St. Michaels, MD for Your Girls’ Weekend
For me, besides the presence of your best friends, the perfect girls’ getaway includes three ingredients: physical exertion---preferably something outdoors; a bit of pampering; and good food (with a glass or two of wine). You’ll find all these in St. Michaels, Maryland and great shopping, too.
For your outdoor adventure, try biking along bucolic Eastern Shore bike paths and catch the ferry across the Tred Avon River to Oxford, a tiny coastal town with a peaceful waterside park.
Even if you take afternoon tea at the elegant Robert Morris Inn there, you should still indulge in a cone from the Scottish Highland Creamery before pedaling away. While it’s true that you’ll have had your fill of scones and Darjeeling, you’ll be burning lots of calories with your bicycling, so don’t miss the chance for a scoop at this shop. Owner Victor Barlow began working at an Italian ice cream parlor in Edinburgh when he was only 15 and he’s brought the “secret family recipes” to Oxford. It seems only polite to give them a taste.
Or, take full advantage of your watery location by booking a kayaking excursion. ‘Peake Paddle Tours offers guided boating trips through local salty marshes or freshwater streams. I recommend gliding along the waters that thread through Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge’s 25,000 protected acres (in nearby Cambridge). Fall is the best time to spot waterfowl or soaring eagles.
For pampering, head to the Inn at Perry Cabin’s Linden Spa for a floral-infused massage or pedicure. You and your friends can sip cool cucumber water while robed in terry cloth by the infinity pool while you wait your turn.
You won’t go wrong sharing a perfect thin crusted wood-fired pizza and salads at Ava’s. Or, if the Eastern Shore means steamed crabs to you, split a half-bushel in the screened porch dining room at the Crab Claw near the (very worth visting) Maritime Museum.
Attractive B&B’s dot the area. After breakfast at yours, find a few antique treasures to take home.
My friend Gail presses oranges each morning now with a green, cast-iron, vintage (seriously heavy) juicer she admired for its practical and sculptural appeal. We girlfriends were there to help her carry it to the car. Think of all the cool things you can help each other fit into the trunk---souvenirs of a great girlfriends’ getaway.
Exploring the Atlas District
My husband and I and our friends Gail and Dave were recently among the throng that poured in for an evening on newly revitalized H Street, NE. Several lively blocks long (edged by streets that still feel a little sketchy), the corridor offers night-life choices that are varied and eclectic, with lots of stylish eateries and cozy gastro-pubs. You walk along, past the art deco Atlas Theatre sign and glowing windows, taking in the streetscape as the night moves in, feeling like you’re in a place that’s really coming to life.
Sticky Rice, a sushi restaurant that has got to be the only one of its kind to feature not only sashimi and tempura, but tater tots, was a fun first stop. The sushi rolls have sassy names (“shiitake happens,” “happy hippy”) and the ambiance tilts toward funky rather than one with an Asian sensibility. Of course, we had tots, too. How can you not tot?
Gail had gotten us tickets to a musical performance (there are plenty of places to hear live music on H Street), and we had time to kill before the doors opened. We stepped briefly inside Granville Moore’s where I instantly agreed to Gail’s request that we come back another night soon for Belgian beers and mussels in that softly-lit historical barroom. Many appealing bars and restaurants line the walk, beguiling passersby with hip, warm interiors and unique menus.
The lure of a half-hour at a beer-barrel table under strands of colored lights led us to the Bavarian-themed Biergarten Haus. We hoisted giant steins of coppery dopplebocks before joining the crowded floor for Bill Callahan's haunting prairie-themed songs at the Rock and Roll Hotel.
In spite of its name, the Hotel is not a place to stay for the night, though there are themed party rooms for rent upstairs to spend hours reveling with friends. The main floor is a concert space and the one we attended was a tightly-packed standing room kind of scene best enjoyed by taller folks than I.
The nearby all-night pie shop was the perfect spot for post-concert recovery.
(I propose a new rule: every neighborhood must have its own all-night pie shop.)
Past and Present Merge in Fredericksburg, Virginia
For your Memorial Day excursion, I recommend a road trip to Fredericksburg, Virginia. If you are reading this from a desk chair in the DC area, within just an hour and a half you can be in this very walk-able town on the Rappahannock River, rich in Colonial and Civil War history. Mary Washington, George Washington's mother, lived and died in Fredericksburg, and James Monroe, fifth President of the United States, also lived here for some time.
Civil War buffs will know that between December 1862 and May 1864 the four fiercest battles of the Civil War were fought in the surrounding area. The battlefields are part of the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park.
A historical sign I read as I strolled around town said, “In May 1864, ambulances…clogged the city’s streets. Virtually every public building became a hospital filled with wounded soldiers….By today’s standards, conditions were gruesome. Mortality rates were high.” I blinked in the sun and while runners in a 5K maneuvered through the streets and shoppers sipping lattes strolled past I tried to imagine the sights and sounds of such horror on these same blocks.
In fact, there are graveyards aplenty and a handful of ghost-themed walking tours offered in Fredericksburg to capitalize on the mayhem and loss in this town, strategically located between Washington, DC and Richmond.
Fill an afternoon visiting Mary Washington’s house, the Masonic cemetery, and museums. Restaurants and shops line the bricked sidewalks. Nearby, the Belmont House offers tours of its gardens, and the home and studio of artist Gari Melchers. (You will learn all about Melchers and wonder why you didn’t know of him before!) Alternatively, Kenmore House, George Washington’s sister’s estate, close by and open for tours, is a great example of Georgian-style architecture. On Saturday and Sundays in June, Shakespeare is performed on the lawn at Kenmore.
History, parks, art, good coffee, shopping and a river: Fredericksburg has something for each member of your traveling party and is an easy drive away. ("Easy," that is, if 95 South were a swift, traffic-free route. Leave early in the morning before the appearance of thick, maddening columns of barely-moving cars!)
You’re Closer Than You Think to Being Seaside
The stubborn chill of March in Washington DC has me daydreaming about taking a break to search for spring. I happen to know about a sugary sand oasis in Florida where, in the same amount of time it takes to put your winter clothes in storage, you could be hopping into your rented convertible and motoring toward the idealized town called Seaside.
"The Truman Show" was filmed in this Florida Panhandle community in 1998 and you may feel you're on a movie set: It's a perfect town, built on the principles of New Urbanism. Every street connects via walkways to the town's center and porches are close to the sidewalks to encourage conversation with passersby. You can shop for records and books on the square and hear a concert on the green. Points of access to the beach are framed by architecturally unique sculptural entryways. They're impressive, but the real thrill is reaching the top of the stairway to find the Gulf Waters impossibly blue and shimmering. The antidote to the DC wintery air that will not relent.
Oh, think of it: squeaky white sand under bare feet, a fruit shake from one of the Airstream trailers that serve as sidewalk cafes along the main strip, an outdoor breakfast complete with a Bloody Mary and beignets, Cruiser bicycle rides past candy-colored cottages.
Southwest Airlines has direct flights from BWI to Panama City. Don’t forget suntan lotion and your book club read. By the time you get home, you’ll be able to put those coats away until next year.
A Chilly Easton Weekend
You may not picture yourself in a shore town until summer. And you may think of the Bay Bridge as a conveyor of idling cars and brake lights. That’s why chilly spring is a great time to visit Maryland’s Eastern Shore. You can zip across the bridge at the speed limit and have the place all to yourself.
My husband’s from the Eastern Shore and so is his whole family “all the way back,” so I’ve spent a lot of time in the clustered towns there. St. Michaels is better known as a tourist destination with its shop-lined streets and docks for your sailboat. But Easton is my favorite. Easton is the less-flashy sister---the one with good bones who doesn’t need to be the center of attention.
Here’s my recipe to a perfect spring overnight:
Pinpoint your weekend by checking out the calendar at the Avalon Theatre for your favorite show. The Avalon is an intimate Art Deco performance space downtown and Roseanne Cash, Marshall Crenshaw, and Randy Newman are a few upcoming acts that caught my middle-aged eye. The breathtaking “Live at the Met in HD” series is also broadcast there. Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor" is next for screening.
Take a minute to download and print the self-guided walking tour (click here) that points out interesting architecture and historically significant spots in town.
Book a room at the snug Bishop’s House B&B or try the just-renovated, posh Tidewater Inn. You won’t need your car once you’ve gotten settled in.
On Saturday morning you can prowl for antiques and shop at the cute boutiques on Goldsborough Road and Washington Street. I especially love Lizzy Dee. Even though I am too short for the chic and casual clothing there, earrings always fit and so do purses and printed scarves. Stop into wooden-floored Crackerjacks for a toy-laden nostalgia trip and leave with a yoyo or 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle.
Make sure to get onion rings and a shake at the soda fountain at Hill’s Drugstore to reinforce the Mayberry feel of the place. (Believe me, there’s a lunch counter; just keep walking straight past the shelves stocked with aspirin bottles and ice packs…)
The attractive Art Academy closes at 3 on Saturdays, so go after lunch and amble through. Afterwards, you can use your handy downloaded walking tour map to become the Easton expert that you’ve always wanted to be or rent bikes for the trails around town. Another great feature of the Eastern Shore: No hills!
Have dinner before the show at the artsy Out of the Fire where you can tuck into a plate of crispy polenta with wild mushroom ragout.
Head home right after Sunday breakfast. Like many small towns, Easton closes up tight to fill up its 38 churches.
Maybe I’ll move to Easton and open a rollicking Sunday coffee shop and feed muffins to all the visitors who find nothing but locked doors elsewhere in town; or maybe a tattoo parlor to get people ready for the beach come summertime…
Why You Should Go to Staunton
My personal limit for a reasonable weekend excursion is three hours in the car. More than that, to me, and the “travel-time to adventure” ratio feels out of balance.
Here’s a spot that pushes up against the comfortable distance, but is so worth the journey: Staunton, Virginia. (Don’t read that in your head as “Staw-nton”---it’s “St-ANT-on.)
You should go for more than just a creamy shake from Kline's Dairy Bar…
Architecturally, the town is filled with riches. The Civil War did not ravage Staunton and the charming storefronts and homes in and around Main Street are a testament to this. The place is stuffed with Victorian character and faded advertisements from the 20th century painted on vast brick walls. Woodrow Wilson's birthplace is here, too, for you Presidential trivia types. Take a walking tour led by a local expert.
The Blackfriars Playhouse, a replica of Shakespeare’s indoor London theatre, presents the Bard’s plays year-round. Get tickets for a play after your day of strolling and shopping and be sure to arrive early enough for the pre-show's high-energy hijinks.
We had a delicious cheesy pie at Shenandoah Pizza while a folk guitarist entertained and all of Beverley Street was buzzing on Saturday night. It’s truly an artsy, groovster hotspot dotted with coffee shops and actors, yarn stores and poets. (But Sunday morning was a different story. Staunton was closed up tight with pursed lips and no breakfast. Our footsteps echoed along the previous night's vibrant sidewalks. We finally found a cafe open in the Wharf area---called the Wharf, but waterless, this is where the train station is---and sipped a perfect latte. The poets and musicians must have been sleeping or at church---or possibly both at once.)
Stay overnight in a comfortable B&B room at Frederick House or have a elegant hotel experience at The Stonewall Jackson Hotel.
Buy (or blow!) your own glass ornament at Sunspots Studios downtown. Your kids will be entranced, don't you think, by the free glassblowing demonstrations?
And I'm sorry to keep piling on the demands, but do not even think of heading home without visiting the Museum of American Frontier Culture where settlers' homes and farm buildings are tended to by staff in period clothing who share the stories of America's earliest immigrants. Yes, there are sheep to pet!
Next time I go, I have my heart set on taking Amtrak. Only $41 from Union Station to Staunton (a four-hour journey by rail). You can easily walk from the station to the town and to most of the attractions. I love the idea of reading and gazing out the window on the lovely ride south and west into the Shenandoah Valley. Then the traveling becomes the adventure.
When You’re The Tour Guide
Living near Washington DC, you will probably, at least once, be called upon to host friends or family who want to see the sights in the Nation’s Capitol.
With so much to choose from, where do you start?
I currently have visitors from Canada with whom we became acquainted during our family’s year of travel. They are another traveling family also named the Jameses and, since they had headed out for their world adventures ahead of us, we called on them with many queries. We encouraged them to visit us here and, being traveling kind of folks, they actually took us up on it. Now, we have the pleasure of answering their queries about our town and showing them around a bit.
We warned them about the awful heat wave (they are from the Arctic Circle---imagine the weather shock!) and let them sleep in. No use hauling exhausted guests through the thick Washington air.
Take your time and see a few things a day or you’ll be overwhelmed and weary. Choose a single goal and embellish with asides and cleverly planned walking routes that add in some treats. Our guests’ son was keen to see the Museum of Natural History due to his fondness for “Night at the Museum 2,” so we’d made that our mission.
Here’s a suggested itinerary to get your guests oriented and in the DC tourist spirit:
• An orientation on the Metro and multi-day “short-trip” passes for each family member purchased from the automated machines at each station.
• A trip to Gallery Place: no train change if you’re on the Red Line and a lovely exit at the Portrait Gallery & American Art Museum.
• A quick walk through the art galleries (which are joined by the Kogod Courtyard). Since entrance to the Smithsonian Museums is free, you can do a sampler stroll through several, pointing out highlights, including some modern pieces that seem especially appealing to kids.
Then you can allow your guests to decide whether they’d like to linger or return another time.
• Grab a quick lunch at one of the many surrounding eateries or in the Kogod Courtyard (an architectural marvel).
For a restaurant experience in this neighborhood, I love Ping Pong Dim Sum at 7th and “I” Streets which gives you the added opportunity to enjoy the Chinatown gate at 7th and H as you stroll.
Or try Ella's Pizza for even more mass appeal. Zaytinya, across from the Gallery is another favorite, but slightly more upscale. They offer "small plates" with a Middle Eastern flair.
• After some food, walk back down 7th making sure the lettered streets you cross are going from bigger to smaller (as in, crossing G, walk toward F).
• (There’s a charming cupcake shop on the way in exactly the spot where you might like a tiny treat.)
• Once you cross Pennsylvania Avenue, there you are at all of the Mall’s wonders. You can point out the Capitol to the left and the Washington Monument to the right. The Capitol is the city’s geographical center and has no address. But everything else is numbered and sectioned into quadrants from that point.
• We strolled through the whimsical sculpture garden across from the Archives and the kids dipped their feet in the huge fountain there. (Doubling, in more Canadian-esque months, as an ice rink.) You can sit on the edge, but do not stand in the fountain: you’ll get a shrill whistle-blow and an admonishment, “SIT DOWN!” (Seems like it could have all been handled in a friendlier way.)
• As we approached the NMNH, we noticed a butterfly garden which, though devoid of butterflies for the season, offered some lovely color: Black-Eyed Susans and dark pink Crape Myrtle.
• A walk through the Museum revealed some of the movie’s “characters” and also piqued interest in other curiosities there. Don’t miss the Mammal Hall and the Great Oceans exhibit.
And, in the Gems and Minerals room, people get excited to see the Hope Diamond (though it’s always smaller than they expect.) My 15-year-old, Caroline said, “I’m pretty sure the Hope Diamond is one of the most over-rated tourist attractions ever."
• Take the Smithsonian Metro back to the suburbs and plan for the next day’s adventure over dinner (and a glass of wine!) at home.
Old Town Alexandria
In honor of our trip to Old Town Alexandria, I snipped the tags from the wide-legged summer weight pants I’d snagged on my last visit there. This past winter a quick dip into to the Gap Factory Outlet on King Street netted me some staples – shorts and shirts for my kids – plus these comfy pants at a mere $9 – and, best of all, I’d forgotten about them until they fell out of my closet a few weeks ago. There’s nothing better than buying something for a song because it’s past season, then tucking it away for the winter and rediscovering it just as you’re wringing your hands in front of the closet because you have nothing new to wear.
Dani and I got an early start the day we explored Old Town. We timed our departure to occur just after the morning rush, when Rock Creek Parkway is relatively quiet, and the cool water rushing by makes you feel like you’re already on a vacation of sorts, because how could this much natural splendor be found in the midst of so much urban sprawl?
We parked by the Torpedo Factory Art Center and the weather was so glorious that we took a quick stroll along the waterfront before heading inside. Constructed in 1918 to manufacture torpedoes, the building served that purpose until just after World War II. For several years it served as government storage space for items varying from munitions to dinosaur bones.
In 1974, after the city of Alexandria purchased the property from the U.S. government, it opened as a space for artists and has remained an important creative venue with various tweaks, additions, and renovations ever since.
This massive waterfront structure now houses 82 studios showcasing artists working in every possible medium. In our all-too-brief survey of the studios, we came upon sculpture in stone, glass, wire, and various combinations of materials, as well as paintings, photographs, jewelry, clothing, works in enamel and exquisitely crafted ceramics. If you’re lucky, the creative types behind all the artwork will be working in their studios. We chatted first with Pat Monk, who makes enormous sculptures of stainless steel that he welds in the back of his studio space. My favorite was his whimsical “Dragon’s Tail,” the result of a collaboration with a friend who creates stained glass.
A short walk away we found Cindy Packard Richmond, painting boats in her airy, light-filled space overlooking the water.
I was particularly taken with her still life paintings – pears, and asparagus painted in luscious but true–to-life colors – while Dani pined for a painting of goldfish shimmering like jewels.
We would have poked around longer on the upper floors, but we had an 11:30 reservation to experience the Lickety Split Lounge Lunch at Restaurant Eve. I was sold the minute I’d heard the name, and I tried my best to inject it into every sentence that day, as in, “Dani, I think I’ll just pop into the restroom here before we go to the Lickey Split Lounge lunch, okay?”
Essentially an express dining option offered only in the restaurant’s bar area, it provides an easy-on-the-wallet approach to sample the culinary wonders of this venerable Old Town eatery. For $13.50, diners can choose two items from a fairly broad selection that includes soups, salads, sandwiches and desserts. We loved it. And yes, beets were involved.
After lunch I started to feel, as I nearly always do on these excursions, that we’d barely scratched the surface of Old Town. Luckily, our next stop was nearly next door to the restaurant. Diva, an upscale resale boutique on South Pitt St., houses two floors of secondhand clothing in good condition, plus a great selection of costume jewelry.
I walked out with a flouncy, feminine skirt, while Dani scored a great pink sweater. Next I whisked Dani through the stylish lobby of the Hotel Monaco in King Street as we hustled back to the car.
We drove a few blocks up King Street and parked in front of Misha, on S. Patrick Street.
Misha is a no-frills coffee lover’s café, sporting at least two ancient refrigerators, a plethora of community notices, and a wide communal table in one room, where a man sat playing solitaire with the smallest deck of playing cards imaginable.
We ordered iced coffees and sweetened them with simple syrup, a nice touch that puts you on notice that you’re in serious coffee drinker territory.
Just a half block from Misha’s, back on King Street, is The Hour, one of the funkiest, most appealingly laid-out specialty shops around. If you’re a “Mad Men” devotee, The Hour cries out for a visit. Open for about a year, this shop is a place whose windows I’d peered into longingly on earlier Old Town trips, but I’d never before walked inside.
Two floors of cocktail glasses, martini shakers, colorful serving trays (including unusual Couroc trays of black lacquer – a personal favorite of mine) and serving dishes offer all you need to throw a rocking retro party.
All items are helpfully labeled as either vintage or new, so you don’t have to scrutinize a piece and screw up the courage to ask if it’s “authentic.”
I didn’t buy anything, only because by the time I’d climbed the stairs to the second floor I was in sensory overload mode, feeling a desperate urge to buy almost everything. Or at the very least, to get myself a stiff drink. I vowed to return without a caffeine buzz to peruse the wares in a calmer state. Perhaps Don Draper could join me and offer up suggestions…
We ended our Old Town excursion with a reminder of why we don’t make the trip more often: a traffic snarl just past National Airport that had us crawling along the GW Parkway for several miles.
This development didn’t ruin our day by any means, but it did spark a conversation about the many ways that traffic woes in the DC area lead people to think twice, perhaps, before striking out to explore. While we were in Alexandria, we had to dash back to the car every hour or so to feed the meter. (There is free parking for 2 hours directly across from the Torpedo Factory, but I stupidly forgot that option). We could have easily taken the Metro to Old Town and availed ourselves of the free trolley that runs frequently between the Metro station and the base of King Street at the waterfront.
In fact, my husband and I enjoyed an overnight escape in Old Town last winter, sans car. We packed an overnight bag, walked to the Metro, and were riding the Trolley to the Hotel Monaco less than an hour later. It was easy, and liberating. When I return for the martini glasses and olive forks at The Hour, I just may take the Metro.
Baltimore is Best
I knew I should have checked President Obama’s schedule before heading to Baltimore with Dani on a recent Friday. We’d planned to explore the whimsical American Visionary Art Museum and grab lunch afterward. As we neared the Inner Harbor exit off of 95, however, it was clear that something was going on – traffic was backed up all the way along the exit ramp. Being a native Baltimorean (or something akin to a native, having grown up 20 miles north of downtown), I bailed out early on Russell Street and avoided the traffic jam – for the time being.
Since we were further west than I’d expected to be, I talked Dani into a quick stop at Lexington Market, home of Faidley’s Seafood, and arguably the world’s best crabcake.
This is a delicacy I made the mistake of introducing to my father-in-law many years ago, and now I dutifully arrange for a four-pack to be shipped to him every holiday season. The one year I forgot, he called and we exchanged pleasantries for nearly 15 minutes before he arrived at the true purpose of his call: “um, I was wondering what happened to the crabcakes?” I haven’t let him down since.
We scored a parking spot right by a market entrance. Ducking inside, I managed to whisper to Dani that Lexington Market is not for the faint of heart, just seconds before a homeless man stopped us to chat. We’d arrived about an hour before the lunchtime rush, and by the looks of things the vast, inviting space that always smells like something you’d want to be eating was being used by several denizens of the streets to keep their toes warm.