Friday Favs: The Ways DC Has Spoiled Me

Every time I tell people I bought a house in DC I get the same questions: but don't you have to pay like a million dollars for your mortgage/rent? (kind of). But isn't crime really bad there? (not any worse than other big cities). But isn't everything just so expensive? (there are ways around that). Isn't it not even a state? (while having no national representatives can suck, recently it's been kind of nice to not be a part of the embarrassment that is our congress). Having had the opportunity to visit lots of big cities this year, I got to thinking about what it is that makes me love this strange little city so much and just what it is that makes it worth paying like a million dollars on a mortgage.

1. Free stuff: When I visited NYC we went to this concert where I had to pay $20 to stand on some grassy knoll and watch a band I've never heard of (but it was an outdoor concert!) For $20 in DC I can be drunk off a pitcher of very tasty sangria at a concert in DC's historic Sculpture Garden overlooking some of our country's most famous sites, because it's free to get in and an entire pitcher  of delicious sangria is $20. And speaking of our country's most famous sites, that's all free too. When my friends come visit we don't spend a penny doing touristy things (whitehouse tours, capital tours, monuments, MUSEUMS- all free).

2. Happy Hours and Bottomless Mimosas: When I visited friends in Atlanta we went to Sunday brunch. I was preparing my crispy $20 bill for all-I-can-drink-mimosas-and-bloody-marys and a brunch entree as I opened up the menu and found the drinks section just to discover, to my horror, that one mimosa ($9) is the same cost as bottomless mimosas in DC. Bottomless mimosas wasn't even an option. And that's when it hit me, in other places people go to brunch to...well, eat. Here in DC, brunch is as much of a staple in my social drinking schedule as Saturday nights out. Weird.

And on the note of social drinking schedules- when I went to Boston awhile ago I was pumped to land right at 4:30, just in time to hit up a happy hour with everyone. I was like "yall let's get to happy hour before the specials end!" and my friend was like "so happy hour is illegal in Boston, but we can go to a bar that has cheap drinks anyway". Happy hour is ILLEGAL? Isn't that a little extreme, Boston? Happy hour is pretty much DC's most social time of the week- everyone and their mom's is out especially once the weather gets nice and we do happy hour on every rooftop in DC or on boats. As I'm sipping on my happy hour special seasonal beer on this beautiful rooftop overlooking the sun setting on national mall I'll be praying for you, Boston.

3.  Amazing Food: Ok I know I know, DC is no New York when it comes to the food scene, but even the diviest of dive bars have more creative food than most other city's nice bars. I have found myself in multiple cities waiting until the next bar to eat because I don't want to blow $9 on a bed of iceberg lettuce topped with processed chicken, bacon bits and cheddar cheese. Happy hour in DC: want $4 fancy brocheta de pollo to share with the table? La Tasca's gotcha. How about an entire margherita pizza made with fresh local ingredients for $7.50? Piola's gothcha. And dinner! OMG dinner! The creative sh*t they come up with to throw on a bed of lettuce to make a salad blows my mind. While we are no New York City, we do have enough good food to have turned me into a complete food snob (this salsa isn't fresh, it definitely came from the freezer, gag me).

And on the note of food, 2 words: Jumbo Slice.

4. There are ~a million ways to get where you need to go: After a night of bachelorette fun in Milwaukee, which was 36 degrees in April (I'm never complaining about polar vortexes again), it was time for us to get back to the hotel which I had under control: "Let me hail an Uber- wait there are no Ubers here? Ok let me see if Hailo works here- oh no? Oh Lyft has to work- wait no Lyft either? There are no cabs anywhere and we're downtown! Well what the hell is there a CITY BUS we can take? Of course not." At that point I truly thought this was going to be how I was going die: freezing to death with a chipped tooth and full bladder trying to find ANY mode of transportation to travel the two miles back to the hotel (I won't leave you hanging- we walked and I did in fact survive).

In DC you can take the metro (even though I talk a lot of sh*t about it, it is actually pretty efficient when it is running- as long as it's not the god-forsaken red line), and if you can't catch the metro you can catch a bus, and if you can't catch a bus you can get an Uber and if you can't get an Uber you can hail a cab and if you can't hail a cab you can take a Lyft and if you can't take a Lyft you can take a bike share. Basically what I'm saying is, you run a very low risk of freezing to death on the side of the road.

5. Beautiful Parks:  When I visit a new city I like to explore it on foot so I always ask where the prettiest place to run is. In every single city people rave about their most beautiful parks that I just have to see. And oftentimes, theses beautiful parks that I have to see consist of a long sidewalk running through a stretch of grass with trees scattered around and the occasional trickle of water that apparently constitutes as a "creek" in other cities.

Every other big city, take notes because Rock Creek Park is how cities should do parks- it stretches 12 miles from Maryland through DC with 25 miles of trails (and nature and beauty). And just a few miles down the road we have the amazing 800-acre Great Falls Park where you can hike, kayak, rock climb, run...you name it. And let's not forget the most famous park of them all: The National Mall. While DC is a city, it has plenty of peaceful escapes. Speaking of peaceful escapes, we also have a great water scene. One of my favorite summer activities is kayaking on the Potomac, closely followed by touring the monuments via booze cruise.

So there it is, this is why I love paying like a million dollars on my mortgage. I love you DC, you crazy little city. Tell me: what is the best part of your city? 

Linking up today with That Friday Blog Hop and Friday Favorites -Come join!