Cheap Dates Around DC

Last Friday night, I went for a 10-mile bike ride with my laddie. He’s into keeping fit so he finally motivated me to pull out my bicycle and get moving. While I spent $40 on some new gear, I got it all on sale. Performance Bike Shop is near my office and a quick trip in there for gloves and shorts ended up with some very good discount shopping. I picked up a pair of Pearl Izumi gloves for $10 (normally $35), and a pair of in-house brand Century Shorts for $28 (normally $45). I also got a little GU since I wasn’t going to be able to eat before we left on our ride. Unfortunately the big sale was over yesterday, but keep your eyes out for an end of summer clearance sale. I am sure it’s just around the corner.

While we were riding, I got some great ideas for inexpensive dates around DC. Granted, we like to walk and ride and DC is wonderful for the amount of hiking trails and things to see. As much as I loathe tourists, I love living in destination cities like, Philly, San Francisco, and DC. Some of these ideas translate to other cities, just get a map and get to know where you live.

So here we go:

1) Grab a pizza to go and some drinks and do some plane spotting at Gravelly Point. You can see the planes fly in and out of Reagan National. (DCA) I am sure there is a spot where you can do that for Dulles, but I don’t know that area well.

2) Grab your bikes or sneakers and hit the Mt. Vernon Trail. Because it winds through Old Town Alexandria, get a sandwich or some picnic food at any of the stores there. There are plenty of clearings and picnic spots along the trail.

3) Head down to Old Town with a picnic, and watch the boats on the water. People watch the tourists and grab an ice cream at Ben and Jerry’s. There’s always buskers playing music, but beware the young guy playing the blues. He needs to smoke a few more packs of cigarettes before you can trust his wailing.

4) Rock Creek Park has some fantastic picnic spots with places for volleyball, horseshoes, sunbathing etc.

5) Walk from Lady Bird Johnson Park (RIP Mrs. Johnson) to the Tidal Basin and back. It’s a long hike, but then you can hit Five Guys for cheap eats afterwards and not feel guilty.

6) Watch second-run films at the Arlington Cinema Drafthouse! (They already have Shrek 3, 300, and Spiderman 3) Take a pass on dinner or get something small, and order drinks and enjoy the show. (Disclosure, I used to work there and I still know some staff.) Get on their mailing list and watch for free passes and previews. (We saw Hot Fuzz that way. I nearly swooned over Simon Pegg, in the flesh!)

7) Catch some pomp and circumstance! The Twilight Tattoo or the Friday night parade. The Tattoo is at the Ellipse and the Friday night parade is at the Marine Barracks in Capitol Hill. Tickets are seasonal and mostly gone right now, but call your congressman. They may be able to expedite your ticket request. This may be the most expensive ticket since your taxes pay for this, but I believe it’s free to get the tickets if you make the effort. More information on military concerts is here.

Catch a high school musical. A lot of my fellow knitters are older than me with kids in high school. Every once in a while, one of them is in a show and I like to support their efforts. It’s usually around the end of the semester and tickets are generally under $20.

9) From reader MVP: I recommend whipping up dessert together at home as a great couple/date activity. My husband and I recently made strawberry shortcake that beat the pants off any dessert you’d pay $6 or more for at a restaurant. One Valentine’s Day, we made chocolate truffles, and last year, we made Christmas cookies.

What about you? What do you like to do that’s fun but cheap?

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