So I'm In Columbia MD today.....

[SLAG]

I'm teaching a class until about 3/3:30 - Tonight would be my only free night to do anything

And I need CP's Advice:

• Do I battle the D.C. Traffic and go see our National Treasures
• Battle Baltimore Traffic and go find a dark alley to get stabbed in?
• Stay in the comfort of my hotel and rub one out to every female listed in SR's thread
• Other Listed Below

Help a brother out

[Buck]

GOT THAT WMD!

[blaise]

I don't know how much traffic you'd get going into DC in the afternoon, as long as you were on a north/south road. I guess if you're on the beltway you could get traffic going both ways. I haven't driven from MD to DC too much, but I've driven from VA into DC a lot. In the afternoon it's not too bad because most people are leaving the city. You could always find the closest metro station and take the metro down to DC.

[SLAG]

Originally Posted by blaise

I don't know how much traffic you'd get going into DC in the afternoon, as long as you were on a north/south road. I guess if you're on the beltway you could get traffic going both ways. I haven't driven from MD to DC too much, but I've driven from VA into DC a lot. In the afternoon it's not too bad because most people are leaving the city. You could always find the closest metro station and take the metro down to DC.

Am I going to be disappointed sight seeing in the early evening / night time?

[blaise]

Originally Posted by SLAG

Am I going to be disappointed sight seeing in the early evening / night time?

I don't remember how late the museums are opened, but even without that, if you're on the Mall you can see the Capitol building, there's a giant military sculpture in front of it, too. You can walk from there right past the Washington Monument and down to the Lincoln. If you're at the Lincoln and look across the river you can see Robert E Lee's mansion at the top of a hill in the middle of Arlington Cemetary. The built the cemetary around it and let him keep the residence so he would be reminded of all the deaths caused by the civil war. A little south of the Lincoln is the Jefferson. It's very pretty. One of the best looking monuments because it's on a little tidal pool.
Also, since I've been there they built the WW2 memorial, I think right next to the Washington Monument, so you could see that easily. And the Vietnam Vet Wall is a little off the Mall, if you're walking toward the Lincoln it would be on your right between the Washington and Lincoln monuments.
It's a little walk from one monument to another, so it depends how averse you are to walking. Not like a mile, but a five to ten minute walk or so, if I remember. I bet you could see at quite a bit in an hour or two.
The metro that stops on the Mall might not say "The Mall". I think it says something else, so if you take the train you'll need to figure out which stop it is for sure. Also, you probably need to change trains once on the way. It depends how good you are with that kind of stuff, whether you want to do it or not.
Not a lot to eat down by the Mall once the street vedors shut down, so I wouldn't go down there hungry. There's cafeterias in the museums, but I don't know what time they shut down.
But the monuments look cool at night. I never felt a great need to go inside them anyway. The best way to look is from the outside, in my opinion.

[blaise]

One other other hing, once you get the hang of it, driving around DC is easy, but for people that are new there it can be tough. There's a lot of rotaries instead of traffis lights. I like them, but some people don't. Also, a lot of the streets don't run continuously. For instance, Florida Ave will run for a while and stop, and then start again several blocks away. And, because there's no skyscrapers it's sometimes hard to get a visual cue as to where you are in the city. Plus people drive like kooks in DC.

[WV]

Most of the museums appear to be open until 5:30, but if you haven't been to it this site pretty much answers all your questions.

http://www.gosmithsonian.com/

[Frosty]

The war memorials are better to see at night, IMO, as is the Lincoln Memorial. I was in DC a couple of weeks ago and I definitely wouldn't want to drive there, though it has to better at night.

[Dave Lane]

If you have kids or even if you don't visit the Spy Museum and Space and Flight museum. The metro is the way to go unless you like traffic and sitting.

[mikeyis4dcats.]

you won't have time to make any of the museums, but you could see the monuments and such.

[Misplaced_Chiefs_Fan]

Originally Posted by SLAG

I'm teaching a class until about 3/3:30 - Tonight would be my only free night to do anything

And I need CP's Advice:

• Do I battle the D.C. Traffic and go see our National Treasures
• Battle Baltimore Traffic and go find a dark alley to get stabbed in?
• Stay in the comfort of my hotel and rub one out to every female listed in SR's thread
• Other Listed Below

Help a brother out

Dude, you're in Columbia and didn't tell me?

I have to agree with the others, the museums are more a daytime thing. The monuments are cool at night, but it really depends on what you want to do. There are great clubs in Fells Point in Baltimore or in Georgetown in DC. There are also some cool micro-breweries in Ellicott City if all you want is a good meal and great beer.

Give the locals a hint, guy, what are you interested in?

[blaise]

Originally Posted by Misplaced_Chiefs_Fan

Dude, you're in Columbia and didn't tell me?

I have to agree with the others, the museums are more a daytime thing. The monuments are cool at night, but it really depends on what you want to do. There are great clubs in Fells Point in Baltimore or in Georgetown in DC. There are also some cool micro-breweries in Ellicott City if all you want is a good meal and great beer.

Give the locals a hint, guy, what are you interested in?

The only problem w/Georgetown is that there's no metro stop that is very close. So unless you want to walk a ways you'd need to drive.

[Misplaced_Chiefs_Fan]

Originally Posted by blaise

The only problem w/Georgetown is that there's no metro stop that is very close. So unless you want to walk a ways you'd need to drive.

True enough. But I've been to a few of the jazz clubs in Georgetown and they were worth the drive. Great live music if you don't mind the intimate (read: damn near claustrophobic) setting.

[Groves]

When in Maryland, always pick up some crabs.

[RJ]

Other - battle Baltimore traffic (much easier than DC) and go to Fells Point or Little Italy for dinner and adult beverages.