Just moved to Virginia from Alaska! Tell me about the area (DC Metro)

[RaiderJ]

Just moved to Virginia after having been in Alaska my entire life, save 5 years I went to college in Colorado. I've traveled here before for work, so I'm not entirely new to the area - which is pretty much why I chose to come down here in the first place. Took a great job with a professional company and am looking forward to getting in touch with the new area.

So, what "tips and tricks" do you have for the area? I'm a very outdoorsy kinda guy, and have already spent some time on the O&D Trail (good for running/biking). What about good places to shop? It seems there are malls everywhere.

What about activities? I've toured DC a bit on a couple spare weekends, but otherwise haven't done much. I'm not too much into the bars, but if there's a good night scene somewhere I'm not opposed to checking it out.

As for housing, any thoughts on places near Herndon? Craigslist showed a few ads that matched what I was looking for, but curious for any input on the housing market. If things go well, I might buy a place in the next year.

 

[cirrhosis]

Eden Center near Bailey's Crossroads off of Sycamore Street is the best place for Vietnamese food and drinks.

Spa World USA in Centreville is a huge Korean bathhouse where you can go nuts for massages, steam baths, heated pools and so forth for fairly cheap.

There's loads of great places to eat around here, and plenty of places to experiment.

Dunno about housing in Herndon, it's been a while since I worked out there. It's good to see you found the O&D, I love that trail. The C&O is also good fun. West Virginia is fairly close to the area, about an hour/hour and a half away, and there are some great trails there too; the C&O goes up past there too and connects to other ones. Great Falls Park offers nice climbing opportunities and rafting in the summer.

 

[theblackbox]

move to charlottesville and give up DC. charlottesville and lynchburg are the best part of virginia

 

[Spook]

Welcome to DC Raider, I imagine its a bit shift from AK... funny you would post this at 0100 Eastern when most DC folks are asleep probably.

Herndon neighborhoods north of 267(Dulles Toll Road) can be a little rough from what I understand, but not all of them. I work in Ashburn, and have a couple friends that live in Herndon/Sterling area.

As far as shopping... big malls around herndon would be the Dulles town center, or Fair Oaks mall, but they are just the mainstream Bath and body works, Brookstone, Godiva, type malls... There's an outlet mall in Leesburg(outdoors), and an indoor outlet mall, Potomac Mills, which is very large.

There are allot of historical places in and around the DC area, if you into that sort of thing.

 

[acheron]

As far as malls, there's little point in going anywhere other than Tysons.

For housing, if you want to pay way too much, I'll rent you my place.

O&D trail is definitely nice. If you have a lot of time sometime, head out west to the Shenandoah park. Maybe 2 hrs from Herndon.

 

[AmberClad]

Meh, I live a couple of miles from Tysons, and I rarely go there (the mall that is -- I might occasionally stop by the Best Buy near Tysons). Don't really care for the inflated mall prices. For clothes shopping, I usually go to Fair City Mall or Fair Lakes.

The only tip that comes to mind atm is -- avoid driving into DC. Take Metro (especially on the weekends when parking at the Metro lots is free).

 

[SunnyD]

Someone tell Sarah Palin here that she DIDN'T win the election...

 

[bsobel]

Curious, what part of Alaska?

 

[RaiderJ]

From Anchorage originally.

Thanks for all the input! Just had my first day of work, mostly orientation stuff. Looking forward to getting a bit settled, and hopefully finding a bit bigger place to live at. A 10'x10' room just doesn't cut it!

 

[Shadow Conception]

Don't take I-95 in the morning.

 

[Gunslinger08]

Move further out from the city and commute. Compare housing prices in my area (Winchester) to NoVa. For outdoorsy stuff, you can't beat the Shenandoah Valley.

 

[TheWart]

Avoid the beltway, lol.

I live near Pentagon City and mercifully work up north in the Mclean area, so I get to avoid the traffic on 395 and don't even have to go near the beltway thankfully. Then again, the GW parkway is a parking lot if someone gets a flat tire cause it is only 2 lanes each way.

 

[bsobel]

Originally posted by: RaiderJ
From Anchorage originally.

Cool. My girlfriend is from Soldotna, she just got back on Sunday from a trip back home (and a day in Anchorage to see her brother). Enjoy the eventually warmer weather you'll be getting

 

[Sho'Nuff]

Originally posted by: RaiderJ
Just moved to Virginia after having been in Alaska my entire life, save 5 years I went to college in Colorado. I've traveled here before for work, so I'm not entirely new to the area - which is pretty much why I chose to come down here in the first place. Took a great job with a professional company and am looking forward to getting in touch with the new area.

So, what "tips and tricks" do you have for the area? I'm a very outdoorsy kinda guy, and have already spent some time on the O&D Trail (good for running/biking). What about good places to shop? It seems there are malls everywhere.

What about activities? I've toured DC a bit on a couple spare weekends, but otherwise haven't done much. I'm not too much into the bars, but if there's a good night scene somewhere I'm not opposed to checking it out.

As for housing, any thoughts on places near Herndon? Craigslist showed a few ads that matched what I was looking for, but curious for any input on the housing market. If things go well, I might buy a place in the next year.

Three words, El Pollo Rico. Best meal you can eat for $4.25. It's walking distance from the GMU metro stop

 

[Linflas]

Originally posted by: joshsquall
Move further out from the city and commute. Compare housing prices in my area (Winchester) to NoVa. For outdoorsy stuff, you can't beat the Shenandoah Valley.

This man speaks truth regarding the outdoorsy stuff although I would avoid that commute if at all possible. There is some beautiful country to be seen hiking in Shenandoah National Park and if you are interested in history and the Civil War there is enough in this area to keep you busy for years.

 

[Amused]

It's a lot warmer and you can't go out in your back yard and shoot something to eat.

 

[sjwaste]

Originally posted by: soxfan

Originally posted by: RaiderJ
Just moved to Virginia after having been in Alaska my entire life, save 5 years I went to college in Colorado. I've traveled here before for work, so I'm not entirely new to the area - which is pretty much why I chose to come down here in the first place. Took a great job with a professional company and am looking forward to getting in touch with the new area.

So, what "tips and tricks" do you have for the area? I'm a very outdoorsy kinda guy, and have already spent some time on the O&D Trail (good for running/biking). What about good places to shop? It seems there are malls everywhere.

What about activities? I've toured DC a bit on a couple spare weekends, but otherwise haven't done much. I'm not too much into the bars, but if there's a good night scene somewhere I'm not opposed to checking it out.

As for housing, any thoughts on places near Herndon? Craigslist showed a few ads that matched what I was looking for, but curious for any input on the housing market. If things go well, I might buy a place in the next year.

Three words, El Pollo Rico. Best meal you can eat for $4.25. It's walking distance from the GMU metro stop

Don't make me tell you how much better Super Pollo is (on Randolph next to the Ballston Mall)

Actually, they're the same, except Pollo Rico tells you what side you're getting. Super Pollo has a variety there.

 

[Linflas]

Originally posted by: Amused
It's a lot warmer and you can't go out in your back yard and shoot something to eat.

I don't know about that, there are plenty of deer running around in the woods on my property if I wanted to shoot myself something to eat.

 

[ja1484]

Sucks to be you!

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: Linflas

Originally posted by: Amused
It's a lot warmer and you can't go out in your back yard and shoot something to eat.

I don't know about that, there are plenty of deer running around in the woods on my property if I wanted to shoot myself something to eat.

Yeah, but is that legal in suburbia?

 

[sjwaste]

OP, where are you working, in Herndon, or closer in? If you're working in Herndon, you might as well live there, or even west of it, to maximize what you can afford. Plus, if you're outdoorsy, living closer to the Shenandoah Valley is definitely for you.

Now, if you're commuting into DC or near it like Arlington Co or anything in Virginia's Canada (Maryland), your commute will be hell from out there.

As for food, DC's definitely in the top food cities in the US, behind NY and SF pretty much. Read the Washington Post for the dining column, or their critic does a weekly chat online at washingtonpost.com (it's called Ask Tom, you can read archives online). For my tastes, his reviews have been very accurate. There are also tons of cheap eats in the area. Someone mentioned Vietnamese in the Eden Center, which is awesome -- and if you're not Vietnamese, you'll feel totally out of place there but not in a bad way. I also love Pho Vinh Loi on Columbia Pike at Baileys Crossroads. Lots of ethnic food around here, given the makeup of the population. To me, that's the best part of living around here, the food.