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Sometimes all you want is the best of the best. Or maybe you’re a history lover with a lot of interest but only a little time. Enter The Highlight Reel! On this private, best of DC tour, we take you by all the sites that we like to call, “the mosts.” The most interesting, the most famous, the most legendary, and the most well-kept secrets!
The Highlight Reel kicks off in Foggy Bottom, a neighborhood older than the capital itself and one teeming with rich history. For starters, Foggy Bottom can brag that it served as the industrial underbelly for the city for nearly 150 years (though you wouldn’t know it today), and that it gave life to a rich history of brewing that abruptly ended in 1917 with Prohibition. It is also where the infamous Watergate Scandal took place in 1972. Today, Foggy Bottom can boast that it is home to The George Washington University and to some of the most influential institutions in the world, including The World Bank, the American Red Cross, and the U.S. Federal Reserve.
After soaking in one of the oldest spots in the city, we visit one of the greatest public parks in the world – the National Mall. Spacious, green, stretching nearly two miles in the center of the district, and crowded on summer nights with sports leagues, it’s easy to see why the National Mall is commonly known as “America’s Backyard.” But it could just as easily be called “America’s Constellation™,” with the star-studded lineup of national monuments and memorials and Smithsonian museums, and we see and discuss nearly all of them. We round out the National Mall by passing through one of our personal favorites, the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden. There you see a stainless steel tree, a house that plays tricks on your eyes, and a brainy bunny rabbit.
We then enter the final stretch of this highlights of DC tour: Pennsylvania Avenue. This is easily the most famous and most important avenue in the United States, and is widely known as “The Avenue for the Presidents.” Most people don’t know, however, that Pennsylvania Avenue was put to hard use before it was lined with monumental government buildings. In fact, no other part of DC is more interesting other than The White House, but don’t worry, that’s the last stop on the tour.
We wrap up The Highlight Reel with tales of presidents, their families and guests, and The White House itself. Find out why The White House smelled like cheese for months after President Jackson moved out, and why we play “Hail to Chief” at many of the President’s public appearances. By the end of The Highlight Reel, you’ll be so full of memorable stories that you’ll want to throw a party just to share them all!