Places for respite

It’s still winter, with a matching grim political climate – so if you are looking for a temporary respite, here are some places in the D.C. area that we recommend. All are free and good to visit in all seasons.

The Zoo’s Coffee Farm

At the National Zoo’s immersive tropical “Songbird Aviary: Bird Friendly Coffee Farm,” you can enjoy the happy trills of colorful songbirds, learn how our coffee habits affect migratory species, and purchase bird-friendly coffee from the gift shop. We regularly buy our coffee grounds there, and especially love the Dark Chocolate-Cherry-Honey flavor from Honduras. Last weekend the bird house even had a coffee tasting, a welcome respite on a very cold day. 

Kogod Courtyard

The Kogod Courtyard at SAAM is a 28,000 square foot enclosed space with a striking wavy glass and steel roof. The space also features metallic columns, huge marble planters filled with trees and shrubs, and a black granite floor, as well as four water scrims that children can’t seem to resist running through. It’s the beating heart of the museum complex, a fantastic location for events of all kinds that draw big crowds. Still, the space is large enough that you can almost always find a quiet corner to drink a cup of coffee, read a book, or simply sit in the sun.

South side of Rock Creek Park

One of the best places to go in Rock Creek Park is walking along Beach Drive and the hiking trails between Blagden Ave. and Military Rd. There are owls, eagles, foxes, coyotes, Kingfishers, woodpeckers and much, much more to find every day.

Pretty in Pink at the Botanic Garden

There’s so much to enjoy at the Botanic Garden. One of our favorite areas is the room with plants that grow in Mediterranean climates – it’s cozily warm with some great showy flowers.

Huntley Meadows

Walking through Huntley Meadows Park, with its nearly 1,500 acres of forest and wetland, it is easy to forget that you are only a handful of miles from downtown DC. According to the Friends of Huntley Meadows Park, this nature area is home to more than 200 species of bird (though many visit for only part of the year) as well as 50 reptile and amphibian species and 30 different types of mammal. Our favorite part is the Heron Trail with its half-mile-long boardwalk where, depending on the time of year, you can see blue birds, eagles, hawks, kingfishers, woodpeckers, egrets, osprey, northern shovelers, red-winged black birds, green-winged teals, wood ducks, pintail ducks, mergansers, greater yellowlegs, great blue herons, green herons, tiny green tree frogs, turtles, otters, beavers, and muskrats.

Presentation Wall at the Portrait Gallery

The National Portrait Gallery’s First Floor Presentation Wall is a rotating showcase of important new acquisitions. Currently on display is Michael Shane Neal’s portrait of renowned civil rights attorney Fred Gray. Gray’s famous clients included Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., and the victims of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study. He successfully litigated four civil rights cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, including the landmark desegregation case Browder v. Gayle. In 2022 Gray was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. To find the Presentation Wall, walk left from the museum’s G Street entrance lobby. 

Horses on the Mall

You can usually find horses calmly grazing in the paddocks, at the Park Police barn on the Mall near the Lincoln Memorial.

Gulls on the Georgetown waterfront

Watching people feed the seagulls at the Georgetown waterfront is a great wintertime activity. It’s always amazing to see the seagulls dodge and compete for a bit of food.