Go to the top of the Washington Monument

First, you need to plan ahead. Go to recreation.gov and start looking for dates where there are free tickets to head up the 555' elevator ride to the top of Washington, DC's most iconic phallic symbol.

What's up there? Not much really. Going to the top of the Washington Monument is like a New Yorker going to the Statue of Liberty, locals rarely do it, and you do it for the same reason people climb Mt. Everest. Because it's there. At the top you'll find 8 windows--two pointing in each direction--with old photos of the landscape to compare and contrast how much our nation's capitol has changed (speaking of, this old photo shows the Washington Monument under construction, which was a, ah, monumental feat when you read about it--the thing took about a hundred years to build).

But you don't go to the top of the Washington Monument for the views. You go because if you live in DC, odds are you pass by it every day. It's there, just looming, almost forgotten but always present, just waiting.