Written By Tito Torres
While we are talking about unique dates, that does not mean that it has to be expensive, it means that now it can be even less expensive if you are on a budget. Here are some ideas:
· Hiking in Frederick: To make this easier, download the “All Trails” app on your phone, this will show you every hike in any area, not just Frederick. You can find easy ones, more challenging ones, short ones, long ones, or hikes with waterfalls or cliff views. A great first hike that I personally recommend is going to Sugar Loaf
Mountain because it’s 20 mins from us and it’s a great mix of excitement, views, photo opportunities, and just enough challenge.
* Walking the monuments at the National Mall in DC: Drive or take the metro together down to the Smithsonian stop and find the National Mall. Think of this as a giant loop that has beautiful monuments to admire every few minutes.
The Lincoln Memorial even has a mini museum underneath it that not everyone knows about. You can also sit behind the Lincoln Memorial on the steps to watch a sunset together. Perfect for a picnic during the day too.
* Exploring downtown Frederick: Frederick has a very cool downtown area. It features a beautiful canal that grows a variety of diverse lily pads and flowers that grow right out of the water. There are also a variety of little shops along the main strip that
has something for everyone. They have a stone shop, a really cool classic toy store that’s fun to walk through, unique mom-and-pop shops that sell things made by local artists, and a ton of great places to eat.
My two favorites are visiting Time Bomb, which is a tattoo parlor that feels like you are in Ripley’s Believe It or Not Museum, and getting ice cream at the canal for a walk. Time Bomb has a two-headed giraffe, lots of taxidermy, rare finds, and so many other oddities, it’s fascinating and weird at the same time!
* Rosevelt Island in DC: This is located on GW Parkway on the way out of DC back towards 495, but don’t let that intimidate you (I know it can sound confusing, but it’s not). This is a monument of Teddy Roosevelt that is apart from all of the monuments on the mall and it doubles as a mini hike too.
It feels like you just found a secret, and now you get to look like the person who is sharing that secret with your date too. If you have bikes, you can stay parked there (they have their FREE parking lot) and ride bikes all along the Potomac River towards the rest of DC.
* Great Falls MD or VA: Another great hike with lots of beautiful features including waterfalls, rapids, and an epic view of Great Falls from both sides. You can go once on the MD side and a separate time on the VA side, just set your GPS for one or the other. Free parking at the MD side but I believe that VA has a small fee. The MD side has a large lake that you walk beside on a flat path until you get further up and you can find historic features all the way to the main waterfalls.
* Farmers markets: You can find these anywhere on the weekends! Now that spring is here, these will pop up more and more often. DC has Union Market and it features so many vendors that are selling everything from clothes to jewelry and art, and let’s not forget about all of the excellent street food too.
* All the museums that may have new exhibits: If you have been to the Smithsonian museums in the past then you already know they are cool. But just because you have already been to them does not mean that it will be the same thing. The
* Smithsonian Museums do a great job of adding new exhibits every year and taking away old ones. They have a gigantic storage facility where they keep everything archived until they want to bring it back out again in a few years which means they always provide so much variety.
* Brighton Dam Azalea Garden: This is in Montgomery County, and it is gorgeous if you can go when the Azaleas are in bloom during the spring! Luckily many of them bloom at separate times, but there is a time when the majority bloom all at once and it’s breathtaking. Peak season is from the end of April through mid-May so plan to go!
