Top 5 GREAT things to do in DC in the summer:

1. Artomatic - awesome unjuried annual art free-for-all. Usually runs early June through early July, usually in an unfinished space, visual as well as performance art, music, dance, etc. Totally uneven (see the "unjuried" comment above), but totally awesome. Also totally free. Also, they sell beer.
2. Jazz in the Sculpture Garden - at the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden every Friday from mid-May through mid-September. You can pack your own picnic, you can pack your own booze, you can buy food and drink from the cafe if you don't feel like the schlep, but the music's totally free. And the lineup is great.
   
3. Nats tickets. The Nats are a bad team. REALLY bad. Possibly epicly bad. Which is not good for Nats fans. But I can get cheap day of game tickets any time the Phillies are in town. Which is good for me.
4. CapFringe. Two weeks of unjuried fringe theater in DC in July. The tickets aren't free, but they're usually around $15. Again, the quality can be pretty uneven, but every year I've seen at least one thing that totally blew me away. Insider tip: go see whatever Studio's Second Stage and Woolly put on.
   
5. Summer Restaurant Week. The site still has the winter dates up, but it's usually in August when Congress is on recess and things are SLOW in DC. Restaurant week is a great opportunity to check out new restaurants at relatively low risk - $20.09 for a 3 course lunch, $35.09 for a 3 course dinner. My advice? Pick restaurants that are offering their full regular menu or at least most of it, watch the upcharges and beverage costs, and you can eat well at bargain rates for a week. It can be tough to get reservations if you don't jump right when they open, but many of the participating restaurants extend the specials beyond the official week.

Notice any commonalities in the above list? Yep, everything is discounted, cheap, or free. So the economy is no excuse. Get off your couch and go have some fun this summer!

Originally posted @ Thanks For Playing