Fall DMV Escapes For Under $150

0:00Today on CityCast DC, it's finally cool enough in the mornings to wear sweatshirt, which unofficially but kind of officially means DC fall is finally here. With Congress back in session in the city in full swing, I bet there's more than a couple of us looking for a cheap weekend getaway. CityCast contributor Tim Ebner has some ideas for your next local vacation. So while you dig out those fall P-coats and sweaters, we've got your right tenorary covered. Today is Wednesday, September 16th. I'm Bridget Todd, a nurse with DC is talking about. Tim Ebner, welcome back to the show. I am so excited that you're here. Hi Bridget, it's great to be here. So the reason I'm so excited that you're here is that I know that you're sort of our

1:02trip from DC Guru here at CityCast. I specifically love fall trips. I've said this from a podcast before. I am a fall person. I feel like when the weather just gets a little bit cooler, everybody's outside more. I like to kind of pretend I'm in the Gilmore Girls universe, like walking around with a coffee, looking at leaves, wearing sweaters. Even though it takes a little bit longer for fall to sort of phase in in DC, but can you identify with this? Oh, I can totally identify. Can I tell you I've already transitioned away from my sandal Birkenstocks to my clog Birkenstocks? So I am fall ready. I'll probably have the knee high socks as well with my Birkenstock clogs. Yeah, I rock the Birkenstock clogs. When the weather gets to the tiniest bit cooler, I remember when I was in college where East always, this was in the height of like that hipster fashion era. And we would always joke that when the weather got a little bit cool, everybody busted out their pico. It's like way too warm to be wearing that pico, but you just really wanted to wait no

2:04time. Yeah, definitely. And this region, you know, has fantastic mountains and coastal regions. But I think one of the biggest draws of fall is just the change of of leaves here are beautiful. If you're into getting outside, doing hikes or being by the water, you're going to be able to take advantage of that cooler weather, but also just some really scenic, beautiful landscapes as well. Well, let's get into it. What makes a successful fall trip in your opinion? Like what are you looking for? Yeah, I think if you're doing a fall trip, well, one, you've given us a budget. So staying under $150, not the easiest these days, especially as, you know, cost rise for almost everything, including travel. But I'm happy to say that there are still a lot of value driven deals out there. You know, for me, a fall trip, the best part about a fall trip is taking advantage of what I think is a lower time of busy season for many hotels. I think a lot of people are back to school or in back to the routines of their work in life. So rates tend to go down a little bit in September, October.

3:06And I think you could definitely take advantage of that here in this region. You know, I think if you're looking for a mountain escape or you're looking for something by the water, what I'm really saying should be your fall trip is making it easy and make it relaxing. And then, you know, if you can throw some fun elements into it, there's a lot of fall festivals that take place throughout September, October. And there's also just a lot of great outdoor activities that you can take full advantage of, given the cooler weather as well. So let's say that I want a little taste of the scenic rolling hills, pretty things to look at, outdoor stuff. I want to be looking at some scenic stuff. Where are you sending me? Yeah, I'm going to send you first to Cumberland, Maryland. Western Maryland, to me, is just such a secret pocket of Maryland. Obviously, it's that skinny little tip out west of Maryland. And for me, it's kind of like close to West Virginia, more like West Virginia than it is really anywhere else in Maryland. You know, we have the highest elevations in the Mid-Atlantic are found here. So you're going to get that like cooler, crisp fall air.

4:07You're going to get great outdoor hiking. And I would send listeners to Cumberland, Maryland, if we're going to designate a base camp for your hikes or for your outdoor activities. Cumberland is just an awesome mountain city. Obviously, it has like a rich history all the way back to colonial times, but you know, through the industrial revolution. It's really one of those like boom towns for industry back in the 1800s, 1900s. And it's really connected through the railway. And you know, one of the things that's great about Cumberland is you can actually reach it through Amtrak. There is a once daily Floridian train that runs almost the Eastern Sea Board, but takes you out points west from DC. So you can catch at Union Station and three hours be at Cumberland, Maryland. If you're looking to be an outdoor enthusiast for this trip, the best part about Amtrak is you can bring your bike on board for free. They do not charge extra for that bulky bike. You can store it as part of their bulk luggage storage. And so this is one where like you could take the train, you could bring your bike.

5:09And then you can take advantage of all of the great biking trails that are right at the foothills of Cumberland. There's the CNO Canal, the Gap Trail, which goes all the way to Pittsburgh. These are really great crushed rock trails that are great for like mountain biking. I would say not so much road biking, but I think it's awesome if you're like one of those people who wants to get out of Washington, doesn't have a car wants to bring a bike along. You could certainly do this. And if you're super talented in biking and cycling, you can bike all the way from Washington on the CNO Canal to Cumberland where the trail ends. So you might want to like pause and harpers ferry for a night, give yourself a break. But that is definitely something that a lot of like bike enthusiasts, extremists, I would say it would do. They pack all their stuff up and they'll go up the CNO Canal for like a day or two and make it all the way up to Cumberland as well. Oh, I am a bike enthusiast and I want to plan that very ride with a group. And as it got closer and closer and closer, the person that I was doing it with who was like,

6:10a super bike enthusiast was like packing so much gear. And then he was telling me like, Oh, well, I've weighed out all the gear. So what's like, he was getting very into the nitty gritty of how much stuff weighed. And that's what I realized. This is two in the trenches for me. I actually wanted his drive there. I don't want the fun. Yeah, driving is acceptable for bringing your bike on the Amtrak, right? And then you get to Cumberland. What I think is beautiful about Cumberland is it has just the right mix of a small charming mountain side city with great restaurants, great shopping, walkability factors. But then also you're connected to that great trail system for biking. So you can bike as much or as little as you want. And there's some really great scenic railways that you can ride up there. So it still has that like steam locomotive engines that run the rails up there. It's a very throwback city. It to me it reminds me of the bygone era of the industrial revolution in America when you had these big mountain towns that were just these boom towns for industry. So this is very much on my alley.

7:11But I'm somebody who loves a cute hotel, a cute Airbnb, a cute place to stay. Does it have that as well? It does. And you know, one of the newest hotels that just opened there. And I think this is the place to book because it keeps within our budget. So for $140 per night, you can easily do an overnight here. It's called the Willis Hotel. This is a fully renovated hotel that just opened this year. And it's what I think is like this industrial modern kind of aesthetic. It's a 20 room boutique hotel. So this is not like your chain hotel, like a Marriott or a Hilton or a Hyatt. It's really designed for those who want to be close to the action of Cumberland. But have a brand new cozy hotel. You know, everything from In Room Fridges, they have setups for families with like kitchen nets, which is great. But I think the price you can't beat it. And one of the great things too is there's an on-site restaurant as well. So there's like a steakhouse in the lobby. You can obviously get like a nice martini at the bar. It really blends, I think, the historical character of Cumberland.

8:12A lot of the buildings in Cumberland, if you just walk around the city, are built in that sort of like federalist turn of the century style that I think we know and see here in Washington as well. But it's really just a great destination, I think, because this hotel puts you right smack dab in the center of the city. And it's only a few blocks away from the train station. So if you're taking the Amtrak, it's a really easy place to stay overnight. There's something so charming about being in one of those towns that you describe that sort of feel kind of throwbacky, very charming. But then also having it be walkable and accessible. One of my favorites with things to do where you don't lose the easy access that DC offers, but you do get all this charm that you just aren't used to really seeing here. And Cumberland honestly is seeing a run of sounds in restaurants and breweries. Some great breweries if you're up there, dig deep brewing is right in town so you should definitely check that out. If you have a car just a little bit outside of Cumberland's city limits is 1812 brewery. It's another great stop if you want to make a weekend of it.

9:13Within the downtown vibrant shopping in restaurant corridor, you've got everything from neighborhood dive bars. The Baltimore Street Grill is a must if you want to get a good burger and just feel like a local. But then Cumberland to me has this incredible Italian American red sausage joint, like restaurants everywhere. You can really have a heritage of just being where Italian immigrants went to in Maryland. So there's two restaurants, Puccini and Bella Napoli that I would recommend listeners go to. You can really go almost any block and they'll be sort of this neighborhood red sausage joint there. So if you're a Pustal Lumber or your pizza lover, this is definitely a great place to go. Okay, so this kind of covers me if I'm wanting the Gilmore Girls style small town, pretty view. Let's say that I am a mid-Atlantic girly through and through and I'm not quite ready to give up

10:15orange crushes and summertime and being by the water. I still want a little bit of that flavor. Where would you send me? Yeah, you know, everyone thinks I think the Chesapeake Bay obviously predominantly surrounds Maryland's coastlines. One of the things that I think about the Chesapeake Bay though is that it really does feed into the Virginia tidewater region, the northern neck of Virginia, which is really like the northernmost peninsula of Virginia. To me is one of my favorite places to travel especially in the fall. It's not only a gorgeous stunning waterfront community to relax and just take a break in. It's a great place where you'll find a lot of delicious seafood. It's also the epicenter of Virginia's oyster farms. So there's just so many different oyster growers down in that region and obviously in the fall months like oyster season is at its prime. So you can visit those oyster farms. You can visit their tasting rooms and you can really sample seafood beyond oysters, you know crab cakes and rockfish and all those great kind of things that come from

11:17the Chesapeake Bay. What's really cool though is that Virginia recently put together what's known as an oyster trail. Kind of like how you would go on a weekend wine tour visit and have like a wine trail. The the tourism board literally put a website together in Virginia Oyster Trail.com, which maps out all of the oyster farms in this region and all of these oyster farms generally work with local restaurants or tasting rooms of their own. So you can go and visit and then really sample the variety and differences between different oysters that are grown from this region. And I think it's really interesting because there are different flavors of oysters from Virginia depending upon where they're grown. You know summer super salty and briny if they're especially harvested at tidewater points where rivers meet the Chesapeake Bay. Others are extremely fresh and bright almost like a west coast oyster if they're grown more in the rivers like they're at the Hanuk River. So it's a great opportunity if you're someone who loves seafood, if you're someone

12:18who loves to be bottled water, to me the northern neck of Virginia is just a no-brainer. It takes about two and a half hour, three hour drive from Washington DC. So you're going to need a car for this one but it's definitely I think a special visit especially for someone like me who always saw like oh Maryland is where the Chesapeake Bay is. Once I got down to Virginia I was like holy cow, this is like a whole new part of the Chesapeake Bay yet to explore and I really really do love that region the most in Virginia. Yeah I grew up in Virginia and we definitely consider the Chesapeake Bay hours even though we have a little bit of a like um territorial thing which is like it's so silly but it's that I can confirm that if there are Virginians that just turned you say that that are like finally people are getting it right when it comes to the Bay. No and you know what it's expansive down there because there's the tapahannik, the rapahannik there's just so many different river tributaries where these oysters are grown and raised and I think if you are looking to stay down there one place I would point you to is

13:23hotel called the Deltaville Doxide. The rates there are still under $150 a night. I looked for September we're floating around $140 per night for a single bedroom so this is like great spot if you're looking for like a true water man community where there's just like a lot of water surrounding you. It's really an island community out there and so you're going to be surrounded by the water you're going to be the close proximity to boats if you want to like do kayaking or charter day long sail tour you can absolutely do that but I think this is just an awesome option especially in the fall because the northern neck hosts a lot of different seafood festivals and they have a lot of outdoor tasting rooms for sampling oysters so I would definitely say like the fall time period is like the best time to come down to the northern neck to visit Virginia. I don't even know that fall was oyster season in this part of the country. What are the festivals like are there any in particular folks should keep an eye out for? Yeah for sure. I mean

14:23the cooler waters are great for harvesting oysters so oysters can be harvested year-round but typically as the fall time period comes you get a bounty of oysters being harvested. You'll see the biggest seafood festival down in the northern neck is the Urbana Oyster Festival. This happens the first Friday and Saturday of November each year. We're talking like 50,000 people go to this from a cross-virgion in beyond so it is a massive amount of people. What I love about this festival is that it's a pay as you go festival so you can go in completely free enter and then if you'd like to like taste a few oysters you can spend a little money there they obviously have like more VIP premium experiences with drink packages and wine tastings. There's also just a lot of live music that's free and parades and simply just like soaking up the like local atmosphere. This is like the oyster festival of the fall season. Beyond that though there's so many like local community centers, firehouses. You name it if you just google like oyster roast and northern neck like you'll get

15:30dozens of options for the fall time period so chances are good if you're staying down there there will be a community oyster roast somewhere and if that's not the case there are year-round oyster tasting rooms. One of my favorite producers down there, Rapa Hannock Oyster which obviously has a restaurant here in Washington on the Wharf. They have a tasting room down in Topping, Virginia which is right next to Deltaville so if you're staying at the Deltaville Docside Hotel you're going to want to visit Maraoir tasting room. Maraoir is really a playoff the idea of terroir for wine instead of the land. It's the water that drives the flavors of oysters so they call it Maraoir. But this is cool because it's a tasting room that's outside. It's surrounded by the water and you can really pair up some of their best harvest to oysters and get a side-by-side tasting of all of those. Another great option for a tasting room that's kind of like Maraoir is called the hatchery and it's essentially a food truck with a gravel parking lot and a lot of just great picnic tables

16:35umbrellas where you can literally just have an all-day party. Generally there's like bluegrass music on weekends. There's usually some kind of fun activity or event happening to celebrate oysters from the region. What you're going to do at either of these two tasting rooms is you're going to learn about how oysters are grown, how they're raised, how they're essential for the aquaculture system of the Chesapeake Bay and you'll really get to understand like the different tasting profiles between oysters as well. This sounds very much up my alley as an oyster lover, a half-thitella girl. And you know, not everyone does love oysters. I get that. So if you're not into it, I think there's still a lot to offer in this region beyond the seafood and the oysters. If you're like I mentioned, an avid kayaker, you can easily rent kayaks from one of the little harbor outlets that are there or you can charter a sailboat for the day and just kind of relax on your own. I think really this trip offers peace and surrounding about the water and to me it's one of the options getting away from Washington where you truly can like disconnect and really

17:37spend time in nature. Okay, so Tim, I have a little bit of a bone to pick with you because when I was looking through, you know, my producer set me the outline of places that you wanted to talk about and the episode theme is cheap getaways near DC. What is Georgetown doing on your list, my friend? I know, right? Georgetown, cheap. Oh, let's talk about it. I don't think Georgetown is cheap ever. Usually I go there and it's like gotta pay for parking. You gotta like put up with all the traffic and nonsense. But there's a new hotel that just opened up in Georgetown. It's only about two months old. I think it opened in late June or early July called the Citizen M. And this is a Marriott hotel. It is a premium style like very well-appointed modern hotel. If you're looking for a staycation, I think like now is the time to book this hotel. It's currently with opening rates at

18:39$149 per night. There's also like a 20% promotional rate if you apply their promo code as you check out. So you can get 20% off of that. We're talking about like a hotel room for hovering around 120 bucks with that. So it's just kind of an incredible steal of a deal right now. And I do think Georgetown has like everything you would want in a weekend trip. If you're unable to like get a car or travel outside of the city, to me, it's like ideal for a staycation. There are obviously access to points on the water, the Potomac River through Jack's boat house. You can rent, you know, a kayak or stand a pedalboard pretty cheaply. But I do think Georgetown has a lot of really fun and free events that are hosted throughout the fall time period. And the one that I think is kind of the most fun out of all of them is a free weekly outdoor dance class on the Potomac River at the Georgetown waterfront. And it's so cool because, you know, it's participants of all ages and skills

19:41and it's every Saturday evening through October. And you'll learn to do salsa. You'll learn to do bachata or maybe it's a DJ spinning music and you're just doing like some fun dancing and learning something new. But to me, this like brings you outside of your comfort zone. It's totally free. It helps you connect with your cities community. And I think like it puts you in front of like obviously the monuments and just the beautiful charm of the Georgetown waterfront. I didn't know that there was this dance party that happened every Saturday. So folks who want to try something new that's completely free in Georgetown. This is a great option. And I think it brings you a little bit outside of the comfort zone as well. I think I've seen it without realizing that's why that's what I was seeing out on the water. Yeah. And also, you know, just like fall time period for Georgetown is great. There's the fall market that takes place every October in Georgetown. It's October 18th and 19th on Wisconsin Avenue. So if you're a shopper and you want to see all of the great deals that storefronts have to offer, that would be a great weekend to plan a trip around. The C&O canals

20:42obviously there as well. And the Georgetown Heritage Foundation, they put together also October 19th like a really fun outdoor experience where you can see them pull the old canal boats up the C&O canal with the mules. So there's like a really cool history component to Georgetown. I just think that there's so many cool fall events happening right now in Georgetown plus a lot of really new and exciting restaurants. So even if you think, oh, I've been to Georgetown, don't need to stay there for a weekend. I would challenge you and say like, have you been there recently because there's a lot of new development and there's a lot of new restaurants that have opened up. Make this just in a really exciting place to visit. And again, if money is tight and you can't afford to, you know, really get away, staying at a nice new hotel and going to a nice new restaurant and being by the water, even though you might not, you might be thinking, I spend, I go to Georgetown a thousand times. I've been this part of, it drives me this part of DC all the time. You might see it from a new angle. Totally. And, you know, some of the restaurants I'm most excited about this fall in Georgetown,

21:46number one, Alphys. This is Chef Alex McCoy, who's founded Lucky Buns. He is about to open up this restaurant. I believe in the next couple of weeks, really focusing on the Mid-Atlantic cuisine, bringing in local producers of wine, of different dishes that reflect this region. It's going to be upscale. It's going to be a really fun kind of splurge, if you're willing to, like, eat out and have a fancy night out. Alphys is definitely one of those options. Two others that are brand new, Oxen Olive, which is from the Bresca folks. They have this swanky new steakhouse, which is opened up. And then the Oak Room, which is like this brand new bar plus kind of grand American style restaurant that just opened up in Georgetown. So a lot of really cool restaurants, that have just opened there. I think Georgetown typically gets the wrap of being like a little staggy, uptight, and not so on the cutting edge. And I would argue right now, there's a lot of new things coming to this part of the city. And for someone who lives here, I definitely need to

22:50get over there and check those restaurants out because, you know, they all sound really appealing to me. Let me close, kidding you with one kind of curveball question. I feel like there are a lot of fall activities that in my opinion are a little overrated. Do you have a fall activity that you're like, I don't actually ever need to do this again. Oh my God. Yeah, you know, I actually am kind of a fall hater. Don't don't. Yeah, I know. I I long live summer Bridget. I love T-shirt and shorts leather and high humidity. You know, it actually feels the same way as you. My co-host Mike. I mean, aren't you about this? He says that he likes the humidity. Y'all should be on some sort of a watch list. That being said, look, you know, you'll see me ordering a pumpkin spice latte here soon. So I can't bash fall too much. But I do you think those like go out to a random farm and walk in the sunflower fields and take like Instagram photos and the sunflowers? To me, that is like

23:51the biggest waste of two hours drive to, you know, some rural farm and then just doing it for the gram. This happens in Georgetown all the time too. There are tourists who will come into Georgetown in the fall weekends and literally sit on someone's front stoop and have like an Instagram portrait session. And it's like, excuse me, this is someone's house. You're you're blocking. So, you know, that's the part of fall that like kind of drives me crazy a little bit. But I'll lean into it. Maybe I'll give it a better try. Oh my God. Can you imagine opening your front door and be like, excuse me, can you get off my stoop for a picture? Yeah. So I think if you're doing fall for the gram, maybe like reevaluate your choices. But do fall for rest relaxation, recharging. Obviously, it's like the last few times to be outside before we get into like the deep cold of the darker colder months of winter. So it's a time to be outdoors to celebrate. And I think there's just a lot of fun festivals and events. So as you travel to a location, I would say like hop on, you know, search query, hop on AI or whatever and ask like, what are the fall festivals in this city?

24:54And then see if there's any that coincide with the trip that you're planning. Well, Tim, even as somebody who is a little bit suss of fall, I really appreciate you laying all these out for us. Of course. Of course. Hopefully, you know, I'll put on a chunky sweater. We'll see. Yeah, put on a chunky sweater. Have a latte and like walk around a little bit contemplative because the weather's nice. All right. I will. Thanks, Bridget. That is all for today here on CityCast DC. If you enjoyed the show, why not tell a friend who loves fall. You can rate the show, leave us a review, and subscribe to our morning newsletter. And we'll be back tomorrow with even more news from around the city. Talk to you soon.