Washington DC Travel Video Guide

Washington DC Travel Itinerary

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That the marshy swamp where WASHINGTON DC now stands was chosen as the site of the capital of the newly independent United States of America says a lot about then-prevalent attitudes toward government. Washington, District of Columbia (the boundaries of the two are identical) - also known as " DC " and " The District " - can be unbearably hot and humid in summer, and bitterly cold in winter. Such an unpleasant climate, it was hoped, would discourage elected leaders from making government a full-time job. This disdain for politics is still apparent: DC is run as a virtual colony of Congress, where residents have just one, nonvoting representative and couldn't vote in presidential elections until the 23rd Amendment was passed in 1961.

Other than the federal government, tourism is DC's biggest industry. The city attracts almost twenty million visitors each year. Conveniently, most arrive in midsummer, when the lawmakers have gone home, so overcrowding is rarely a problem. The nation's showcase puts on quite a display for its guests, and admission to virtually all major attractions is free. The most famous sites are concentrated along the central Mall , including the White House, individual

memorials to four of the greatest presidents, and the superb museums of the Smithsonian Institution. Downtown, however (broadly speaking the area immediately north of the Mall, between the White House and the Capitol), can seem very empty, even intimidating, at night, and you're more likely to spend your evenings in the hotels and restaurants of the city's more motherly neighborhoods, such as historic Georgetown , arty Dupont Circle and the funkier Adams -Morgan district.

Your Tips For Washington DC

• Capital Region USA Travel Videos
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  The city of WASHINGTON DC and the four states of VIRGINIA, WEST VIRGINIA, MARYLAND and DELAWARE constitute a cross-section of the nation. - USA
  

• Alaska USA Travel Videos
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  No other region in North America possesses the mythical aura of ALASKA ; even the name - a derivation of Alayeska , an Athabascan word meaning "great land of the west" - fires the imagination. - USA
  

• South USA Travel Videos
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  As Mark Twain put it in 1882, "In the South, the [Civil] war is what AD is elsewhere; they date everything from it. - USA
  

• Great Plains USA Travel Videos
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  THE GREAT PLAINS , stretching west of the Mississippi through OKLAHOMA, MISSOURI, KANSAS, IOWA, NEBRASKA and SOUTH and NORTH DAKOTA , are lumped together in the popular imagination as an unappealing expanse of unvarying flatness and conservative "Middle American" values, a huge national joke to be passed through as fast as possible. - USA
  

• Mid-Atlantic USA Travel Videos
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  The three Mid-Atlantic states - NEW YORK, PENNSYLVANIA and NEW JERSEY - stand at the heart of the most populated and industrialized corner of the US. - USA
  

• California USA Travel Videos
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  Publicized and idealized all over the world, CALIFORNIA really does live up to the myth. - USA
  

• Texas USA Travel Videos
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  Still cherishing the memory that it was from 1836 to 1845 an independent nation in its own right, TEXAS stands apart from the rest of the United States. - USA
  

• Pacific Northwest USA Travel Videos
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  The Pacific Northwest states of WASHINGTON and OREGON , while similar in climate, topography and generally liberal politics, are quite different in their attitude toward expansion and progress. - USA
  

• Louisiana USA Travel Videos
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  Swathed in the romance of pirates, voodoo and Mardi Gras, LOUISIANA is undeniably special. - USA
  

• Hawaii USA Travel Videos
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  The islands of HAWAII , with their volcanoes , palm-fringed beaches , verdant valleys , glorious rainbows and awesome cliffs , hold some of the most spectacularly beautiful scenery on earth. - USA
  

• New England USA Travel Videos
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  The six New England states of MASSACHUSETTS, RHODE ISLAND, CONNECTICUT, NEW HAMPSHIRE, VERMONT and MAINE like to view themselves as the repository of all that is intrinsically American. - USA
  

• Rockies USA Travel Videos
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  Exploring the Rocky Mountain states of COLORADO, WYOMING, MONTANA and IDAHO could literally take forever. - USA
  

• Florida USA Travel Videos
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  Brochure images of tanning flesh and Mickey Mouse give an inaccurate and incomplete picture of FLORIDA . - USA
  

• Southwest USA Travel Videos
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  The four sparsely populated Southwestern desert states of NEW MEXICO, ARIZONA, UTAH and NEVADA are extraordinary, unforgettable and unique. - USA
  

• Great Lakes USA Travel Videos
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  Swept by tumultuous storms and traversed by fleets of oceangoing tankers, the interconnected Great Lakes form the largest body of fresh water in the world; Lake Superior alone is more than three hundred miles from east to west. - USA