The Comedy Spot

What to do on a Friday night?

You could go to a bar and get drunk on obscenely priced cocktails.  (Nah.)

You could go to a movie.  (Eh, there's nothing good out.)

Or you could go to a comedy show. (Go on...)

There are several traditional stand-up and improv places out there, including DC Improv, The Capitol Steps (political humor),  Riot Act, and The Comedy Zone. It is important to note, however, that these places have a two drink/item minimum.  Which means that you'll be paying for your ticket as well as two ridiculously overpriced drinks per person.  Sometimes these places will be on the coupon sites.

There is a place, however, that does improv but has no minimum.  It is called The Comedy Spot in Ballston, Virginia.  They have two shows: Comedy Sportz (family friendly) and the Blue Show (not... family friendly).

 

The show is similar to the TV show "Whose Line Is It Anyway?", with actors on stage getting suggestions and guidance from the audience to shape the skits.  

Tickets are only $15, and buy-one-get-one-free for college students.  A little more than a movie ticket (though really not by much), and you get a live show!

How to get there: 

Driving- It is in the Ballston Mall, so park in the garage (it'll only be a couple dollars) and go to the top floor by the movie theater.

Metro- It is off of the Ballston metro stop on the orange line.  After you walk up the escalator keep walking through the glass doors.  Go up a skinny escalator. Keep walking straight.  You'll go over a couple covered walkways.  Seriously just keep going straight/look for signs to the mall.  You'll get there.  Once in the mall go up the escalator one more floor, do a U-ie and you're right there.

The Blue Show starts after most of the mall has closed, but there are still a few restaurants open on the bottom floor.  And Cold Stone Creamery.

George Washington Masonic Memorial

This next spot took me about three years before I went there.  It's not even out of the way or expensive or anything.  It was one of those things that every time you passed it you thought, "I should really check that out".  So one day I did and recommend it to anyone in the area.

It is the George Washington Masonic Memorial.  Right off of the King Street metro station, it is a tribute to George Washington and Masonry (the whole be-a-better-man idea).  

You can tour the bottom floor for free, or (and what I recommend) you can pay $5 and take a guided tour.  The guided tour will stop on 3 or 4 other levels and then finally at the top where from the observation deck you can see far and wide.

They close at 4pm, so this best done on a weekend or during the day on a weekday.  Pair this with a trip to Old Town Alexandria (this will probably be a post later) and you have yourself an afternoon!

Hope you had a happy holiday!

Santa Einstein certainly does.

Non-Free Museums

DC has a lot of museums.  And a lot of them are free.  But some are not, so if you are going to pay for one, here is my recommendation for that.

1.  The Spy Museum.  There are two parts to this one: the museum itself and an interactive experience.  I did both when I went.  For the spy experience you (and the rest of your group) are given small spy tests and get to hunt down clues to catch the bad guy and all that.  The actual museum was quite lacking, in my opinion.  It was more geared towards the history of spying, so there was a lot of old stuff in there, not so much new stuff.  Although that may be the nature of the topic, as you can't really put in a lot of the stuff that spies are actually using.

If you go, I'd suggest just doing one of the Spy Experiences, not the museum.

{via}

2.  Instead of going to the Spy Museum museum, go to the National Museum of Crime and Punishment.   This museum has a lot of history too, but it was more interesting than the Spy Museum.  It has some interactive stuff, some exhibits (forensics and whatnot), as well as America's Most Wanted television set. Currently there is a Unabomber exhibit, among other things.  I swear it's more interesting that this sounds as I'm writing about it!

 

{via}     {via}

3.  The Newseum.  It's a museum- about news!  This is another very, very good museum.  I don't have too much to talk about- you just have to go see it!  Here is an overview of the museum, which can be done in two hours.  It's around ~$22, but I would recommend it.

{via}

All three of these museums around geographically very close to one another. The Crime and Punishment Museum and Spy Museum are about a block or two off of the Chinatown Metro (yellow, green and red lines).  The Newseum is a little farther south toward the National Archives (yellow, green), Judiciary Square (Red), and Federal Triangle (blue, orange) stations.

The Kennedy Center

The John F. Kennedy Center regularly hosts the National Symphony Orchestra, Washington National Opera, the Ballet, traveling Broadway performance as well as other shows in the DC.  However, if you are looking for a more cost effective way to see a show at the Kennedy Center, here are two options.

1. Every day at 6pm there is a free performance of some sort on the Millennium Stage.  They bring in small bands or youth choirs or bands.  For example, a few days ago they had the Positive Vibrations Youth Steel Orchestra.  As you may surmise, the stage is on the smaller side, and there are maybe a couple hundred seats.  But the performances are generally pretty good.  They are also archived and you can watch them on the Kennedy Center website.
2. Another continuing show is Shear Madness- it has been running for 20 years.  Also in somewhat of an intimate theater setting, the show starts off in a beauty salon with a fairly scripted scene.  And then- a *murder*. After that, the overhead lights come on and the rest of the performance is improvised with audience participation to solve the crime.  This show is kind of pricey at $45 a ticket, but if you get the Entertainment book or the online version there is a coupon for Buy One Get One Free.  You can also just get the trial version of Entertainment Online, where you can print 3 coupons (though those coupons may have a short expiration date, so don't buy too soon).

Or you could go to both!

Getting there: There is a parking garage for $20.  If you are using public transportation, take the metro to the Foggy Bottom station (blue and orange lines).  There is a free shuttle that picks up right at the top of that station that will take you to the Kennedy Center.

50% off tickets to ICE!

There are deals out there!

There are some limitations to this one. You can't use it between 12/23 and 1/1, or on Saturdays. And the thing ends 1/8/12.

But it's 50% off!

Livingsocial deal to ICE!

Union Station and the Postal Museum

Let's say you are standing by the capitol building admiring the beautiful architecture when someone on a Segway tour whizzes by and makes you spill your coffee all over yourself.  What to do?? Well my friend, you can just go north a couple of blocks to Union Station.  

"Union Station?" you may ask.  "I don't want to leave the city!"

I like your attitude.

Indeed, Union Station is the hub of all things transportation: bus, subway and rail.  And has gorgeous architecture. But it also is kind of a mini mall, with an Express, Victoria's Secret, Ann Taylor, Jos. A. Bank, Barnes and Noble, FYE (man, that chain is still in business?) as well as souvenir shops and much more. These stores tend to be quite expensive, but window shopping is still free!

There are also sometimes art displays (of sorts) in the main room.  In the fall of 2009 there was an exhibit of artists that made sculptures out of Red Bull cans. It looks like currently they have model trains on display.

There are sit down restaurants on the main and upper levels, but in the basement there is also a food court.

After you are done browsing through Union Station hop over to the National Postal Museum (really hop, it's right across the street) and learn about the history of the postal service! Very worthwhile museum.  And free!

And since you're right there anyway, if it's warm out visit the Japanese American Memorial.  It looks like the rocks are floating in water! (The water is drained during the winter.)

{Via}

You can get to Union Station a variety of ways.  You can use the subway, bus, the Virginia Rail Express (rail), the MARC train (rail), or Amtrak.  If you drive there is no parking close, so you will have to hunt for a space and will have to walk a little bit.

Tour the Pentagon and the 9/11 Memorial

If there was one thing that I would recommend you plan for before coming here it would be the Pentagon tour.  A lot of the stuff here (museums and such) you can just go the day of.  But for the Pentagon tour (along with the White House tour, which I have not been on yet), you have to schedule your tour at least a couple weeks in advance.  Did I mention the tour is free?

It was a very cool experience.  The Pentagon is really its own city.  It has doctors and dentists offices, flower shops, movie rental shop, even a Best Buy. The tour guides are trained to give the tour walking backwards without looking. So you're trying to take that in, and also listen to what they're saying, and also take in everything else around you... It's quite cool.  Did you know there are two employees of the Pentagon whose sole job is to change light bulbs? It's a big building.

While you are there, visit the 9/11 Pentagon Memorial.  The memorial is, kind of like benches, although you don't sit on them.  Each person who died has a bench.  If you can read the name (on the end of the bench) and see the Pentagon, that means they worked in the Pentagon.  If the other way, that means they were on the plane.  The benches are also organized by age of the person; everyone of the same age is in a line and spaced accordingly between the other ages.

 

{Via}

The Pentagon is located off the Pentagon Metro Stop on the blue and yellow lines.  I would highly recommend taking the Metro as parking is very restricted.

Where to find deals

There are a few sites out there that are kind of a "deal of the day" type of site. The basic idea is a deal/coupon goes live on the site for a limited amount of time.  If enough people buy it, everyone gets the coupon.  If the quota isn't hit, no one gets it and your credit card isn't charged.  In reality, this quota is sort of arbitrary, because I've always seen it over.  Also, while these deals used to only stay up for a day, they are now generally more than one day.

These are not just for Washington DC; you can search other cities too.  The most common sites are:

Groupon

LivingSocial

KGB Deals (don't ask me why they named it that.  This one also encompasses an old website called sowhatsthedeal.com)

GiltCity (This one used to be Buy With Me)

Recoup (This one used to be Deal For Deeds, where you were encouraged to donate to a specific charity when you bought a deal)

These deals can range from restaurants to salons to excursions.  I've bought from all of these sites except the new GiltCity and new Recoup (I bought from their original sites). Anyway, I find a lot of things to do through these sites. Most are available in a wide range of cities.

ICE!

This one is a little bit of a splurge, so if you see a coupon or deal for it- get it. 

It's called ICE! and it is basically a winter wonderland of... ice.  Before you walk in they give you a giant parka.  "I don't need this," you may think.  "I have my very thick winter coat."  Take the parka.

 Everything is made of ice.  Walls of ice. Carved ice.  Colored ice.  And you can touch it all. But because you can touch it they have to make sure it won't melt.  And that is why it is not only very, very cold inside but there are fans blowing as well.  It is cold.  It took me about 1/2 hour to walk through the whole thing, but I ready to get out at that point.

Inside, though, is amazing.  There is a slide! made of... ice! I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.  This year is is a Madagascar theme.

ICE! is located in a series of tents at National Harbor.  It is $25 for an adult, less for military and kids, and runs though January 8th.

You will most likely have to drive to National Harbor, right across the Woodrow Wilson Bridge.  You can also walk or bike over the WWB, but it's kind of a hike.  There is no free parking at National Harbor (so don't bother looking for it), but there are several parking garages and a few metered spaces (that take credit cards).

Roller Derby!

For years I guess I kind of knew about roller derby, but never really thought it was... up my alley. But I was wrong! It is very fun, and a nice alternative to pro sports. And a good way to see girls on roller skates body check each other.

{pictures via dcrollergirls.com}

They are the DC Roller Girls and they have games (or bouts, if you want to get the lingo right.  And you do) about once a month at the DC Armory.  But- there are usually two bouts (i.e. four teams) per day, so it's really two for the price of one!  And at $12 a ticket, an awesome price! (Hint: skip ticketmaster and just get tickets there.  You don't want to pay $4+ in fees do you?  I mean, I don't mind giving money to the team/venue, but I feel like my soul dies a little each time I have to buy from ticketmaster.)

How crowded is it, you ask? Well, the first few times I went (with one other person) we just bought tickets and walked right in and sat on the the floor right by the track (the Armory is kind of like a big gym).  Watch out for girls getting pushed off the track into you if you sit there.  There are also bleacher seats.

Of course the one time that I took a big group of people there, there was a huge line to get tickets and we had to sit way up in the bleachers.  Not as fun.  Get there early I guess? See the schedule here. There is a bout this Saturday (Dec10).

What exactly is roller derby you may ask?  Here is a summary from Wikipedia:

Roller derby is played by two teams of five members simultaneously skating counterclockwise on a circuit track. Each team designates a scoring player (the "jammer"); the other four members are "blockers." One blocker is designated as a "pivot"—a blocker allowed to become a jammer in the course of play. The jammer wears a helmet cover bearing two stars; the pivot wears a striped cover; the remaining members' helmets are uncovered.

The bout is played in two periods of 30 minutes. Point scoring occurs during "jams": plays that last up to two minutes. During a jam, points are scored when a jammer in scoring position laps members of an opposing team Each team's blockers use body contact, changing positions, and other tactics to assist its jammer to score while hindering the opposing team's jammer. Certain types of blocks and other play are violations; referees call penalties and require violators to spend time in a penalty box.

It sounds a lot more complicated than it really is.  There is usually a brief demonstration at the start of the bout of the rules.  If all else fails, just cheer with everyone else!

Location: Armory, 2400 E. Capitol St NE, WDC 20003

Wreaths Across America

I came across this opportunity a few months back and thought it sounds like an absolutely fabulous event.  The second Saturday in December (this year December 10th), you can go to Arlington Cemetery and help lay wreaths on the tombstones.  This is called Wreaths Across America.

You don't need to sign up or anything, just be there at 8:30am!
There are also other cemeteries participating across the nation.

I plan to be there.  How about you?

Update: If you do go, don't plan on parking in the Arlington Cemetery parking lot.  Traffic was backed up in both directions from Rt 110.  There is some parking by the Iwo Jima Memorial, or the Pentagon north parking lot.

Welcome!

Welcome to the blog!

What I am hoping to do (we'll see whether it is successful or not) is highlight things to do, see and eat around the Washington DC metro area.  This includes DC proper, Northern Virginia (or NOVA), and Maryland.

Hence the D(istrict) M(aryland) V(irginia)!

Everyone knows that we have a great (and free) set of museums run by the Smithsonian organization, but after you visit these museums one or twice, you're pretty much done with them at that point.

So what else is there to do in this city?