3001 Connecticut Ave NW
Unlike many zoos around the nation, visitors can enter the National Zoo free of cost. This zoo is home to 400-species spread out over 163-acres. Arrive early for a limited spot in the zoo’s parking lot or enter on Connecticut Avenue from the equidistant Woodley Park or Cleveland Park metro stations. The zoo is home to pandas (including a recent baby panda, Bao Bao), who are symbolic diplomatic gifts to the U.S. from China. Bring your own picnic to enjoy the sight of the animals while you eat or enjoy food and beverages from one of the many concession stands.
Throughout Woodley Park and Cleveland Park
Rock Creek Park, which spans 1,752 acres from Georgetown up into Maryland, is the perfect place to picnic, hike or bike along memorials, wooden areas and streams. Carter Barron Amphitheater offers a summer concert venue in the woods, a world-class tennis facility, Rock Creek Golf Course, a horse barn and the Rock Creek Nature Center, which even has a planetarium. Don’t miss evening star gazing sessions with the National Capital Astronomers or regular astronomy shows for children on weekends.
3426 Connecticut Ave NW
The single, concave screen in this movie theatre is about 2,800 square feet and one of the biggest in the area. It opened in 1936, but lines still wrap around the door on opening nights for new blockbusters. There is also a strip of local eateries that are perfect for date nights and pre- and post- movie munching.