Washington DC - Help on proposal places!!!

[jakebeer]

My GF and I are headed for a vacation in DC this summer.

We both have never been there. (well, she went when she was like 8 or something)

We got a great deal on a room at a downtown swank hotel, so i might be able to incorporate my buddy''s buddy to help out (since he is the controller of the place)...

anyways, know of no places since i have never been there...

she is a huge romantic...and i would like to incorporate a nice dinner in there, possibly before hand...so need a restaurant as well ... she likes remote but classy

need help...

 

[VAgal13]

DC is so beautiful...especially at night. There are numerous indoor and outdoor places to propose. The monuments at night are gorgeous. They are all lit up and usually not too crowded.

Let me do some serious brain storming tonight and I will get back to you on this one.

I am from VA (about 7 miles from the city), so this is my stomping ground.

What dates will you be here? I may be able to see if there are any major events that weekend.

-Sarah

 

[fire&ice]

do a search for a poster named "Arlington" . A long thread involving places in DC. He ended up proposing at night at the Lincoln Mem.

You could propose in the Gem section of the Smithsonian.

 

[Jeep]

There are a lot of good places in the DC area. A few stand out tho.
One would be the reflecting pool in front of the Capitol on the "mall" Here is a tree lined grassy area I have always thought was very romantic. My brother proposed here.
Also, there is another refelecting pool between the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial that is the same sort of thing. You can go here to check them both out.
http://www.highrock.com/WashingtonDC/

Still another, and the one I like best would be just down the road in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia. It's a great, little historic old town with great food, bars and shops on the water front. There is a number of parks along the Potomac River that can be pretty romantic in my mind. The Chart house is a great sea food place to eat right on the water. Do a search on "old town alexandria"
Hope this helps.

 

[Judi W]

My favorite place is the Lincoln Memorial - at night. It is lit up and the way the light shines on Lincoln's face....he looks like he's up there watching over everything! There are many beautiful monuments in DC but I was always particularly drawn to that spot. If you propose there...I'm sure "Abe" would approve!

 

[VAgal13]

Old Town Alexandria is nice, but it will be crowded during the summer. I live a few minutes from there and once the weather gets nice, its packed. But, there are tons of cute restaurants and bars and its right on the water. So, if you are okay with there being people around, I would say go for it!

I would suggest the new World War II Mem. They just opened it and its lovely! I haven't seen how its lit at night, but I bet its pretty.

I might wait until you are in DC to figure out exactly when/where to do it. Maybe carry it around one of the days and when you're at the "right" place and time, pop the question. DC as a whole is a very pretty city. There aren't any sky scrapers. There are parks around every corner, and museums and memorials everywhere.

One more secluded park that is really nice is Roosevelt Island. Its a cab ride away from the monuments downtown, but really fun to walk around in. If you were looking for a more secluded place, that might work.

Well, I hope we have helped a little. Let me know if you have any questions about any place(s) you may want to try. If you wanted, I could even take some pics of them for you and post them. Just let me know which ones you want.

-Sarah

 

[honeynut]

anyone know anything about the crime level? I'd be nervous being proposed to, in public, at night, in Washington... but that's only based on the rumours I've heard. Sorry if I am buying into a stereotype, but it's a valid concern IMO.

 

[VAgal13]

LOL. As long as you are near the monuments its very safe. Only South East DC and parts of Adams Morgan are really bad. Most of the touristy places are safe. Its not like a typical city. There are no sky scrapers and its fairly safe as long as you steer clear of certain pockets of trouble. Those bad areas are not easy to get to, especially if you're staying at a hotel in a good part.

Last time I checked it wasn't even ranked top 10 for most dangerous cities. (St. Louis came in #1! I can only joke about that b/c my boyfriend is from there)!

I think propsing at night would be safe. Its hard to end up in a bad area unless you're driving yourself around. If you rely on cabs and walking, you will be okay. The concierge at the hotel should be able to steer you in the right direction.

Your concern is quite valid though. Since you have never been in DC before it does seem to have a bad reputation. But, if I can use the cubway at 3 AM to come home from drinking downtown, then its pretty safe.

But, again...if you ever get a bad vibe...don't keep yourself in a bad situation. That rule goes for anywhere in the world. Gut instincts are usually right.

-Sarah

 

[Jeep]

I just thought of another great place (maybe for some, none the less an idea)(worth a look even if you don't do any "question asking" there) In high school we used to go to this park on the river that, the flight pattern of the airplanes landing and Reagan National airport would fly right over your head. Now it is very, very loud and could be a good number of people there. btw-This is coming out of DC towards VA. But, just another idea. My buddies and I would take our girlfriends there and we'd all lay on our backs and watch the planes. Someone would usually bring a guitar to play in between landings.

I am with the others, DC isn't that bad. And around the sights it is fine and very romantic at night. Hope this helps at least with ideas. Cause I will be needing them in a few months

.

 

[VAgal13]

Great suggestion about the park near Reagan!!! I totally forgot about that place. It is very romantic and super cool to see the planes flying right over your head.

 

[TinLemon]

This thread gets the honor of having my very first post on this forum...hahahaha.. only messin'.

First off... do NOT worry about safety. Any place that you will be going is safe.

The park that is being mentioned is called Gravely Point and sits right under the flight path of National airport. While I think it's an awesome park because you can catch all the planes coming in for a landing, I don't necessarily think it would be the best for a proposal because I mean... there are planes flying over your head every few minutes. Given this, I highly suggest one of my favorite spots in DC. It's actually in Arlington right next to the Arlington Cemetary, and behind the Iwo Jima memorial... there is a large metal overlook you can go up and from there the view is this (this picture was taken there for sure):

You also might find it nice if you went to Georgetown, have a nice dinner, then walked along the C&O Canel because it is very peaceful, not crowded, and should be pretty quiet at night. Then when you are done you could do any number of things in G-town, or go back to the hotel. You could also do a variation on this and wlak around the g-town neighborhoods and check out the really nice old townhouses.

If I can think of more, I'll let you know. It's funny because this is jogging my mind to also help ME figure out where to propose since I live here and all.

 

[katbadness]

Caveat: I don't live in DC, I've been there a (long!) while ago..

How about Georgetown? Is that too crowded and touristy?

I seem to remember Georgetown being very pretty and almost has an European feel to the area...

 

[Arlington]

Wow...the first time I check in here in months and someone has mentioned my name!

As it was mentioned earlier, I did it at the Jefferson. It's absolutely beautiful at night, and has much, much less of a crowd than the Lincoln. There is a path that goes around the memorial, and there is a great, private spot off to the side that has a great view of the memorial, with the Washington monument off in the distance. It's a one-of-a-kind spot and (hopefully) will always be there for you to revisit many years down the road!

 

[fire&ice]

Hah! Hey there Arlington. Hope the wedding plans are progressing. Sorry about forgetting it was the Jefferson & not the Lincoln. Shame on me.

 

[jakebeer]

June 10-13 leave the 14th

 

[jakebeer]

Awesome, i will look into the Chart house...thanks for the post

 

[jakebeer]

Roosevelt eh?

will have to see where that is located...any good eateries nearby there?

 

[jakebeer]

i love this pic...

so...we go to Arlington...we go behind the Iwo Jima and find the overlook that matches this pic..hmm, i think this just may be the place...how beautiful is that view!!!?

 

[TinLemon]

I did a little more research for you. It seems as though you can only climb the tower when there is a concert at the bell tower, but I can assure you that the view from the ground is equally as spectacular. I've been up there many times, and in fact, I've never actually been up into the tower as I do not like heights.

You could also just go to the Iwo Jima and catch the view from there, which is also very good, but there will definately be more people around it.

Here is a link to the national park service page regarding the bell tower:
http://www.nps.gov/gwmp/carillon.htm

Here is a little write up of the view I was talking about.
http://www.exploredc.org/index.php?id=175

Here is a map to the tower:
http://members.aol.com/iamrodan/images/carillonclr.gif

You can find a bunch of stuff about it if you type in "Netherlands Carillon" or "Iwo Jima Bell Tower" into google.

If you are religious, or into interesting architecture, you could also go to the national cathedral, which is also the highest point in DC. You can go up in the bell towers and get a great view of the city. The national zoo (free!) is also right near the cathedral, so you could make a day of it.
Here's a picture of the cathedral: CLICK!

 

[TinLemon]

Oh yeah... let me know if you need restaurant suggestions. If you do... what kind of food do you like, how dressed up do you want to get, and your price range.

 

[jakebeer]

Steak - The Capital Grille, The Caucus Room, Charlie Palmer's, and the Palm.

Seafood - Oceanaire, The Caucus Room, Johnny's Half Shell

Water-view - ?

Kinkeads and 1789 are really the only ones i have reviews on right now

looking also fir any place that may have 'different' eating...like ethnic...or belly dancing...or sitting on pillows/etc...i dont know...but i think you get the picture

 

[TinLemon]

Good choices on places so far....

As for seafood, one of my all time favorite seafood places in DC is DC Coast. The food is excellent, service always top notch, and when I took my girlfriend there for her birthday once, I told them in advance when I made the reservation. Unbeknownst to me, they printed up a special menu just for us that said happy birthday to her on the top, and they also reserved us one of the most private tables in the restaurant for us.. second floor in the back right in front a nice huge window.

For a trendy asian flare, you might want to look into DC Coasts sister restaurant TenPehn.

Kinkeads is touted as some of the best seafood in the DC area, but the Washington Post food critic tends to think it is all hype.. I've never been so I can't offer my own $0.02

As for interesting or ethnic... check out the Bombay Club, Zed's Ethiopian, and Lebanese Taverna. All are very nice and get great reviews.

Other hyped up restaurants area Citronelle, Cashions Eat Place, and Ortanique.

Check out opentable.com for a list of most nice restaurants in the area.... andt his way you can check availability too. I book through opentable all the time and have never had any problems.