has nothing to offer that can't be found here other than professional sports.

I haven't found an equal to the Kennedy Center or Smithsonian museums (other the Udvar-Hazy - and aeronautical things can get old quickly, if that's the only place you are going) in NoVA.

[Deeman804]

Originally Posted by rural & red

Central/Southside Va. resident here:

With the vaccine and mask mandates in place, I will never step foot in that cesspool again.

Cool, you should probably post this in the Virginia (non-NoVA) forum

[Deeman804]

As a Woodbridge resident, I rarely go during this time of year but in the summer I go a couple of times per month (which averages about once per month all-year). Like other posters mention, Northern Virginia has a lot of what is needed from DC such as shopping, a little nightlife, and urban areas. In the summer, we are more likely to hit up museums, festivals (God-willing), check out a marquee performer at the Arena or catch a pro game.

Also, in many other cities an area like Arlington and Alexandria would be in the city limits. If that were included I would have answered several times per month.

[DCarea]

Originally Posted by Annandale_Man

Why would residents of Virginia go "slumming" down in DC??? It has nothing to offer that can't be found here other than professional sports.

I don’t know, maybe dozens of national museums, monuments, cherry trees, cultural events, concerts, sports games, musicals and live theaters, cool neighborhoods for bar hopping, clubbing, etc.

[DCarea]

Originally Posted by rural & red

Central/Southside Va. resident here:

With the vaccine and mask mandates in place, I will never step foot in that cesspool again.

Yep, stay in your land of viral infestation. Don’t bring it here.

[nm9stheham]

Only on those summer evenings when I want to count the rats frolicking around Union Station....

[Veritas Vincit]

Originally Posted by nm9stheham

Only on those summer evenings when I want to count the rats frolicking around Union Station....

A couple years ago - the last summer before the pandemic to be precise - I got back into D.C. on an Amtrak train arriving at around 3 am. Waiting for the Uber to pull up was certainly an *interesting* 5-10 minutes.

[Folks3000]

Originally Posted by boyd888

Is DC the major city though? Both Fairfax and Montgomery counties have more people. People go to DC for tourism, entertainment, etc but it's not like you need to go there for major shopping centers or whatever like you might in some suburb of say Charlotte.

I do agree that most people that live outside any major city aren't going downtown too often if they don't work there.

This is just a quirk of arbitrary city boundaries though. Charlotte has expansive city boundaries that include a lot of the suburbs, malls, etc. So someone in a suburb of Charlotte going to a suburban shopping mall isn’t really “going into Charlotte” anymore than someone in Fairfax is “going into DC” when they’re just driving to the mall in Tysons Corner or something.

Plus, the urban core of the DC metropolitan area arguably includes most of Arlington and Alexandria as well, so a lot of folks in NoVa head into those areas occasionally but it wouldn’t technically be “heading into DC” even if it was sort of an identical setup to someone from a Chicago suburb heading to Wicker Park to go out to bars or going to the north side for a game.

But functionally it doesn’t really make DC any less of a major city, it’s all just quirky arbitrary boundaries. Otherwise Jacksonville, FL would feel like a bigger city than San Francisco, which it certainly does not.

Hope that kind of clears things up.

[villabella22201]

A friend suggested going to a restaurant in DC for lunch. I was totally not thrilled when he said it was smack dab in the middle of Conn. Ave across from the Uptown theater. I told him he had to be crazy... nightmare traffic and parking. No thanks. I retired 3 years ago and only went into DC for work. Have not been there since.

[DCarea]

Originally Posted by villabella22201

A friend suggested going to a restaurant in DC for lunch. I was totally not thrilled when he said it was smack dab in the middle of Conn. Ave across from the Uptown theater. I told him he had to be crazy... nightmare traffic and parking. No thanks. I retired 3 years ago and only went into DC for work. Have not been there since.

Sounds like you’re familiar with that area. Cleveland Park is lovely, but only for locals who get there from the Red Line metro.

Yes, I am convinced NoVa residents are car creatures, because freeways are lifeline of NoVa (except for Arlington residents).